Turkey does not intend to abandon the practice of obtaining citizenship by foreigners in exchange for the purchase of real estate, although many Russians in this country have complained in the past six months about the actual impossibility of obtaining a residence permit. Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya spoke about this. True, as they say, “there is a nuance” – this is a statement about the fate of obtaining citizenship for the purchase of real estate, the minister made in an interview with Al Jazeera in Qatar – so the whole question is in the cost of housing for which you can buy citizenship. For the Russians who are massively expelled from Turkey, this issue is also very painful. Nevertheless, the minister's answers will please many Russians…
The Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkey was asked this question as one of the most important of those faced by the Arabs in Turkey – the issue of residence, real estate and obtaining a residence permit for real estate. “The problems have been going on for several months, many are facing difficulties, will everything return to normal?” the minister was asked. Mr. Yerlikaya responded as follows: “A few days ago, I signed decisions on granting citizenship to foreigners for investment. The documents have been sent to the Office of the President for approval.
With regard to granting citizenship to investors, the procedures remain the same as we announced earlier, the minister stressed. “Foreign citizens who are eligible for citizenship through the purchase of real estate acquire Turkish citizenship within 2-3 months after submitting an application,” said the head of the Turkish Ministry of Internal Affairs. He also denied allegations that the process of obtaining citizenship by foreigners for the purchase of real estate has been stopped.
Recall that in early August, the Russians who moved to Turkey also panicked. They stated that they were deceived, counting on the simplification of the procedure for obtaining a residence permit in Turkey. The situation worsened after the re-election of President Erdogan: officials changed tactics and headed for the strictest migration policy. According to statements by Turkish lawyers through Russian bloggers, the situation is far from being so optimistic: “Now in Turkey, no one is given a tourist residence permit, only citizens of Ukraine receive a humanitarian residence permit, and very good reasons are needed to obtain a medical residence permit, for example, a serious illness. Of the available types of residence permit, only a residence permit for owning real estate remained. Moreover, the cadastral value of real estate must be at least $75,000 (more than 6.8 million rubles at the current exchange rate),” the lawyer told the blogger. In other words, obtaining a residence permit in the republic became possible only for relatively wealthy investors. Read more here.
Recall that earlier citizenship by investment was designated as “the easiest way to get Turkish citizenship in 2022” (read here). True, for this it is necessary to invest from $ 250 thousand in real estate or open a deposit in a Turkish bank for at least $ 500 thousand. That is, the prices were even higher. The following were listed as the advantages of Turkish citizenship:
- it is not necessary to renounce the main citizenship (Turkey allows you to have a dual one);
- it is not required to declare income and real estate in the country of the second citizenship;
- visa-free regime with 111 countries;
- issuance of a Schengen visa for 10 years under a simplified scheme;
- the right to official employment;
- the right for government benefits and voting in elections;
- the ability to easily obtain an investor visa to the United States (E-2) and a business visa to the UK;
- transfer of citizenship by inheritance and issuance of passports for all family members.
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