GUIDANCE ON THE REGULATION ON IMPLEMENTATION OF TURKISH CITIZENSHIP LAW (01.01.2023)

This Guide has been prepared with the aim of regulating and informing foreign nationals about the procedures and principles to be applied in the title deed transactions regarding the acquisition of Turkish citizenship through the acquisition of real estate.

A number of prohibitions, restrictions and conditions have been determined with the provisions of the relevant legislation on the acquisition of real estate by foreigners from our country.

These general acquisition conditions, which were determined in line with the provisions of the Regulation on the Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law and the opinions of the Commission formed with the participation of the representatives of the relevant Institution in order to guide the implementation, have been regulated in order to prevent fictitious transactions and to ensure foreign currency entry into the country in applications for exceptional Turkish citizenship acquisition based on the acquisition of real estate.

The determination of our General Directorate is essential in accordance with the legislation determined in the applications for the exceptional acquisition of Turkish citizenship based on the acquisition of immovable property and a Certificate of Compliance will be issued within this framework.

It is necessary to carefully examine the provisions of the Guidelines before the purchase process in order to avoid unjust treatment due to the detection of foreign persons purchasing real estate in order to acquire Turkish citizenship, but not fulfilling the required conditions. Furthermore, necessary information can be obtained from the relevant directorates and private offices (Ankara, Istanbul) founded to follow the process related to citizenship acquisition applications.

BASIS:

This Guide has been prepared in accordance with the authority given by the provision "The procedures and principles to be applied in determining whether the investment conditions in the scope and amount specified in the second paragraph are met are determined by the institution making the determination." included in paragraph 9 of Article 20 of the Regulation on the Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law.

Within the scope of subparagraph (b) of the second paragraph of article 20 of the Regulation on the Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law; “foreign persons may acquire Turkish citizenship by the decision of the President if it is "determined by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, to whom the sale of the immovable is promised with a contract drawn up at the notary public on the condition that at least 400,000 US Dollars or equivalent foreign currency is purchased, provided that an annotation is placed in the land registry records that it will not be sold for three years, or condominium or floor servitude has been established or provided that at least 400,000 USD or its equivalent in foreign currency is deposited in advance, and a commitment not to be transferred or cancelled for a period of three years is annotated in the land registry”.

Amendments have been made in the regulation that entered into force on 12.01.2017, 19.09.2018, 07.12.2018, 06.01.2022 and 13.06.2022, respectively.

Accordingly, in terms of the effective dates of the Regulation amendments, it is necessary that:

  • The immoveable purchased/to be purchased between 12.01.2017-18.09.2018 is worth 1,000,000 USD,
  • The immoveable purchased/to be purchased after 19.09.2018 is worth 400,000 USD,
  • The immoveable for which a preliminary sales contract has been / will be drawn up must be in the amount of 400,000 USD,
  • The phrase "in Turkish Lira" has been removed from the Regulation and the foreign currency amount of the real estate value is sold to a bank to be sold to the Central Bank with the amendment made on 06.01.2022.

Immovable purchased before 12.01.2017, the date on which the first regulation regarding the acquisition of Turkish citizenship through the exceptional way in the regulation came into force, and immovable subject to a sales promise agreement before 07.12.2018 will not be taken into account in the acquisition of Turkish citizenship.

PREREQUISITE FOR APPLICATION:

In order to acquire Turkish citizenship through the acquisition of real estate, first of all, the acquisition conditions regarding the person and real estate sought within the scope of the Land Registry Law No. 2644 and the relevant legislation must be provided in the transactions regarding sales and preliminary agreement to sell.

Since the regulation covers the acquisition of personal immovable by foreign real persons, real estate acquisitions made on behalf of the spouses, children, etc. other than the foreign real persons or corporate legal entity of which they are the manager/partner shall not be considered within this scope.

NATURE OF REAL ESTATE:

There is not any limitations regarding the nature of the immovable that can be acquired through sale (residence, workplace, land, field, garden, etc.).

Applications to be made based on preliminary agreement to sell that are drawn up at the notary public are valid for immovable with condominium ownership or construction servitude established.

Rights registered in the land registry as timeshare cannot be subject to Turkish citizenship acquisition through acquisition of real estate.

NUMBER OF REAL ESTATE:

There is not any limitation on the number of immovable to be acquired through sale. It is essential to provide the amount specified in the regulation.

The amount sought in the Regulation must be met with a single agreement in applications made based on promise of sale. In this context, it is possible to subject more than one real estate to a promise of sale under a single agreement and applications made based on more than one promise of sale agreement will not be considered.

It is not possible to complete the remaining amount with the promise of sale agreement in cases where the immovable acquired through purchase after the effective date of this guideline do not meet the amount required for the acquisition of citizenship.

Since it is required that the amount specified in the Regulation (at least 400,000 USD) be paid in advance in the applications made regarding the preliminary agreements to sell, the price corresponding to this amount must be paid at the latest on the date of the preliminary agreement to sell.

It is not possible to apply for citizenship with the acquisition of the immovable as shares. For example, in the event that an immovable is acquired by more than one foreign person to form joint ownership, this immovable cannot be subject to citizenship; on the other hand, in the event that an immovable property registered in the name of more than one person is acquired by a foreign person, this immovable may be subject to citizenship.

VALUATION

The approved bank receipt showing that the minimum amount required by the regulation has been paid to the real estate seller or the person concerned must be submitted to the land registry office.

Reasonable interest assessment will be carried out by the Land Registry Directorates as to whether the transfer/payment of the price is made by the buyer or related persons to the account of the seller or related persons (Attorney, Spouse, Right Owner of the Construction Agreement in return for Flat, Lien or Mortgage Holder, Account of the Company Owner, etc.).

Although the price stated on the receipt should be equal to the amount shown in the foreign exchange purchase certificate, if there is a difference between these two prices, it is sufficient that the price stated on the receipt meets the minimum amount required by the Regulation at the rate stated in the foreign currency purchase certificate.

In terms of payments made after the application of the foreign exchange purchase certificate; the receipts regarding the money transfer before the foreign exchange purchase certificate is issued must be in foreign currency and the receipts issued after must be in TL.

It is possible to permissively use the secure payment systems offered by the banks for the transfer/payment of the immovable value.

The determination of the sale price in the official deed for the sale of the immovable and the price to be paid in advance, which is included in the preliminary agreement to sell drawn up by the notary public for the promise of the sale of the real estate shall be done within the scope of the procedures and principles set forth in the Circular numbered 2022/1 and titled "Foreign Exchange Purchase Certificate in Acquisitions of Foreign Natural Persons".

In this context, the buyer, seller, their attorneys or representatives must sell the sales price in US Dollars or the equivalent amount of foreign currency to a bank to be sold to the Central Bank and the foreign currency purchase certificate to be issued by the bank must be sent to the relevant Land Registry Office via KEP (registered electronic mail).

In the preliminary agreement to sell, the foreign exchange purchase certificate must be issued for the minimum amount paid in advance and at the latest on the date of the agreement.

In the foreign exchange purchase certificate, at least, a statement stating that the name, surname, passport number or foreign identity number, real estate number, the US dollar equivalent of the foreign currency purchased and that this transaction was carried out within the scope of acquisition of Turkish citizenship or Article 13 of the Circular on Capital Movements is required to be included

The number of the immoveable can be obtained from the address https://parselsorgu.tkgm.gov.tr/ and it is possible to include the immovable number of the independent section or the main immovable according to the nature of the immovable and if this is not available, the plot/parcel information.

An official deed will be issued by the Land Registry Office based on the TL amount shown in the foreign exchange purchase certificates. In the transactions made since the 'Foreign Exchange Purchase Certificate' application, additional currency calculation will not be made according to the application date regarding the sales or promise of sale price and foreign currency purchase certificates will be taken as the basis for determining the amount.

A payment item (VAT, commission, expense, tax, fee, etc.) will not be included in the sales amount based on the declared value, other than the real estate sales price or the amount paid in advance in the preliminary agreement to sell.

Within the scope of these regulations, special attention should be paid to the amount of foreign exchange sales, since the payment for the amount declared in the official deed will be made to the bank.

It is possible to draw up the preliminary agreement to sell to which foreign persons are a party, in US Dollars or other foreign currencies. In this case, the amount of the promise to sell based on expenditure in the preliminary agreement to sell drawn up in foreign currency is calculated by taking into account the exchange rate stated in the foreign currency purchase certificate. The fee is collected as specified in tariff no. 4 attached to the Fees Law No. 492.

Real estate valuation reports must be obtained through the Tadebis-Web-Tapu (Tadebis-Web-Title Deed) (https://webtapu.tkgm.gov.tr/) system.

Valuation reports prepared through the system are prepared in a controlled manner and sent directly to TAKBIS (Land Registry and Cadastre Information System) through the system.

A real estate valuation report showing the market value (current market value / current situation value) is sought in order to determine the amount of 1,000,000 USD or 400,000 USD according to the acquisition date within the scope of the regulation.

The value on the report date is taken as the basis for the structures actually completed on the ground in the valuation report. For immovable that are under construction and with construction servitude, the construction must have started. For these immoveable, the “current status value in case of completion” on the report date is taken as basis.

it is possible to determine the sales or promise of sale price to be lower/higher than the valuation report value within the scope of the Circular No. 2019/1 (https://www.tkgm.gov.tr/yabancii-db/genelge). The values appraised in the valuation reports are not binding in terms of sales price and title deed tax base.

The valuation reports submitted during the application are valid for 3 months from the date of issue and new report will not be requested for the transactions applied within this period.

If there are valuation reports prepared no more than 3 months before the date of issue of the preliminary agreement to sell at the notary public, these will be put into process. In this case, a separate valuation report is not sought before the annotation date.

The CBT's effective selling rate of the last business day before the report date is taken as a rule in finding the equivalent of the TL value in the valuation report sent via Web-Title Deed via the Real Estate Valuation Information System (TADEBIS).

Except for the valuation reports, which are renewed upon the request of our Institution, during the establishment of the indication that the immovable cannot be sold for three years, valuation reports prepared other than the reports submitted during the sales transaction or the annotation of the preliminary agreement to sell are not taken into account in the valuation.

SALE BY INSTALMENTS:

In the sales process:

Receipts of payments made before the date of 12.01.2017 will not be taken into account in the acquisition of citizenship through real estate acquisition.

In the promise of sale transaction:

Receipts for payments made before 07.12.2018 and after the date of the agreement will not be taken into account in the acquisition of citizenship through real estate acquisition.

Payment in instalment transactions:

Receipts for payments made before the date of 24.01.2022, when the Foreign Exchange Purchase Certificate came into effect, continue to be accepted in transactions. The CBT effective selling rate or cross-currency exchange rate of the business day preceding the payment date is taken as the basis for calculating the US Dollar equivalent of the price included in these payment receipts.

The price in the official deed of the immovable, which were paid before the effective date of the Foreign Exchange Purchase Certificate, must be equal to the sum of the receipts before 24.01.2022 and the amount in the foreign currency purchase certificate.

For example, the amount required by the Regulation will be provided in a transaction in which the application for the establishment of a declaration to the Land Registry Directorate was made after 24.01.2022 and 200,000 USD (the CBRT's effective selling rate was taken as 8 TL) of the real estate purchased for a total of 450,000 USD is paid before 24.01.2022 and the remainder is paid after this date and since the total of the amount of 1,600,000 TL in the receipt and the 4,500,000 TL amount corresponding to the amount of 250,000 USD in the foreign currency purchase document, is 6,100,000 TL.

TERMS OF THE PARTIES

  • The immovable subject to sale or promise of sale must not be registered in the land registry in the name of foreign persons and first degree relatives (blood or marital relatives) of the buyer foreign natural person who are Turkish citizens.
  • Second-hand immovable subject to sale or promise of sale must not be one of the immovable transferred to a Turkish citizen/company by the first degree relatives (blood or affinity) of the foreign real person who will acquire immovable for citizenship purposes, whether they are Turkish citizens or not.
  • The second-hand immovable subject to sale or promise to sell must not be immovable transferred to a Turkish citizen/company by any foreign real person within the last three years. Acquisitions arising from contracts for work and labor are out of the scope of this article.
  • Immovable subject to sale or promise of sale (both acquired before and after citizenship acquisition), must not be registered in the land registry in the name of persons (those acquired in accordance with Article 12/b of the Turkish Citizenship Law according to the MERNIS registry) who acquired Turkish citizenship by exceptional means (including procedures other than the acquisition of immovable property).
  • Immoveable subject to sale or promise of sale must not be registered in the land registry in the name of the legal entity of the company in which the foreign real person who purchased the immovable with the request for citizenship is the partner or manager of himself and his first degree relatives (blood or marriage relatives).
  • The immovable subject to sale or promise of sale must not be registered in the land registry on behalf of a company within the scope of Article 36 of the Land Registry Law No. 2644. The previous nationalities of company partners who have acquired Turkish citizenship within the scope of Article 12/b of the Turkish Citizenship Law are taken into account in determining whether the company will be evaluated within the scope of article 36.
  • An immovable can be subject to citizenship acquisition only once.
  • In the event of transfer of the immovable to the previous owner or the transfer of the immovable to a third party after the expiry of the commitment performance period of foreign real persons who have acquired Turkish citizenship through the acquisition of immovable (except for compulsory transfers made by means of court decision or forced execution, etc.), or in the event of cancellation of the annotation of the preliminary agreement to sell and transfer of the immovable to a third party, the matter is reported to the General Directorate to be passed on to General Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs.
  • Persons who obtained Turkish citizenship with permission (with a blue card), TRNC citizens and Turkish citizens with multi-citizenships (except those who acquired citizenship within the scope of article 12/b of Turkish Citizenship Law) will not be considered as foreigners within the scope of this Guide.

MORTGAGE AND FORECLOSURE:

  • In case the immovable is purchased using a foreign currency loan, the commitment request is accepted if the remaining portion meets the minimum amount sought in the Regulation by deducting the loan amount from the sales price in determining the required amount. On the other hand, if the mortgage debt is paid and the mortgage is cancelled, the commitment request is met on the condition that the amount in the foreign currency purchase certificate(s) meets the amount sought in the Regulation.
  • Mortgaged or seized property can be subject to sales or preliminary agreement to sell and the prices here will not be taken into account in the calculations for the Certificate of Compliance.
  • Since it is not possible for foreign real persons to meet their payment obligations regarding the immoveable they purchased (except for the debts made by public institutions) through legal mortgage, they will not be able to purchase them as legal mortgages and in this respect, they will not be subject to the acquisition of citizenship.

TAKING COMMITMENT:

As a rule, the requests for indicating declaration are met with a single journal only by the land registry directorates that have acquired the immovable. However, in case of acquisition of more than one immovable, it is necessary to apply to the land registry office where the highest numbers of immovable were acquired. A statement/undertaking is not taken in the directorate that does not acquire immovable property.

In the event that the below-mentioned formal defects, which can be completed later, are detected during the conformity review, the relevant person is informed about the completion of the defects before the commitment is cancelled.

  • Lack of authority in power of attorney,
  • Lack of commitment in the acquisition of unstructured real estate,
  • Lack of permission sought for immovable whose acquisition is subject to permission,
  • Lack of reasonable interest and approval in receipts,
  • Lack of documents regarding nationality determination,
  • Inadequacies in documents based on identification, etc.

A re-evaluation is carried out regarding the determination of conformity if the inadequacies are completed.

Reviews will be carried out on the system implemented by the Department of Foreign Affairs by the regional directorates and a Certificate of Compliance will be issued if the system qualifies.

In the registration process of indicating the commitment that the transfer and cancellation will not be made for a period of three years; if there is a statement in the agreement that “This agreement is made for the purpose of obtaining citizenship”, the ex parte application of the promise creditor is sufficient, the parties must apply together in the agreements where this statement is not included.

In the transactions to be made by proxy, it is necessary to give an explicit authorization regarding the establishment of the power of attorney and the indication of commitment.

In this context, it is sufficient to include the authorization to "give a commitment that the immovable will not be sold for three years" or "to apply for citizenship within the framework of the Turkish Citizenship Law and relevant legislation" or "to make the transaction in order to benefit from the Turkish Citizenship Law" together with the authority to sell.

In the power of attorney, the statement "...to give all kinds of undertakings and consents in the land registry offices" is sufficient for the determination of the authority.

In the event that the immoveable subject to the promise of sale is sold to the promised creditor within the 3-year commitment period, the following statement is included in the official deed for the remaining period:

"I undertake that I will not sell the immovable that I have purchased for the purpose of acquiring Turkish Citizenship for ... years within the scope of Article 20 of the Regulation on the Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law (the remaining period of 3 years will be written)."

In the registry of the immovable, it will be stated that "There is a commitment that it will not be sold within ... (the remaining period of 3 years will be written) from the date of acquisition within the scope of Article 20 of the Regulation on the Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law."

The statement "There is a commitment that the preliminary agreement to sell will not be transferred or cancelled for a period of 3 years from the date of the annotation within the scope of the 20th article of the Regulation on the Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law." is cancelled.

In the event of sale of the immoveable subject to the promise of sale is sold on behalf of the promised creditor after the 3-year commitment period has expired, no commitment is required.

If the amount paid in advance in the preliminary agreement to sell and the prices in the foreign currency purchase certificate, valuation report and receipt separately meet the minimum amount required in the Regulation, the following statement is included in the registration request document;

“There is a commitment that the preliminary agreement to sell will not be transferred or cancelled for a period of 3 years from the date of annotation within the scope of Article 20 of the Regulation.”

The independent section subject to the promise must be registered in the name of the promiser at the time of the commitment request. In other words, an application cannot be made based on the promise of the promise. No commitment can be made for more than one preliminary agreement to sell in an independent section.

If the amounts in the foreign exchange purchase certificate, valuation report and receipt meet the amount sought separately in the Regulation, in the official deed, the following phrase is included;

“I undertake that I will not sell the immovable that I have purchased for the purpose of acquiring Turkish Citizenship within the scope of Article 20 of the Regulation on the Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law for a period of 3 years. In the event of determination of incomplete, inaccurate or misleading information and documents to be presented within the scope of the application, I know that action will be taken within the scope of article 31 of the Turkish Law No. 5901 "The decision to acquire Turkish citizenship is annulled by the authority that made the decision if a case occurs as a result of the concerned person's false statement or concealment of important matters constituting the basis for acquiring citizenship”.”

In the registry of the immovable, it is stated that “There is a commitment that it will not be sold within 3 years from the date of acquisition/declaration (from the date of declaration, if requested with a registration request document) within the scope of Article 20 of the Regulation on the Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law.”

CANCELLATION OF COMMITMENT

In the event that the three-year period expires, the commitment statement entered in the declarations section within the scope of the regulation is cancelled upon the request of the owner or the creditor of the promise of sale.

In cases where the commitment has been received but is not given because the conditions of the Certificate of Compliance are not met, the commitment is cancelled if requested by the competent authority to issue the Certificate of Compliance.

On the other hand, it is not possible as a rule to transfer the immovable to a third party by cancelling the declaration of foreign real persons who have acquired Turkish citizenship through the acquisition of immovable before the expiry of the commitment period. However, in the event of that the relevant person requests the cancellation of the commitment or requests the transfer to a third party together with its cancellation after the "Certificate of Compliance" is given and before the 3-year commitment period expires, the said commitment is cancelled and the request for action is met within the framework of the legislation, in case of receiving an official letter sent by the Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs indicating that the citizenship / citizenship application has been cancelled.

As a rule, it is not possible to transfer the immovable to a third party by cancelling the declaration by the owner (debtor of the promise) before the expiry of the commitment period of foreign real persons who have acquired Turkish citizenship by annotation of the promise of sale. However, in case of cancellation or transfer of the commitment to a third party after the "Certificate of Compliance" is given and before the 3-year commitment period expires and in case of receiving an official letter from the Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs indicating that the citizenship or citizenship application has been cancelled, the commitment is cancelled and the request for action is met within the framework of the legislation.

TRANSACTIONS ON COMMITTED IMMOVEABLE

It is possible to establish real rights limited to all kinds of annotations, except for the promise of sale, in committed immoveable. However, changes in ownership (court decision, forced sale, succession, expropriation, etc.) that occur outside of the owner's request within the commitment period are referred to the General Directorate and the procedures are directed in line with the response to be received. In such cases, the existence of a court decision, a compulsory execution decision, etc. is recorded in the land registry

OTHER MATTERS

In cases where there is right of usufruct on the real estate subject to sale in favour of the person requesting the acquisition of citizenship based on the rate and the establishment of the usufruct right is after 24.01.2022, a foreign currency purchase certificate is also required in return for the beneficial interest fee. An approved bank receipt is required for usufructary rights established before this date and only after 12.01.2017.

In these cases, the calculation of the amount sought in the regulation is evaluated over the total of rate, ownership and usufruct amounts.

The General Directorate (General Directorate of Foreign Affairs) is authorized in overcoming the problems regarding the implementation of this Circular.

The transaction documents (receipt, foreign exchange purchase certificate, etc.) are immediately archived in a fully and legible manner within the scope of the Circular No. 2019/12. The cover letter containing the following information is sent to the authority that will issue the "Certificate of Compliance":

  • Name and surname of the foreign real person requesting the Certificate of Compliance,
  • Ground system number of the immoveable acquired/subject to the promise of sale,
  • Date and journal number of the citizenship commitment (date/journal number(s) of sales(s) is not specified),
  • Contact information (especially legibly e-mail, phone number).

Transaction documents are checked for the effective use of TAKBIS (Land Registry and Cadastre Information System) e-archive system in accordance with the purpose of avoiding duplication of archives and unnecessary capacity use, reducing the workload and accelerating the processes in Electronic Document Management System and the documents in the system are not sent to the authority that will issue the "Certificate of Compliance".

EFFECTIVE DATE

The provisions of this Guide are valid as of 01.01.2023. Taking into account the effective date of the Guide, the procedures for establishing the commitment indication for the acquisitions made until 24.00 on 31.12.2022 will be finalized within the framework of the Circular No. 2019/5 and the Guide dated 13.06.2022.