In the year 2016, Turkey opened up a new program to gain citizenship in the country. The program was called Citizenship by Investment, and with a minimum purchase amount of $250,000, plus fees, turkish citizenship via investment is the lowest costing citizen by investment program available. But before we get into the details of this program, let’s first get clear about what citizenship by investment actually means.
Titles
What is Turkish Citizenship Via Investment?
Citizenship by investment is a type of method that allows you to gain a second citizenship and a passport of another country, where all you need to do is invest in that country's economy. This method of citizenship legally confers citizenship to a person faster than traditional immigration methods, and is able to do so without the person having to interrupt their daily activities entirely. Via this citizenship method, for a certain minimum sum of money, you get all the benefits of being a citizen, including getting a passport and residency. It is quickly becoming popular, spreading to many countries as their governments have realized the importance of having people invest in their country in return for citizenship.
But what good is a second citizenship, for which Turkish citizenship via investment is available?
There are a number of such reasons, which are listed below-
- If and when there is a state of political unrest in one’s home country, citizenship in another country can be a very precious safety net as a form of protection to the investor and their family.
- It allows for investors to do business more easily with the second country, as well as travel abroad with more freedom. It can form as a great opportunity for those entrepreneurs who have found a great consumer base in the second country and want to spread their business with no hassle.
- Dual citizenship, especially by the turkish citizen via investment program, allows for better management of taxes as Turkey only imposes income taxes on income only gained from Turkey. Many countries like Turkey do not subject capital gains to taxes either. So overall, the investor benefits from better tax management.
- Global mobility is a huge bonus with dual citizenship. A passport of a certain country allows for visa-free travel to only a certain number of countries. However, if you gain a second passport from another country, like Turkey, it allows you far more mobility as you gain visa-free access to 114 different countries as the Turkish passport allows.
So, what is so special about Turkish citizenship via investment?
Through this citizenship, the investor can reside in Turkey (however by investing in real estate, the permit needs to be renewed every 6 months). In addition to residence, they can have a Turkish passport that allows them visa free travel to 114 countries in the world. Turkey also has two programs that allows citizens easy visa application for USA and the UK called the E-2 Visa Program and the Turkish Businessperson Visa Program, respectively. And Turkey is still in talks with the EU about visa-free access. But all in all, it is an excellent investment when it comes to choosing a citizen by investment program- especially beneficial for smaller investors.
How would you go about getting into this program?
The citizen on investment program in turkey has been opened very recently, with the latest changes in legislation. And it is the cheapest program on the market at the moment. It had originally started on a minimum price of $1 million of the property purchased, but the prices had drastically reduced in September of 2018 to $250,000. There is no longer a minimum residence requirement, so just by investing, you complete the process in 2-3 months. It is possible to get turkish citizenship via investment by contacting PWC Turkey or any other such organization.
