Türkiye · Residency by investment
Short-Term Residence Permit on the Basis of Property Ownership (Law No. 6458, Article 31/1-f)
Since 16 October 2023 a nationwide minimum property value of USD 200,000 applies for residence permits based on home ownership, recorded on the title deed and supported by a Foreign Exchange Purchase Certificate. Separately, since 1 July 2022 the Interior Ministry has closed neighbourhoods (mahalle) to new foreign registration once foreigners exceed 20% of residents — a large share of desirable districts in Istanbul, Antalya and Alanya are closed.
This is the only sensible route for a family that wants real Turkish domicile — exactly what the US E-2 three-year rule demands and what the Article 20/D exemption rewards. At USD 200k it costs half the CBI threshold. A family that takes this route, lives in Türkiye three years and naturalises by residence after five is not caught by the E-2 investment-nationality restriction at all, because their citizenship came from residence, not investment.
Qualifying routes
must be classified residential (mesken/konut) and located in a district still open to foreign registration
The facts
- Minimum investment
- $200k
- Total landed cost
- USD 200k property plus roughly 6–8% in transaction costs, plus permit fees, mandatory health insurance and translation/notary costs of roughly USD 1–3k per family per cycle.
- Timeline
- 1–4 months — Appointment availability at the Presidency of Migration Management is the constraint, not adjudication.
- Physical presence
- No formal minimum, but prolonged absence undermines renewal, and the 5-year naturalisation clock requires near-continuous presence.
- Family
- spousedependent children under 18
- Permanent residency
- 8 years of continuous legal residence for a long-term residence permit; permits held on tourism grounds do not count toward it
- Citizenship
- 5 years of uninterrupted legal residence with no more than 180 days spent outside Türkiye across the whole period
- Language test
- Turkish sufficient for everyday communication, assessed at interview by the commission rather than by formal examination
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- residential-classified property with title deed value of at least USD 200,000property located in a mahalle open to foreign registrationForeign Exchange Purchase Certificate (DAB) evidencing the transfervalid health insuranceclean criminal recordbiometric appointment at the Presidency of Migration Management
- DISTRICT CLOSURES ARE THE BINDING CONSTRAINT. The 20% mahalle quota has closed much of the property market foreigners actually want. Buying in a closed district gives you a title deed and no permit. Verify the mahalle is open before, not after, exchange.
- TOURISM-BASED PERMITS ARE ROUTINELY REFUSED. Renewals of short-term permits held on tourism grounds are being refused as a matter of course in 2026, particularly in Antalya and Alanya, and pensioners have no entitlement to extension. The property basis is more robust but still discretionary.
- THE NATURALISATION CLOCK IS UNFORGIVING. Five years 'uninterrupted' permits only 180 days of total absence across the whole period — about 36 days a year. Most internationally mobile families will breach it without noticing.
- Residence makes you tax resident. Past 183 days you are taxable on worldwide income — survivable only if you qualify for the Article 20/D exemption, which requires no Turkish tax liability in the preceding three years. Sequence this before you buy.
- The USD 200k must be evidenced on the tapu itself and backed by a DAB. Understating the deed value to save transfer tax — still a common broker suggestion — destroys the permit basis.