Last year, 99,000 Russians received a residence permit in Turkey

In 2022, the Russians took first place among foreigners who received a residence permit (residence permit) in Turkey. In total, according to the results of last year, more than 408,000 people received Turkish residence permits, of which 25% (more than 99,000) of the total number of migrants are Russian citizens, follows from data published on July 24 by the Turkish Institute of Statistics (Turkstat). Russia is followed by Ukraine – 8.1% (over 32,000), Iran – 6.5% (26,000), Afghanistan – 5.4% (24,000) and Iraq – 4.8% (22,000). The city with the largest number of immigrants was Istanbul – 35.4% of the population, in second place – Antalya with 14.8%, and only 5.4% of foreigners live in Ankara.

In 2021, more than 410,000 foreigners received a residence permit in Turkey, then citizens of Iraq were in first place – almost 47,000, followed by citizens of Iran (39,000) and Afghanistan (30,000). In 2021, a total of 22,000 Russians and 5,400 Ukrainians received Turkish IDs. In 2020, only 147,000 residence permits were issued, of which 8,500 were received by Russians.

Today, there are no problems with obtaining a residence permit in Turkey, in 29 out of 39 districts of Istanbul there are migration services for issuing residence permits to foreigners, says Arsen Ayupov, president of the Russian-Turkish Dialogue Association, partner at the NSP Law Office. At the same time, the “principle of 20%” continues to operate in Turkey, according to which, if the number of foreigners living in a particular area exceeds 20%, the issuance of a residence permit in it stops, the expert noted.

The Turkish authorities have never demonstrated bias towards Russian citizens when obtaining an investment residence permit, says Alexander Kosovsky, an expert on foreign real estate and investment immigration Astons. The program itself, according to which this type of citizenship is obtained, is quite loyal, including for residents of sanctioned countries – not only Russia, but also, for example, Iran. Certain concerns about the future of the program arose during the election period. According to the expert, Erdogan’s opponent Kemal Kilicdaroglu said that he would remind Russia of Turkey’s membership in NATO. Nevertheless, fears were dispelled with the victory of Erdogan, today the program continues to work. At the same time, Kosovsky notes, in the near future we should expect an increase in the investment threshold from $400,000 to $1-1.5 million. This is due to the fact that the local population of Turkey is suffering from rising housing prices, which is blamed on foreigners buying property, Kosovsky says.

Last month, Russians also led among foreign citizens in terms of the number of purchased real estate. According to Turkstat, in June the sale of housing to foreigners decreased by 69.6% compared to the same period last year and amounted to 2,600 housing units, of which Russian citizens bought 733 units. Russia is followed by Iran – 333 units and Iraq – 175 units. Citizens of Ukraine purchased 168 housing units. In total, the share of housing sales to foreigners in the total amounted to 3.1%. In the first six months of 2023, out of 19,430 properties sold to foreigners, Russians purchased 6,456. In January, Russians bought 1,557 properties; in February, 1,183; in March, 1,175; In 2022, Russia became the leader in the number of houses and apartments purchased in Turkey – 16,312 out of 68,210 objects sold to foreigners.