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Program profile · Edition 1 research

Turkey - Residence via Property Ownership

The lowest entry point in the Index set - USD 200,000 - but the shortest leash: permits issued one to two years at a time, residential use only, no renting the property out, and a threshold that roughly tripled in a single 2023 regulation. Verified against the official e-ikamet document list; every claim below carries its source, access date and status.

The threshold

Foreigners who own residential property in Turkey can obtain a renewable short-term residence permit under Article 31/1(b) of Law No. 6458 on Foreigners and International Protection. The USD 200,000 minimum is confirmed against the official primary source: the Göç İdaresi (Directorate of Migration Management) e-ikamet required-documents list states, in the property-owner section, "Konutun edinim tarihi itibariyle değerinin en az 200 bin ABD Doları karşılığı Türk Lirası olması gerekmektedir" - "The dwelling's value as of the acquisition date must be at least the Turkish Lira equivalent of USD 200,000." At USD/TRY 47.04 (2026-07-14) that is roughly TRY 9.41 million. Confirmed - Göç İdaresi e-ikamet official document list, accessed 2026-07-17.

The floor has explicit statutory backing: Law 6458 Article 31(6), added 21 November 2024 by Law No. 7533 Article 35, reads "Kısa dönem ikamet izni verilmesine esas olacak taşınmazın niteliği ve değeri Bakanlıkça belirlenir" - the nature and value of the qualifying immovable is set by the Ministry. Confirmed - consolidated Law 6458 text, accessed 2026-07-17.

The deed-price mechanics sit on weaker ground: for purchases on or after 16 October 2023, secondary legal-guide sources describe the title-deed (tapu) price needing to equal USD 200,000 in Turkish Lira at the Central Bank's selling rate on the transfer date. No primary text names either the 16 October 2023 cutoff or the exchange-rate mechanism directly - the primary confirms the floor amount, not the calculation method. Reported - concordant legal-guide sources, accessed 2026-07-15.

Purchases made between 26 April 2022 and 15 October 2023 keep the older thresholds - USD 75,000 in metropolitan cities, USD 50,000 elsewhere - with a valuation report. Reported, accessed 2026-07-15. Only residential property used as the foreigner's own dwelling qualifies; the e-ikamet list is explicit that it may not be used for rent or similar income-generating purposes. Confirmed, accessed 2026-07-17.

What it costs

The title-deed transfer tax (tapu harcı) is commonly cited at 4% of the sale price, customarily split between buyer and seller - that would run to USD 8,000 at the threshold, but it has Unverified status this pass: no primary Revenue Administration or TAPU source was captured to confirm the rate. A foreign-exchange purchase certificate (Döviz Alım Belgesi) from a Turkish bank is mandatory for the purchase itself - cash or informal transfers are not accepted. Reported, accessed 2026-07-15.

On the permit side: a residence-permit card fee of roughly TRY 565 (about USD 12); an annual permit fee of TRY 4,000-12,000 depending on nationality (about USD 85-255); and, where a valuation report is required - inheritance or gift acquisitions only, per the primary document list - TRY 5,000-8,000 (about USD 106-170). Mandatory health insurance must come from a Turkish-licensed provider; foreign or open-market policies are no longer accepted, and the cost was not captured this pass. All permit-fee figures carry Reported status, accessed 2026-07-15.

Time to permit

Appointment scheduling runs 2-4 weeks, with approval averaging 6-10 weeks after the interview, per practitioner guides. No published official service-level commitment was captured to corroborate the timeline. Reported, accessed 2026-07-15.

Term: the statutory ceiling and the practice

Short-term residence permits may be issued for at most two years at a time - Law 6458 Article 31(2), as amended by Law 6735 Article 27 (2016); the original 2013 text capped issuance at one year. Confirmed - consolidated primary text, corroborated by the investment-promotion agency's own guidance that short-term permits are issued for a maximum of two years as a principle, accessed 2026-07-17. In practice, property-based permits are typically issued for one year and renewed, with the renewal window opening 60 days before expiry - that practice detail carries Reported status, accessed 2026-07-15.

The permit is tied to continued ownership: renewal applications require a deed-continuity certificate, and selling or letting the property breaks the basis for extension. Confirmed, accessed 2026-07-17. Whether eight years of uninterrupted residence opens a path to Turkey's general long-term residence permit for holders on the property track specifically was not verified this pass. Unresolved.

Family

The primary document is precise on a point secondary guides get wrong: family members who hold a share of ownership on the title deed can apply, provided a document shows the family relationship to the persons named on the deed - "Aile üyelerinin paylı veya elbirliği ile mülkiyet hakkına sahip olunması halinde tapu belgesinde bilgileri bulunan kişiler ile aile bağlarını gösterir belge." That directly refutes claims circulating in some legal-guide content that shared ownership invalidates eligibility. Confirmed - e-ikamet document list, accessed 2026-07-17.

What the primary text does not say is that a single qualifying deed automatically extends to a non-owner spouse or children as dependants. Family members either appear on the deed themselves, with the family-ties document, or they apply through the separate family residence permit route. The "one deed covers the whole family" reading is unsupported by the operative text. An open question flagged for Edition 2: whether the USD 200,000 floor applies per co-owner share or to the property as a whole - no captured source addresses it. Unresolved.

Presence and use

The no-rental condition is explicit and confirmed: the dwelling "may not be used for rent or similar income-generating purposes," and extension applications require proof the property is still owned. Confirmed - e-ikamet document list, accessed 2026-07-17. Practitioner guidance corroborates that selling or renting out the property removes eligibility to extend on that basis, accessed 2026-07-15.

A hard days-per-year absence cap for short-term permits - the figure most often quoted in guides is 120 days - was not verified this pass. No primary source naming an absence threshold was located. Unverified.

Rule stability: four tightenings and one loosening in five years

The record since 2020 runs mostly in one direction. 26 April 2022: minimum property values attached to residence eligibility for the first time - USD 75,000 metropolitan, USD 50,000 elsewhere. Reported. 1 July 2022: the closed-neighborhood quota list expanded to 1,169 locations, applying to residence permits and address changes, with exemptions for newborns and nuclear-family reunification - "kapalı mahalle sayısı 1169'a çıkarılmış," effective "1 Temmuz 2022." Confirmed - Göç İdaresi announcement, accessed 2026-07-17. 2023: further Istanbul district closures. Reported, accessed 2026-07-15.

16 October 2023: the threshold jumped to USD 200,000 nationwide - roughly three times the old metropolitan floor - with the deed price controlling and the valuation report dropped for ordinary purchases. The floor itself is Confirmed (primary); the deed-price mechanics are Reported. 21 November 2024: Law 7533 Article 35 gave the Ministry explicit statutory authority to set the qualifying property's nature and value. Confirmed, accessed 2026-07-17. 2025: enforcement-era detail from practice guides - the mandatory exchange certificate and Turkish-only health insurance. Reported.

June 2026 (approx.): secondary reporting says most closed neighborhoods were reopened around 10 June 2026, but no official Göç İdaresi announcement exists - the announcements index was checked through 2026-07-17 with nothing found - and secondaries conflict on the detail: one outlet says all districts reopened except Fatih and Esenyurt, others say the closure was lifted everywhere including those two. Both positions rest on e-ikamet system observation, not an official text. Unresolved - the "except Fatih and Esenyurt" detail must not be stated as fact.

Nationality access

No nationality is sourced as banned from the property-residence product. The annual permit fee varies by nationality - TRY 4,000-12,000 - but no sourced list identifies which nationalities pay which band. Reported, accessed 2026-07-15. The binding geography restriction in practice is by neighborhood, through foreign-resident density quotas, not by passport; permit holders grandfathered into closed neighborhoods can reportedly still extend. Reported, accessed 2026-07-15.

Citizenship route - a separate product, named for context only

Turkish citizenship by investment requires USD 400,000 in real estate, with a three-year no-sale annotation placed on the title deed - "En az 400.000 Amerikan Doları veya karşılığı döviz tutarındaki ... taşınmazı tapu kayıtlarına üç yıl satılmaması şerhi koyulmak şartıyla satın aldığı," Citizenship Law Implementing Regulation Article 20(2)(b). Confirmed, accessed 2026-07-17. The threshold moved from USD 250,000 to 400,000 in May 2022, and since December 2023 only registered residential units or land with a structure qualify - bare land no longer does. This is a distinct product from the residence permit scored on this page and is not included in the residence figures above.