Figures last checked: . The thresholds, the list of closed neighbourhoods and the nationality law texts change; the figures below describe the rules on that date and are not legal advice.
Start with the 90 days
Holders of an ordinary Kuwaiti passport enter Turkey without a visa for up to 90 days in any 180 days, according to the Turkish foreign ministry's list; the exemption has been in place for years under a bilateral agreement signed in 2013. The 180 days are a rolling window, so two long stays a year are possible, not three, and a day trip to Georgia does not reset the counter. Your passport must be valid for at least 60 days beyond the permitted stay, 150 days in practice. Anyone who wants to stay longer, for whatever reason, needs a residence permit, the ikamet, applied for before the 90 days run out.
What a home does for residence
Turkish immigration law allows a foreigner who owns a residential property to apply for a short-term residence permit, which agents market as residence by property. The property must be a home and must actually be used as one; family members who share the ownership can apply too. The official page mentions no value, but in practice there is one: for homes bought since 16 October 2023 the practical minimum is USD 200,000 across Turkey. Before that date it was USD 75,000 in the big cities and 50,000 elsewhere, and older purchases keep the old thresholds. Because no government page states the figure, confirm it with a Turkish lawyer before you build on it.
Ownership does not guarantee the permit. Every application is assessed individually, you need health insurance valid in Turkey and proof that you can support yourself, and permits are issued for up to two years and then renewed. Most important for Kuwaiti nationals: Turkish residence is a permission to stay and nothing more, and it does not touch your Kuwaiti nationality in any way. This is the safe route.
The closed neighbourhoods
Since 2022 Turkey has refused to register new addresses for foreign residents in neighbourhoods where foreigners make up more than roughly a fifth of the population. This matters to anyone who wants to live in the home rather than visit it in summer: you can buy the property, but you cannot register a residence permit at that address. And the list changes. The restriction on Istanbul's closed neighbourhoods was lifted on 10 June 2026, and several neighbourhoods in Alanya were reopened the same month, but reports still name particular neighbourhoods as closed, and some of the areas Gulf buyers favour in Trabzon and Yalova are dense with foreigners in summer. Check the specific address with the migration authority or a lawyer before you sign, not after.
Citizenship by investment: a warning, not an offer
Turkey grants citizenship to foreigners who buy property worth at least USD 400,000, with an annotation on the deed not to sell for three years, a valuation report and a value confirmation document, and payment of the full price through a Turkish bank with a currency purchase certificate. Many agents market this route to Gulf buyers as a second passport. For a Kuwaiti national, since spring 2026, it has become the most dangerous decision they could take.
On 13 April 2026 Decree-Law No. 52 of 2026, amending Amiri Decree 15 of 1959 on nationality, was published in the official gazette Kuwait Al-Youm and entered into force on publication. It provides for the withdrawal of Kuwaiti nationality from anyone who voluntarily acquires a foreign nationality, requires a naturalised citizen to renounce any other nationality within three months or have the naturalisation annulled from the outset, makes nationality decisions acts of sovereignty outside judicial review, and sets penalties of up to seven years' imprisonment and a KWD 5,000 fine for forgery. This is not a dormant text: the nationality of around 50,000 people was withdrawn in 2025 alone, 2,192 in June 2026 and 415 on 5 October 2026, and unauthorised dual nationality was among the published grounds, including one batch of 120 people on that ground specifically. The cumulative total reached around 71,000 by mid-April 2026, and in June 2026 the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights voiced concern about the effect on women and children.
Our conclusion is clear: for a Kuwaiti national, Turkish citizenship by investment means losing Kuwaiti nationality with no route of appeal, and any marketer who offers it to you without mentioning Decree-Law 52 of 2026 is not working in your interest. Residence by property gives you everything you practically need to stay longer, and it does not touch your nationality. If you are an expatriate resident of Kuwait rather than a Kuwaiti national, this decree does not govern you: your own country's nationality law decides whether you may hold a second nationality, and you should check that before any step. And if you are nonetheless considering it for any reason, consult a Kuwaiti lawyer specialising in nationality before taking any step in Turkey.
Residence in Turkey and tax
Anyone who spends 183 days or more in Turkey in a calendar year is generally considered tax resident there, and is in principle subject to Turkish tax on their worldwide income, including a salary or pension in Kuwait. That is a major shift for anyone used to a country with no personal income tax. There is a double taxation agreement between the two countries that sets out who taxes what, but there is no Kuwaiti tax to set against it, so the Turkish tax becomes a real cost. Anyone who lives in Turkey for less than 183 days, which is the case for most summer visitors from Kuwait, stays outside this and pays Turkish tax only on what they earn there, such as rent, as the letting guide explains. Have a Turkish accountant read the agreement for your situation before you decide to stay more than half the year.
Paying for a home you will live in
The financing does not change because you intend to stay: lira financing is still around 40 percent a year, and the usual route is still savings or a consumer loan in Kuwait within its ceiling, as the financing guide explains. What changes is the order. If residence is the goal, the USD 200,000 threshold, the neighbourhood and health insurance belong in your search criteria from the first viewing, and the value in the deed, not the price negotiated in dollars, is what the migration authority reads.
Checklist for those who want to stay longer
- Count your days: 90 in any rolling 180, and apply for the permit before they run out.
- Check that the deed value of the property meets the practical USD 200,000 threshold if it was bought after 16 October 2023.
- Have the specific neighbourhood checked against the foreign-resident limit before you sign.
- Arrange health insurance valid in Turkey.
- Strike the USD 400,000 citizenship route from your plan unless a specialist Kuwaiti lawyer tells you otherwise in writing.
- Know that 183 days in Turkey make you tax resident there, and plan for it with an accountant.
- Keep your address and papers in Kuwait current; a Turkish address exempts you from nothing.
Questions residents of Kuwait ask
Further reading
What enquirers tell us about moving
Of the 356 enquiries that reached us through our network between 27 May and 9 October 2026, 92 gave emigration as the purpose, and 10 of the 285 written messages mentioned retirement explicitly. These are figures for the whole network, not Turkey or Kuwait alone, but they show that the questions in this guide, the days, the permits and nationality, come up in about one enquiry in four.
Who wrote this guide. Bas Terpstra writes, reviews and approves every guide, using AI tools and public sources as a starting point. Rules and amounts change, so treat this as general information and check the details for your own situation.
This guide is general information and not personal immigration, nationality, legal or tax advice. The thresholds mentioned are indicative and based on public sources from 2026. Turkey Mortgage Kuwait is part of a Dutch company and is not a licensed financing provider in the State of Kuwait, nor an estate agent or a law firm.