Can iranian buy property in turkey

October 1, Iranians in Turkey are finding ways to sidestep laws in their home country to buy properties and get Turkish passports, hoping to protect their savings even as the United States ramps up sanctions on Iran.

As they find ways around Iran's money-transfer restrictions, the spike in home-buying has propelled Iranians to become Turkey's second-largest foreign property buyers, behind only Iraqis. Hundreds of professional Iranians have been forced to make "dodgy money transfers" simply to get by, said one former electrician shop owner who now helps his countrymen buy homes in Istanbul. Interviewed in a housing complex of towers and shops where Farsi was heard as much as Turkish, he said he is not proud of his work which involves helping Iranians transfer money out of their country for which he receives a commission.

Some of the transactions he makes for his fellow countrymen are illegal and he knows that if he returned home he would be arrested for money laundering. A bank should actually be doing this job.

Washington's policy of "maximum pressure" sanctions meant to cripple Iran's economy and force concessions over its nuclear program have prompted Tehran to limit the foreign currency citizens can hold outside banks.

But that and other measures meant to support the Iranian rial have been widely disobeyed, analysts say, prompting the government to resort to bartering to keep the economy afloat. According to five Iranians who spoke to Reuters about property-buying in neighboring Turkey, they are attracted because of the similar Muslim-majority culture and the ease of registering businesses as foreigners in a country that does not recognize U.

The lifetime passport offer, for foreigners who commit not to sell for at least three years, is meant to keep money flowing into an economy that was driven for years by a foreign-funded construction boom. But for middle-class Iranians, property ownership presented an escape from difficulties back home and a safe haven from U.

People are thinking about buying houses as a plan B," said Ali Asgarzade, an Iranian lawyer who plans to move his family from Tabriz to Istanbul due to economic conditions. Asgarzade said he found the price of baby formula in Iran baffling because it tripled in a matter of months after the reimposition of sanctions.

He then decided Turkey was the right choice for his family. The number of properties Iranians purchased in Turkey almost doubled in the first eight months of the year, according to official data. Adjusted for inflation, the residential property price index fell by The cheaper prices may have accelerated a shift in which Iranian home buyers are looking less at Western property markets, while Iranian companies are investing less in the Gulf.

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If you no longer wish to receive our emails, unsubscribe here. Magazine annual electronic subscription. Iranians have turned to Turkey's property market to secure passport advantages. In addition, you can buy a property for thousand Turkish lira or more, get a residence permit for 3 years for yourself and your family, and if you live in Turkey continuously for 5 years on your property You can apply for Turkish citizenship.

With this residence permit, foreign children can study in Turkey. It is much easier for foreigners who have a residence permit in Turkey to find a job, and it is also easier for them to obtain a work permit through law firms in Turkey. Due to the special conditions that the Turkish government has set for buying real estate in Turkey, such as obtaining Turkish citizenship by buying a house in Turkey, citizens of many neighboring Turkish countries seek Turkish citizenship and obtain a Turkish passport to buy a house in Turkey have been.

Meanwhile, in addition to obtaining citizenship in Turkey, Iranian citizens have sought to invest outside Iran due to the devaluation of the rial.