Turkish citizenship: descent, residence, marriage and investment

Turkish citizenship is acquired either by birth or later (Law No. 5901, art. 5). Citizenship by birth arises automatically, on the basis of descent or place of birth, and has effect from the moment of birth (art. 6).

Under the descent rule (art. 7): 1) a child born, in Turkey or abroad, within marriage to a Turkish mother or a Turkish father is a Turkish citizen; 2) a child born outside marriage to a Turkish mother and a foreign father is a Turkish citizen; 3) a child born outside marriage to a Turkish father and a foreign mother acquires Turkish citizenship once the procedures for establishing descent are completed.

Birth in Turkey alone does not make a child Turkish. The place-of-birth rule applies only to a child born in Turkey who cannot acquire the citizenship of any country through their foreign parents; such a child is Turkish from birth (art. 8(1)). A child found in Turkey is presumed to have been born in Turkey unless the contrary is proven (art. 8(2)).

A foreign national who meets the conditions in the Law may acquire Turkish citizenship by decision of the competent authority, but meeting the conditions does not give the person an absolute right to citizenship (Law No. 5901, art. 10(1)).

The ordinary route requires the applicant to (art. 11(1)): 1) be of age and have capacity under their own national law (Turkish law if stateless); 2) have resided in Turkey without interruption for five years before the date of application; 3) confirm by their conduct that they have decided to settle in Turkey; 4) have no disease that is a danger to general health; 5) be of good moral character; 6) speak sufficient Turkish; 7) have income or a profession sufficient to support themselves and their dependants in Turkey; and 8) present no obstacle in terms of national security and public order.

Residence means living in Turkey in accordance with Turkish law (art. 15). The Law allows the applicant to be outside Turkey for up to twelve months in total within the required residence period (art. 15); this figure was raised from six to twelve months by Law No. 7039 in 2017. The implementing Regulation, which has not been amended on this point, still states that residence periods are calculated under its own rules: it allows up to six months in total abroad, and more than six months abroad, or more than six months in Turkey without a valid residence permit, interrupts the residence period, and residence before that date is disregarded (Citizenship Regulation, art. 71(1), (b) and (c)). An applicant whose absences exceed six months in total should be prepared for the authorities to apply the six-month rule in the Regulation. Both texts were checked as in force on 17 October 2026.

The Regulation also lists residence that does not count for citizenship, including residence on permits taken for study, tourism, accompanying a child in education or medical treatment, and residence as an asylum applicant (Citizenship Regulation, art. 71(1)(ç)). However, where a person who was in Turkey for one of these purposes later holds residence on a ground that does count, the earlier periods are also taken into account; this does not apply to residence on a tourist permit (Citizenship Regulation, art. 71(1)(d)). Residence permits themselves are covered on a separate page.

The application is made in person, or through a power of attorney for that purpose, to the governorship (valilik) of the place of residence in Turkey, or to a Turkish diplomatic mission abroad (Law No. 5901, art. 37). At a preliminary review the governorship does not accept the application of a person against whom criminal proceedings are pending for any offence, or who has been convicted or is detained on remand, and notifies the person in writing (Citizenship Regulation, art. 16(2)(ç)). For applications under art. 11 and art. 16, a citizenship application review commission set up in each province examines whether the conditions are met (art. 18). The file is then sent to the Ministry of the Interior, which decides (art. 19(1) and art. 3(1)(a)). The decision has effect from its date and does not affect the citizenship of the applicant's spouse (Law No. 5901, art. 20(1) and (2)).

Marriage to a Turkish citizen does not directly confer Turkish citizenship (Law No. 5901, art. 16(1)). A foreign national who has been married to a Turkish citizen for at least three years, and whose marriage continues, may apply. The conditions are: 1) living together as a family; 2) not engaging in any activity incompatible with the marital union; and 3) presenting no obstacle in terms of national security and public order (art. 16(1)).

If the marriage ends because the Turkish spouse dies after the application, the condition of living together as a family is not applied (art. 16(2)). A foreign national who acquired citizenship by marriage keeps it if the marriage is later declared void, provided they acted in good faith when marrying (art. 16(3)).

Under the Regulation, the application is not accepted if the inquiry shows that the applicant has not been married to a Turkish citizen for three years, that the marriage ended before the application, that criminal proceedings (a trial) against the applicant are pending for any offence, or that the applicant has been convicted or is detained on remand, or that the required documents have not been produced; the applicant is notified (Citizenship Regulation, art. 25(2)). Where the spouse became a Turkish citizen later, the length of the marriage is counted from the date the spouse acquired citizenship (art. 25(3)).

This page deals only with the citizenship side of marriage. Family residence permits are covered on the residence permit page.

Investment is one of the exceptional routes in Law No. 5901. Provided there is no obstacle in terms of national security and public order, the foreign nationals listed in art. 12(1) may acquire citizenship by decision of the President. Sub-paragraph (b) covers persons who hold a residence permit under art. 31(1)(j) of Law No. 6458, Turquoise Card holders, and their foreign spouse and their own or their spouse's minor or dependent foreign children. Art. 31(1)(j) of Law No. 6458 concerns persons who will make an investment in the scope and amount determined by the President.

The investment types and minimum amounts are set in art. 20(2) of the Regulation on the Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law. The figures and conditions below are taken from that article as in force on 17 October 2026; the article has been amended several times by presidential decision, and only the text in force on that date is relied on here. Besides its paragraph numbers, the Turkish text of art. 20 reproduced on this page contains footnote markers of the official text, such as (3)(4) at the end of sub-paragraph (b); they refer to amending decisions and are not paragraph numbers. The Regulation lists seven alternatives, each confirmed by a named public body:

The amounts are determined using the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey's effective selling rate and/or cross rate on the date of determination (Citizenship Regulation, art. 20(6)). For alternatives 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 above, the foreign currency is sold before the transaction to a bank operating in Turkey and by that bank to the Central Bank (art. 20(10)). For alternatives 4, 5 and 7, the Turkish lira obtained from that sale is held for three years in Turkish lira deposits, in Turkish lira government debt instruments or in the pension funds designated by the Insurance and Private Pension Regulation and Supervision Authority respectively; the implementing rules are set by the Central Bank (art. 20(10)).

Moving between the investment types in order to complete the stated period is permitted (art. 20(8)). The procedures for checking whether an investment meets the required scope and amount are set by the body that makes the determination (art. 20(9)).

The thresholds are conditions, not an entitlement. Applications by persons who present an obstacle in terms of national security and public order are refused by the Ministry (Law No. 5901, art. 12(2)), and meeting the conditions does not give an absolute right to citizenship (art. 10(1)). The bars on acquisition in art. 72(5) of the Regulation, described in the section on refusals below, are not limited to any particular route by which a foreign national acquires citizenship later, so they are worded to cover the investment route as well. The figures are set by secondary legislation and have been changed by presidential decision; the date given above is the date of the text relied on. The Regulation article does not itself state what follows if the investment is sold or withdrawn before the three years end.

Law No. 5901 defines multiple citizenship as a Turkish citizen holding more than one citizenship at the same time (art. 3(1)(b)). Where a person acquires a foreign citizenship for any reason, an annotation that they hold multiple citizenship is entered in their family register once they submit the documents and the authorities confirm that the records concern the same person (art. 44).

Law No. 5901 does not itself require a foreign national to give up their existing citizenship in order to acquire Turkish citizenship. The implementing Regulation, however, provides that for the ordinary route, renunciation of the applicant's current citizenship may be required in addition to the other conditions (Citizenship Regulation, art. 15(2)). Whether the other state allows dual citizenship is a matter for that state's law, which this page does not cover.

A Turkish citizen who wants to leave Turkish citizenship must obtain permission. The Ministry may grant it if the person 1) is of age and has capacity; 2) has acquired a foreign citizenship or there are convincing signs that they will; 3) is not wanted for an offence or for military service; and 4) is not subject to any financial or criminal restriction (Law No. 5901, art. 25). A permission to leave is valid for two years from the decision; if the foreign citizenship is not acquired within that period, the permission lapses (art. 26(2)). Citizenship is lost when the document of renunciation is handed to the person against signature (art. 27(1)).

People who were Turkish by birth and left Turkish citizenship with permission, and their descendants to the third degree, continue to enjoy the rights of Turkish citizens, with exceptions: they have no right to vote or stand for election, no right to import vehicles or household goods duty-free and no military service obligation, and they cannot hold permanent public service posts (art. 28(1) to (3)). On request they are issued a Blue Card showing these rights (art. 28(6)).

The Ministry refuses applications it does not find suitable after its examination (Law No. 5901, art. 19(1)); the Regulation repeats that requests of persons who do not meet the conditions are refused by the Ministry (Citizenship Regulation, art. 35(11)). Decisions on acquisition and loss of citizenship are notified to the person and to the authority where the application was made (Law No. 5901, art. 41).

The Regulation, rather than the Law, lists specific bars. Persons found by the inquiries of the relevant bodies to have been involved in activities such as terrorism-related offences under Law No. 3713, rebellion, espionage or treason, or arms or drug smuggling, human smuggling or human trafficking cannot acquire Turkish citizenship. Nor can a person sentenced to more than six months of imprisonment, even if the sentence was suspended, time-barred, converted to a fine, pardoned or the pronouncement of the judgment was deferred; sentences for negligent offences are excluded (Citizenship Regulation, art. 72(5)). The provision does not limit itself to any particular route by which a foreign national acquires citizenship later, so it is worded to cover the investment route as well.

Neither Law No. 5901 nor the Regulation sets a separate objection procedure or a separate time limit for challenging a refusal. The general rule in Law No. 2577 is that, unless a special law provides a different period, the time limit for bringing a case before the Council of State and the administrative courts is 60 days (art. 7(1)), running from the day after written notification of the decision (art. 7(2)(a)).

A refusal is challenged by an annulment action (iptal davası) before the administrative court. Before going to court, the person may ask the superior authority or, if there is none, the authority that made the decision, within the time limit, to withdraw or change it; this request stops the time limit from running, and it resumes, counting the time already elapsed, once the request is refused or deemed refused after 30 days without an answer (Law No. 2577, art. 11). Where an authority does not answer an application within 30 days, the application is deemed refused and a case may be brought within the time limit counted from the end of that period (art. 10(2)). If the authority gives a non-final answer within the 30 days, the person may treat it as a refusal and bring a case, or wait for the final answer, in which case the time limit does not run; the wait may not exceed four months from the date of application. If no case is brought, or a case was dismissed as out of time, and the competent authority answers after the 30 days have passed, a case may still be brought within 60 days of notification of that answer (art. 10(2)).

Law No. 5901 refers to court proceedings expressly for one situation: where a person whose citizenship has been cancelled goes to court against the cancellation, the liquidation of their property is postponed until the end of the case (art. 33(2)). Refusals of residence permits are covered on a separate page.