Since mid-June 2022, the amount approved in the real estate investment threshold for obtaining Turkish citizenship has been raised to 400 thousand US dollars. Now it must be proven that at least $400,000 USD in Turkish lira was spent for the investment. This is done through a document called "Exchange Purchase Document" which is provided by the banks. Both the seller and the buyer can make the exchange and obtain this document. It is very important that the amount exchanged on the exchange purchase documents is identical to what is written on the payment receipts and title deed. If the amount exchanged is not compatible with the amount specified on the title deed and the amount written on the payment receipts, this will result in a problem with the sale.
Syrians are still unable to invest in real estate even if they hold another passport. There has been no change so far in this regard.
Investing by depositing at least $500,000 in a Turkish bank account is still a valid investment method for obtaining Turkish citizenship. However, the deposited amount must be transferred and kept in Turkish lira. However, it is now possible, through a specific financial instrument called the "Protected Lira Program", to make bank deposits for the purpose of citizenship automatically. In fact, it has become necessary to deposit the investment within the framework of this program, which brings a great advantage to protect against the damages of the fluctuation of the Turkish lira against foreign currencies, because it protects bank deposits from the possibility of depreciation of the Turkish lira by undertaking to compensate the losses incurred as a result at certain maturity periods ranging from 3 months and 12 months. The only point to be cautious about is that the maximum maturity period under this program is one year and although it is renewable as per the current rules, we don't know if this scheme will continue in the future years as it is a financial instrument that was recently introduced in the banking system Turkey, especially after the elections, and the new government can cancel or revise this programme.
In the early years of the Citizenship by Investment Programme, it was possible for the investor's wives to obtain citizenship. But that hasn't been possible for a while now. Moreover, we believe that this law will not change anymore, as the decision to allow the wives of the investor to obtain citizenship was not very compatible with the Turkish legal system because polygamy is prohibited in Turkey. Moreover, there is a more recent rule that the investor cannot choose which of his wives will get the citizenship but it must be the first wife.
Although it is not mentioned in the list of documents required to apply for citizenship, the family record is required in case there is a mismatch at the surname level in the documents of the investor and his children. This means that if the investor is a woman, her family record will be requested automatically because her surname will definitely not match the surname of her children.
Last but not least, it used to take a maximum of 5-6 months to process citizenship applications, but now this whole process takes much longer, on average 8-9 months. This is due to a sudden large overload of requests in the system between May and June 2022. In the coming months, the request load will decrease and the pressure on the system will ease. This is why the application process will likely take a shorter time again.