Who Can Acquire Turkish Citizenship by the Exceptional Route?

Published: 26 October 2026 · Reading time about 8 minutes

The general route to Turkish citizenship is built on five years of uninterrupted residence. The exceptional route does not require that period at all. The logic here is different: what is taken as the basis is not the time the person has spent in the country but the contribution they bring to it.

This article explains the groups the Law lists, the point at which the residence condition genuinely is not required, the deciding authority, and the duration conditions that bind on the investment route. We do not state amounts; the threshold values change and the current value needs to be confirmed from an official source.

The four groups the Law lists

The exceptional route is not an option open to everyone; the Law lists exhaustively who may be assessed through it.

Those who have rendered extraordinary service

This group covers those who bring an industrial plant to Türkiye and those who have rendered, or are thought likely to render, extraordinary service in the scientific, technological, economic, social, sporting, cultural or artistic fields. The critical part of the condition is this: a reasoned proposal has to be made about them by the relevant ministries. In other words, an application alone is not enough; an institution has to take the lead.

Investors and Turkuaz Kart holders

The second sub-paragraph lists two groups together: those who obtain a short-term residence permit through investment, and foreign nationals holding a Turkuaz Kart. This sub-paragraph also brings within its scope the foreign spouse of these persons and their own or their spouse's foreign child who is not of full age or who is dependent.

Those whose naturalisation is considered necessary

This category is the sub-paragraph that leaves the administration the widest area of discretion. It operates on public interest grounds and comes up not through an application but on the initiative of an institution.

Those accepted as immigrants

Persons accepted with immigrant status are also assessed through the exceptional route. This status rests on separate legislation and is not the same thing as asylum or international protection.

Is the residence condition genuinely not required?

There is no five-year residence condition in the article, and the duration condition of the general route does not apply on this route. Even so, a distinction has to be drawn.

A duration condition and a document condition are different things

In the investment group, a short-term residence permit obtained on investment grounds has to exist at the time of the application. This is not a duration condition but a document condition: the permit has to be obtained, but there is no need to have stayed for years with it. Confusing the two is a common misunderstanding.

Who takes the decision

On the exceptional route the decision is taken by the President. This power previously belonged to the Council of Ministers; the provision was amended in 2018. That is why older sources still refer to the Council of Ministers.

The requests of those with an impediment in terms of national security and public order are refused by the Ministry. Meeting the conditions does not ensure the outcome; the Law gives the administration a wide discretion, and the breadth of that discretion is debated in the legal literature.

The binding periods on the investment route

In most of the investment categories what is critical is not the threshold value itself but how long the investment is to be held. Where this condition is breached, cancellation of the citizenship may come into question.

The categories with a three-year condition

• Acquisition of immovable property: a note of non-sale for three years is placed on the title deed record
• Bank deposit: a three-year holding condition
• Government debt instrument: a three-year holding condition
• Real estate investment fund or venture capital investment fund unit: holding for at least three years
• Private pension contribution: remaining in the system for three years

What the note on the immovable property does

On immovable property the three-year condition is secured not by an undertaking but by a note entered on the title deed record. As long as the note stands, a sale cannot be completed; in other words, breaching the condition is not possible in practice, and the real risk is planning a sale without knowing that the note is there.

Acquisition through a promise-to-sell agreement

Where acquisition is through a promise-to-sell agreement made before a notary, an undertaking that the property will not be transferred for three years also has to be noted on the record. Those planning an acquisition by this route need to complete the entry of the note at the time of the agreement; a note left until later delays the suitability assessment.

The categories with no stated duration condition

In the fixed capital investment and employment categories, the sources do not state a holding period. In these two categories the determination of suitability is made by the relevant ministries. The absence of a duration condition does not mean that there is no supervision.

The position of the spouse and children

In the second sub-paragraph the spouse and children are expressly brought within the scope; no separate investment is required for the spouse. A child in the applicant's custody acquires citizenship with the consent of the other spouse; where there is no consent, the matter is dealt with according to the decision of the judge in the country of the child's habitual residence.

There is an important limit: a child not dealt with at the same time cannot apply through this route once of full age, but only through the general route. The moment at which children are included in the file is therefore a decision that cannot be put right afterwards.

Not to be confused with the Mavi Kart

The reacquisition of Turkish citizenship by Mavi Kart holders rests not on the exceptional route but on the separate article of the Law concerning reacquisition. On that route too no residence condition is required, but the decision is taken by the Ministry. The conditions and the deciding authorities of the two routes are different.

Three things to look at first in the file

• Which sub-paragraph you will be assessed under: the sub-paragraphs call for different documents and different authorities
• If you are on the investment route, which institution the suitability document is to be obtained from
• The consent needed for the spouse and children to be dealt with in the same file

We clarify these three headings together at the initial consultation. The initial consultation is free of charge; at the end of the meeting we give you the road map and the fee in writing.