Passport in Turkey or permanent residence permit in a European Union and Schengen area country?
We receive frequent inquiries about the Greek Golden Visa in relation to Turkish citizenship.
Turkey offers the possibility for real estate investors to obtain Turkish citizenship if they invest the amount of $400,000 in a Turkish property. Until recently this amount was $250,000 but recently an increase in the minimum investment amount to $400,000 was announced that will be in effect from 13 June 2022.
Similarly, Greece has a residence permit for real estate investors who will invest the minimum amount of 250,000 euros in a Greek property. The Greek program also offers access to all Schengen zone countries without the need for a visa.
Until recently the two schemes shared almost the same investment value.
Despite the price increase in the Turkish program making it considerably more expensive than the Greek scheme, we believe that this comparison has value and is of interest to many potential investors.
How about visa-free travel?
Greece’s dominant feature is the ability of investors and their family members to travel to the 26 countries of the Schengen area. Europe is the most popular destination in terms of arrivals worldwide.
The Turkish passport, on the other hand, enables access to 115 countries without the need for a visa. But these countries do not include any of what we call popular destinations. That is USA, European Union, UK, China and so on. For these countries, the Turkish citizen will need to issue a visa to be able to visit.
What about the value of my investment?
The continuous fall of the Turkish lira creates investment opportunities in Turkey. However, after the investor acquires the property, it will continue to lose its value due to the fall of the currency.
Greece, on the contrary, belongs to the Eurozone. And the stability of the currency is unquestionable. On top of this, property prices are still the lowest among European Union countries.