Turkey eyes changes to residency, citizenship rules

By Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA

Turkey’s government on Tuesday submitted new proposals to streamline the country’s residency and citizenship regulations for foreign nationals.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim backed the proposals which will, among other things, enable the Interior Ministry to allocate Turkish ID numbers without searching for residency permits.

Diplomatic mission members will be excluded from this decree.

Tuesday’s legislative proposals would also enable those who lost Turkish citizenship to naturalize without searching for a residence permit, provided they pose no issues for national security.

A foreign national who has applied for Turkish citizenship will not be able to be outside the state for more than nine months during his or her application period.

The proposals also suggest changes for foreign nationals trying to gain Turkish citizenship through marriage, stipulating that they should not pose any issues to “public morality”.

Turkey hosts some three million Syrian refugees, more than any other country in the world.

According to Turkish Statistical Institute data published in 2016, more than 650,000 other foreigners are living in the state.