How to obtain Turkey Citizenship & Passport in 2024

Visa-free travel around the world. Citizens of Turkey can visit 113 countries without a visa or by getting a visa on arrival. A list of these countries contains almost all of South America, one‑third of Africa, and many countries of Middle Asia.

How to get Turkey citizenship by investment

US E‑2 business visa. A Turkish passport allows getting the E‑2 business visa to the USA, which permits its holder to stay in the USA for five years with their family.

C‑2 Schengen visa for five years. Turkish citizens can get a C‑2 Shengen visa for five years. Alongside, Turkey negotiates visa‑free status with the EU countries.

The Republic of Turkey is on the list of the countries that can potentially join the European Union. If Turkey joins the Union, all countries of the EU will become visa‑free for Turkey citizens.

Second choice for an emergency. Citizens can visit Turkey anytime, no matter of closed borders. They also can move to Turkey if something goes wrong in the country of their origin.

Simple procedure. Generally, getting Turkish citizenship is simple: without language or history exams. Some ways of acquiring citizenship, such as marriage, assume some questions about history and culture, but it is more the exception than the rule.

Multiple citizenship options. Turkish laws permit having multiple citizenships: you can get both if a country of origin allows dual citizenships.

Turkish citizenship law No. 5901 allows getting citizenship by foreigners without:

• criminal records or violations of migration law,

• socially dangerous sicknesses, such as HIV.

There is an opportunity to get a Turkish passport for citizens of any country except Armenia, Cuba, Nigeria, North Korea, and Syria.

Uncover the advantages, terms, and details of the Turkish investment program

There is a particular program for investors in Turkey. It was launched in 2017 to attract foreign direct investment. The investor can choose a suitable option by investment type and amount. If all program conditions are met, the investor gets the passport.

The program is available for adults without criminal records, violations of migration law, and socially dangerous sickness. There is no opportunity to join the program for Armenia, Cuba, Nigeria, North Korea, and Syria citizens.

Investment options. There are several types of investing in Turkey to get citizenship: purchasing real estate or direct investments in the Turkish economy. These investments are returnable. You can sell it in three years after obtaining citizenship.

Immigrant Invest's client,

The investor wanted to get Turkey citizenship

Pay attention to the real estate for investments

Our client wanted to invest in Turkish real estate to save assets. He applied to several companies for the selection of real estate. The investor found that some companies give him similar objects at lower prices.

The legal review of other objects shows that the prices of “cheaper” objects were overstated, and the photos of things were old. So, If the investor purchased one of these objects, he couldn’t get the passport because the actual estimation of objects was lower than the required investment amount.

Participation of family members. Investments also allow getting a residence permit and citizenship for investors' families: spouses and minor children. Spouses’ parents can only pretend on residence permits with an extra fee of $5,000 per person. Significant point: if parents or adult children have their source of income, they can’t participate.

Additional expenses. There are some extra costs of getting Turkey citizenship:

• $14,000 — related taxes and fees,

• $574 per person — state fees for each family member,

• $5,000 per person — an extra residence permit fee for investors’ parents.

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  Individual cost calculation for Turkish citizenship

  Get the cost calculation

Naturalisation fits cases when you are officially working or officially living in Turkey. If you stay in Turkey without work, you should prove that you have enough money to live — it is about $500 per person per month. It takes two steps and lasts for several years of permanently residing in the country.

The short-term residence permit, or “Kısa Dönem İkamet İzni”. This type is available for long-term tourists, students, alumni of Turkish universities, business people, foreigners with Turkish relatives, patients, and migrants for humanitarian reasons. You should support the occupation with documents.

The long-term residence permit, or “Uzun Dönem İkamet İzni”. A foreigner can get it after living in Turkey for eight years. They should live in Turkey for at least 180 days per year during this period.

Citizenship can be claimed after five years of official living in Turkey. In this case, the period of residence is not the only criterion. A person should also demonstrate reasons for being a citizen, speak Turkish, have enough money to provide for themselves, and have no diseases with risk to public health.

Getting a Turkish passport by marriage has advantages, but it is not universal. First of all, it is a lengthy process. What’s more important, you should have a Turkish suitor.

Turkey citizenship cannot automatically be acquired by marriage to a Turkish citizen. The spouse can aspire to a Turkish passport three years after the wedding. There are some conditions applicants should meet:

1. The marriage must be unbroken for three years. If the applicant divorces and remarries again, the "counter" of years starts from the beginning.

2. Another meaningful criterion is that the marriage is not a sham. The core idea of getting through the citizenship process is to prove that marriage isn’t the one of convenience for obtaining citizenship.

There are some nuances. If you divorce during the application process, the probability of failure increases to the maximum. Similarly, if you are a widow or widower at the moment of application, the likelihood of failure increases to the max. If you became a widow while obtaining citizenship, you have a chance to get citizenship. If you divorce after getting citizenship and a former spouse sues to declare the marriage a sham, you could lose citizenship.

Getting a Turkish passport by marriage could take from one to three years.

This method is suitable for applicants who have Turkish relatives or were born in Turkey.

Citizenship for newborns. When we talk about a newborn, we should consider the citizenship of its parents:

• If the parents are Turkish nationals, the newborn gets citizenship in Turkey automatically.

• If one parent is Turkish and another is a foreigner, but they are in the marriage, the newborn automatically gets Turkish citizenship.

• If the parents aren’t married, but the mother is a Turkish citizen, the newborn could also get Turkish citizenship by birth.

• If the parents aren’t married, but the father is a Turkish citizen, the baby could get citizenship only if paternity is officially recognized.

Here is another opportunity to get citizenship in Turkey by birth. The situation: parents are foreigners, and the baby is born on the territory of Turkey but has no chance to get citizenship of its "homeland" for any reason. In this situation, parents could request Turkish citizenship for their baby. The same case if parents are stateless.

Descent. Minors could also apply for a Turkish passport by descent. So, for example, the Turkish parents' child who lost citizenship could claim Turkish citizenship by descent. Also, Turkish migrants have the right to get citizenship by their ancestry.