Opening of a Turkish Bank Account Has Been Made Mandatory
The Turkish Citizenship by Investment Programme
The Turkish Citizenship by Investment Programme has been amended by a regulation published in the official government gazette on the 6th January 2022. As per the new regulation (31711), it has now become mandatory to open a bank account in Turkey in order to exchange the funds being used for the investment into Turkish Lira before applying for citizenship.
By virtue of these amendments, investors who want to apply for citizenship by investing in real estate, depositing money into a Turkish bank, investing in Turkish government bonds, or buying trust shares have to directly exchange their funds into Turkish Lira.
Investors Impacted by the New Amendments
These amendments impact those investors who want to deposit at least $500,000 US dollars into a bank for three years by the fact that the funds will be kept in Turkish Lira. On the other hand, investors purchasing Turkish property will no longer be able to transfer the amount directly to the sellers account from an overseas bank account. It will now be obligatory to first open a bank account in Turkey, deposit the funds, and the bank will exchange the foreign currency into Turkish Lira before transferring it to the seller or developer.
The Turkish Central Bank is yet to offer clarifications for those investors who have deposited foreign currency and planned to keep them for at least three years as per the citizenship regulations, but it is not expected that such amendments would have a retroactive effect.
It is understood that the main aim of such amendments is to support and strengthen the national currency of Turkey. It is estimated that the citizenship by investment programme has attracted over 7,000 individuals over a number of years.
