Q: Hello, I am an American citizen looking to invest in commercial real estate in Istanbul. I was curious about how the citizenship by investment process works. Do I need to speak to anyone before buying the property? Or should I buy the property and begin the process of getting my citizenship afterwards? In addition, if I were to choose to establish a company in Turkey and employ 50 or more people, how long would I have to maintain that company in order to get my citizenship?

Q: I am Egyptian, and I would like to set up a business in Turkey. I’ve heard that if you invest USD X amount, you may be eligible for privileges. Can I invest in any sector, like restaurants or import and export of clothes? Or it has to be in a specific area of investment? Also, what are the privileges that I can have as a foreign investor? I appreciate your answers.

Q: Hello, I am from Lebanon. A friend of mine told me that, buying property in Turkey grants anyone the right to reside in the country legally because he owns a property, where he renews his residence annually or every two years. That allows him after about five years to apply for citizenship. is this true? Is there any way to cut the "five years" residency and apply directly to Turkish citizenship or after one year or two at max? Please advise as I am thinking of taking such steps.

Q: I paid AED 25000 as the first installment in 2017 for apartment booking. The developers continue to delay the development and I request recently the cancellation of the apartment and refunding the amount. Now more than two years gone, they didn’t refund my money and they are not responding back. All the money was paid to the developer account and no agreement was signed. Only one paper was given to me as an initial reservation form. I am based in turkey. Please assist me with how I can get back my money. I have all the email correspondences and the payment evidence and receipt.

Many countries are now providing residency and/or citizenship to foreign investors, in a global trend to encourage investments in many sectors. Among these are real estate, trade, banking and others. Such conditions vary from one country to another subject to their respective laws and regulations.

Many countries have been providing the option of Citizenship by Investment recently, whereby foreign individuals can obtain the citizenship of a certain country in a relatively short period in exchange for a certain amount of investment in sectors like real east, banking...etc. Turkey is one of the countries offering such an option and has made amendments to its legislation to attract investors willing to obtain its citizenship.