Last year I decided to invest the required $400,000 minimum plus atty fees, etc. in Turkish real estate to get their passport. Later I changed my mind because I will be able to get another pretty good (EU) passport by ancestry-- without any investment... I looked into the Turkish situation rather thoroughly.
The letter (below) to my friends attached *, explains everything good & bad about the Turkish PP program below. There s absolutely no connection between Poland or Polish real estate and Turkey --- aside from the fact that selling or mortgaging Polish (or any real estate you own anywhere) could be a source of the USA$ 450,000 or so you'd have to spend before you got Turkish citizenship.
* To Friends of Peter Taradash April 2023
I am going to Turkey soon (in April 2023) to take advantage of their deal to invest $400,000 (min) in any real estate; any type, anywhere in Turkey and get full passports for yourself, spouse and all minor children. Supposedly takes only about 6-10 weeks after purchase. No language exam, no residence requirement, fairly good pp, & you don't even have to go to Turkey to make the deal.. .I like the fact that you can choose a new Turkish name on pp which is good for banking, etc.
You can pick up the PP at a local consulate... I would never buy property “sight unseen” & so I will definitely go there to "look at 100 local deals- well 25 anyway " before I make any deals for myself and a couple of friends/ clients who've said they also want in.... I figure if I do my usual research I can get bargain deals which can be sold at a profit after the required 3 year holding period.
After re-sale of the property you still get to keep the passports for life & for your kid's descendants too... Not sure if I'll get a couple of condos, or a villa or a waterfront deal. I have decided to concentrate on either downtown Istanbul (most active market but more expensive) or the Yacht & Beach town of Fethiye where they speak English ( it's a favorite vacation & retirement spot for fun-loving Brits mainly)... Last week there were promo flights there from London for only L24. Check out “Fethiye, Turkey” for the blogs on it. I can tell you more if U R interested...This is the only PP deal where you can actually get a PP not only free, but probably make money on the deal too...Of course it take $400,000 minimum (figure $450-$475 as there are costs, plus we might get better bargain deals on a more expensive property than on the minimum.
I’d probably stay a few months in Turkey to arrange for managing & renting the places we own...
Read on only if interested
All the best- P.T.
For the last few months I have been studying a deal that seems to be a near perfect fit – maybe for you. As you know, the right passport can save your life or at least solve a lot of problems.
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Would you like to pick up a Turkish passport for yourself, any spouse & any kid(s) under 18 without the need to ever go to Turkey? You can do that! Of course you can (all) go there if you want to.
See below + videos on YouTube re
"Turkish Passport" & / or ask me for more details.
The Basics:
Only requirement: Spend $400,000 or more on ANY real estate- any villa with land, mansion, palace, or several properties like condo apartments—anywhere in Turkey.
You have to buy from a Turkish owner and bring in to Turkey at least US $400K in foreign currency...
Plenty of distress sales are available. Plus the Turkish Lira is seriously undervalued. My plan in 3+ years (the required holding period) is: you probably can get your $400,000 back (with a likely profit) by selling, refinancing --- or you can hold it for investment or your own vacation place.
In other words, with this deal with a spouse & kids (included!) you can get pretty good passports for the whole group & probably make money on the real estate deal upon selling it in a few years.!
Pardon my enthusiasm, but this seems like the Best passport & real estate deal I have seen in 50 years!
I predict that the current Erdogan government, offering this citizenship & passport deal to bring hard cash into the country (offering a PP which can't be revoked once granted) could be terminated or changed one of these days...Then, I.M.O. this window of opportunity will probably close. So, as in all these opportunities, one must not put off till tomorrow what can & should be done today.
A Turkish passport is good to visit visa-free many countries that you can't go to with a USA or other PP. You can google the map “Turkish Visa Free Travel.” Plus, it is always easy to get an EU / British/ Swiss visa with a Turkish passport if you are a self-supporting bona-fide tourist or financially independent P.T... Plus, for confidential banking, anywhere, you can, upon request, you can get a new cute Turkish name in your passport. If you don't care for “Fatima” or “Kemal” see hundreds of available Turkish names listed-- just google “Common Turkish Names”
For future confidential banking, you can’t beat that optional “new name” benefit!
By the way there are many new options I know of for preserving and enhancing wealth without using bankers at all! Discuss with me.
Like fire insurance, or a spare tire, a 2nd passport from Turkey could someday be your life-saver. If you never need a 2nd passport, the present property prices in some places in Turkey look good as a geographically diversified investment-- even if there was no free passport as a bonus..
Do you want in? You don't have to like Turkey or Turks to appreciate and take advantage of this deal.
For what it's worth, The Simon Black Newsletter wrote this favorable article about Turkish PassportProgram.I found it to be pretty accurate with good info:::::
From Simon Black’s Newsletter:
10 Reasons to choose Turkey for Citizenship By Investment
Excellent Plan B destination: Turkey is a beautiful, affordable and highly livable second home country. Whereas many Citizenship By Investment countries are far-flung island nations, making them logistically ill-suited as bolt-hole destinations, Turkey is situated at the intersection of Western Asia and Southeastern Europe.
The country is increasingly drawing international retirees to its shores, with locations like Antalya, Balkan and Bodrum all boasting growing expat communities.
Unrivaled value for money: An oversupply of recently developed real estate, combined with the devaluing Turkish lira, puts Turkey on sale. Outside of the COVID-19 pandemic, the right investment property in Turkey could also potentially make sense from a rental yield perspective.
What’s more, you’re not confined to government approved off-plan properties; any property can be purchased on the open market. The only requirement is that it must be confirmed to be worth US$400,000 or more by a government authorized valuator.
In many instances, applicants opt to purchase a number of properties with a minimum combined value of $400,000 or higher to ensure they meet the valuation requirement without any issues.
Fast application process: Gain Turkish citizenship by property investment in as little as three to four months. (Citizenship and passports are typically granted within 60 days of application submission.
Short minimum investment period: In order to qualify for Turkish citizenship, applicants are required to hold their $400,000 investment property for only 3 years, compared to 5 years or longer in many other CBI countries.
No additional government donations: Unlike as in Malta or Montenegro, there is no additional – and hefty! – government donations required in order to obtain Turkish citizenship by investment. There are, however, some nominal government processing fees, and service fees can vary significantly from one provider to the next.
Low cost of living: Compared to the US, the cost of living in Turkey is vastly more affordable. According to
Numbeo.com’s figures, property & rental prices are a staggering 91% lower in Turkey than in the US for comparables, while overall consumer goods pricing (excluding rent) is 75% lower in Turkey.
Furthermore, the cost of dining out is 75% lower, with groceries costing 80% less.
So all things considered, opting to retire in Turkey could stretch your retirement savings significantly, compared with the US and a host of other developed countries.
Family eligibility: Bring the family – your spouse, children under 18, and mentally or physically challenged children of any age can be included under your citizenship application.
No minimum stay requirements: The entire application process can be done remotely; you don’t even need to visit Turkey to collect your passports. A reliable service provider could even help you identify and acquire a suitable property remotely.
Moreover, there are no minimum in-country stays required, making Turkey an excellent option as a “back pocket” destination for second citizenship.
E-2 Visa Program eligibility: Turkey enjoys an E-2 Visa Treaty with the US, so obtaining Turkish citizenship can give applicants from non-treaty countries access to the US via this popular visa program.
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Lawyer explains:
Steps to be taken in the Turkish $400,000 real estate investor program.
Azlan seems like a good attorney, seizing the opportunity to make a few dollars helping people get their passports. Instead of insisting on criminal record clearance from the applicant's home country, they just check for those with an international Interpol arrest warrant & if none, you get automatic approval, it seems.
Client Comment: Turkey has adopted a very pragmatic "Don't ask, don't tell" policy. Think about it – if they really wanted to, they could have made a "Certificate of good conduct" as part of the documents required. It has been left off the list of required documents not by negligence, but by deliberate choice. That seems about right. They understand that most of their target audience for this PP program comes from repressive regimes in the Middle East, Iran, Russia, and the former Soviet republics, where simply speaking out against the regime will result in a criminal record for "crimes against the state". So yes, I think you'd have to be at the level of recent international notoriety like Carlos Ghosn to not get approval. By contrast, someone who got busted for not paying their taxes decades ago would hardly raise an eyebrow. Of course, the Turkish police will check that you are not on some terror or no-fly watch list, a member of an anti-Turkish organization like the Kurdish PKK, or on Interpol's Red Notice list (like Carlos Ghosn). See the Netflix movie about his misadventures. A+.Here's another curious fact: Citizens of North Korea, Taiwan, Armenia, or Syria are entirely banned from this deal.
The only strange, possibly hard-to get document may be a certificate of singleness (non-married) ONLY if you want to get married IN Turkey.
I think it would be easy to get the “not married cert” in Europe, but not in some other places. For me, it might be easier just to get married in Turkey & present the marriage cert!
{I saw in a different video that Turkey is happy to accept multiple wives of Muslims for citizenship…} I've figured it out now: The not married certificate requirement for apparently single men. The reason they must produce a certificate before any marriage in Turkey – confirming single status-- is to protect Turkish women from polygamy. This was abolished and criminalized in Turkey in 1926. While Turkey accepts multiple wives of men from other Muslim countries for citizenship, Turks are not allowed to do it. So they are trying to prevent foreigners claiming to be single (but secretly married already) from coming in, getting Turkish citizenship, and then marrying a Turkish woman, thus committing the crime of polygamy in Turkey.
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Are you warming up to this idea? Do you have the required $400+K in play money to "invest" in it. But if you don’t need the rents, you could probably get a great Villa by the sea for that price (400K)
Re cap gains tax. After 5 years, no tax in Turkey. In France, there was no cap gains tax if prop owned for 22+ years, for which we qualified. But this year they changed it to 30+ years..Thus, to escape the French tax, we'd need to hold another 8 years. Observation? Turkey could can change the 5 year law on you. Countries often do just that. The USA is no exception. But if you make a good profit, it is not the end of the world to pay a reasonable capital gains tax. Or beat the tax maybe, using a company to hold & sell.
Another fact: if you sell yourTurkish property after 5 years, there is no Capital Gains Tax. Otherwise, if you sell between 3-5 years and make a profit, you may need to file a tax return and pay a big % of your profit, as a tax.
I think for $400k you might be better off buying several cheaper properties – one to use as your holiday home, and the other(s) to generate rental income. The advantage of this is also that when it comes time to sell, there is a larger pool of potential buyers for less expensive properties than trying to sell a single $500 k house or apartment. .But I would not turn down an exceptional bargain villa with a great location. You’ll have more flexibility this way. By the way, I thinkI ’d budget an extra $55K (over the cost of then property).What for? To cover living expenses till the deal is closed, commissions, lawyer’s fees, transfer taxes, repairs and all other possible incidentals, Maybe you wouldn’t use all of the $55K, but the mere minimum $400k would not cover every thing to the point of closing the deal & getting that new Turkish passport in your hands. I have located a good lawyer who will give us a bargain package deal.
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Do you want still another reason to buy a few bargain priced, easy to rent beach properties in Turkey & get family passports as a bonus ? The answer is diversification!
Foreign property prices & rents are usually uncorrelated to stocks and real estate in your home nation. You can also gain the benefit of cash flow, generating rental income abroad through leasing it rather than letting your assets sit in a safe or bank account.
Furthermore, offshore real estate & rents are denominated in a different currency. Purchasing rental property is a great way to diversify away from dollars or euros.
International property is one of very few things your government can never confiscate. Especially if they don't know about it! The courts, taxman, creditors and others may be able to garnish your wages, bank accounts & even confiscate your precious metal stash.
Like well hidden physical silver or gold bars abroad, nobody can take away your secret condo or villa in a foreign country. You can get theTurkish PP and hold property in an anonymous straw-man or your own new name –or a corporation.
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Some videos to watch about this program in Turkey:
https://youtu.be/8ncvuOGVdRU- re Turkish citizenship in general
https://youtu.be/Kah_E-C1CFY- Fethiye deals -
{Note-Market is always changing; new deals coming on every day. }
To My Pals: March 2023 UPDATE
Turkey is the only place I know of where you can make money while getting new PP as a "free" bonus. Will be taking/guiding along a few clients for the ride. Wanna come? You will need to tie up around $450K cash for 3 years. But this money could be borrowed (outside of Turkey)..
