Is There a 200 Thousand Dollar Condition for a Residence Permit via Property?

Published: 24 September 2026 · Reading time approximately 7 minutes

Foreign nationals who own property in Turkey may request a short-term residence permit. This route has existed for years and its basis is Article 31 of Law No. 6458 together with the relevant articles of the Implementing Regulation.

Recently a large number of property sites and consultancy pages have written that the property value sought for this route has been raised from 75.000 US Dollars to 200.000 US Dollars. Decisions to buy a home are being taken on the basis of this figure. So we looked for its source.

What does the official source say?

On the page where the Presidency of Migration Management explains the types of residence permit, a single condition is stated for property owners: the property must be residential and must be used for that purpose. The page does not state any minimum monetary value, either in dollars or in Turkish Lira.

Articles 31-33 of Law No. 6458 and Articles 28-29 of the Implementing Regulation are cited as the basis. These texts likewise contain no value threshold for the property.

So where does the 200 thousand dollars come from?

We opened the pages stating the figure one by one. Their common feature is this: none of them cites an Official Gazette date, an article of law or a circular number. Even the most detailed of them refers only to "amendments made" on a particular date, without stating which text that amendment is or where it was published.

The same pages also describe a condition requiring a current valuation report obtained from valuation organisations licensed by the Capital Markets Board. This condition is likewise not tied to any published legislative provision; it is conveyed as an administrative practice rule.

This does not mean that the figure is invented. Residence permit practice in Turkey rests largely on administrative discretion and on the practice of provincial governorates; unpublished practice rules may genuinely exist and governorates may apply them. However, an unpublished rule cannot be presented as though it were a published one. The difference determines what you can rely on in a dispute.

What should you do before buying?

If you are planning a property purchase in the expectation of a residence permit, the order should be as follows:

• Confirm that the property you are going to buy is registered as residential in the title deed. Land, shops and warehouses are not suitable for this route.
• Check whether the neighbourhood in which the property is located is open to foreign residence. A permit cannot be obtained in a neighbourhood closed to address registration, and this check must be carried out before purchase.
• Try to obtain written confirmation of which documents, and which value, the governorate you will apply to requires on that date. Verbal information will be of no use to you when a file is rejected.
• If a value threshold is applied, obtain the valuation report from a licensed valuation organisation and plan the date of the report according to your application timetable.

Do not take a purchase decision solely on the basis of a figure circulating on the internet. Even if the figure turns out to be correct, a residence permit still cannot be obtained for a property in the wrong neighbourhood or one not registered as residential in the title deed.

How can you verify a circulating figure yourself?

Figures change frequently in the law on foreign nationals, and old figures continue to circulate on the internet for years. Before making an amount you have seen on a page the basis of a purchase decision, you can carry out three checks.

• Does it cite its source? A serious piece of legislation is always referred to with an Official Gazette date and number, or at least with an article of a regulation. Where these are absent, the text is not a news report but a comment.
• Search the Official Gazette's own archive. Every published regulation can be found there and the search is free of charge. If the figure does not appear there, it is not a published rule.
• Look at the institution's own page. The Presidency of Migration Management explains the types of residence permit and their conditions on its own site; if a condition is genuinely required, it usually appears there as well.

These three checks take a few minutes and eliminate a great deal of incorrect information at the outset.

Why does unpublished practice matter?

Whether or not a condition has been published makes a difference not during the procedure but during an appeal. You can anticipate a procedure carried out on the basis of a published rule and prepare your file accordingly. An unpublished practice rule, by contrast, may vary from governorate to governorate, and even from one period to another.

The practical consequence is this: in such a situation, do not content yourself with verbal information. Try to obtain in writing, from the governorate where you will apply, the documents required and the value sought, if any. If you hold a written answer, you have a document to rely on when a file is rejected.

Options other than the property route

A short-term residence permit is not tied to property alone. The Law lists other grounds as well, and in many files these produce a result faster than the property route. Determining which ground fits your situation is the first step in placing your file under the correct article.

Legislation and administrative practice may change. The information on this page has been prepared for general information purposes; before a decision that is difficult to reverse, such as a property purchase, an assessment specific to your file is required.