09/06/20

CITIZENSHIP BY INVESTMENT: Over 9,000 foreigners granted Turkish citizenship through investment in four years.

As published on ahvalnews.com, Tuesday 9 June, 2020.

Turkey has granted citizenship to over 9,000 people through real estate investment since mid 2016, according to the head of a foreign real estate association.

A total of 9,011 foreign nationals have acquired Turkish citizenship through real estate investments totalling $3.2 million since July 2016, Artı Gerçek news site quoted Foreign Real Estate Promotion Association Chairman Faruk Akbal as saying.

In 2018, Turkey lowered the financial and investment criteria for foreigners to become Turkish citizens, in a bid to boost investment in the economy and prop up the lira, which had fallen 40 percent in the year following a row with Washington, triggering sanctions.

The new regulations stipulate that foreigners can become citizens if they own property worth $250,000 for three years, down from a previous value of $1 million.

The average amount paid per housing by foreign nationals in Turkey is 875,000 liras ($128,000), almost four times the same figure for Turkish nationals, Akbal said.

In Spain and Portugal, Turkey’s rivals in real estate sales to foreigners, citizens on average pay 300,000 euros per housing, while this figure increases to 420,000 euros for foreign nationals, he added.