Simply put, my husband Bruce and I love the country Turkiye. The people, the hospitality, the culture, the food… everything about it!
On our second long trip to the country, in mid-August 2021, Bruce and I sat in Story Café in the Moda district of Istanbul enjoying a treat. We said to each other – “what would it take to live here?”
Before finishing my cappuccino, I took to Google, figuring out visa requirements and how long Americans were allowed to stay in the country. The regular travelers’ visa would give us 90 days in Turkiye over a 180-day period. Great, we thought, we like enough of eastern Europe that we could jump back and forth to there, spending six months total in the region per year.
The infamous day at Story Cafe in Moda with the matcha/strawberry chip cookie, when we wondered: What if?
But what if that wasn’t enough?
Toward the end of the trip, we learned about the CBI (Citizenship By Investment) program. Turkiye isn’t the only country that has this type of program; other countries refer to it as a Golden Visa or something similar. It’s more or less a way to make an investment in a country to receive a second passport.
In our case, the second passport would allow us easier access to a country we love dearly: Turkiye. And, while all CBI or Golden Visa programs come in slightly different flavors, Turkiye’s requires that the applicant invests in property in the country. In the end, we will not only have our passports, but we will also own property that will hopefully give us some return on our investment!
Want more details on the Turkish CBI? That’s coming next time.