The Döviz Alım Belgesi (DAB) explained for foreign buyers

A Döviz Alım Belgesi (DAB) is the bank document proving that the foreign currency used for a foreign buyer’s Turkish property purchase was sold through a bank under the Central Bank rules. The DAB must be presented to the Land Registry before the deed transaction. In a citizenship purchase, it does not replace the bank receipt showing payment from buyer to seller.

The rule has applied to purchases by foreign natural persons since 24 January 2022, subject to the transition provisions for earlier payments. It is wider than the citizenship programme.

The official rule in one table

Item	Requirement
Who sells the currency?	The buyer, seller or an authorised representative
Where is it sold?	To a bank, for sale to the Central Bank under the applicable instruction
When is the DAB submitted?	Before the deed transaction
What value enters the deed?	The Turkish-lira amount recorded on the DAB
Extra evidence for citizenship	Bank receipt documenting payment from buyer to seller

The primary references are TKGM’s announcement on the DAB requirement, Circular 2022/1 and the current citizenship implementation guide.

What must appear on the DAB

For a citizenship transaction, TKGM’s implementation guide requires the document to identify the person for whom the currency was sold and include the passport or foreign identity number, the property number, the US-dollar equivalent and wording that connects the transaction to the citizenship rules. If a property number is unavailable, the guide provides for the ada, parsel, block and independent-unit details as applicable.

The DAB amount used for the deed must exclude unrelated items such as VAT, commission, expenses, tax and fees. Those amounts need their own payment treatment. The bank and lawyer should review the draft details before the foreign currency is sold; correcting an identifier after the deed appointment is avoidable work.

A safe operational sequence

1. Obtain the exact property identifiers and agree the contractual sale price.
2. Give the bank the buyer, seller, representative and property information before moving or converting funds.
3. Confirm which party will sell the foreign currency and which bank will issue the DAB.
4. Have the bank issue the DAB with the required identification, property and purpose wording.
5. Check that the Turkish-lira amount intended for the deed excludes taxes, commission and other non-price items.
6. Submit the DAB before the deed transaction. For citizenship, retain the separate buyer-to-seller bank receipt and ensure it refers to the same transaction.

Do not choose the bank route from a generic example. Banks can have different internal compliance steps, cut-off times and document requests. The legal test is the official content and transaction chain, not whether the seller’s bank or the buyer’s bank was used.

Frequent errors

Converting before the file is structured. Selling the currency before the property identifiers, parties and purpose wording are settled can leave the document incomplete. Sequence the banking step with the deed application.

Treating SWIFT as the DAB. They prove different events. The DAB supports the regulated currency sale; the transfer record supports movement of funds. Citizenship purchases require a coherent chain from buyer to seller.

Mixing purchase price with expenses. The official instructions say the DAB amount used as the declared deed value must not include VAT, commission, tax, fees or other costs. Separate these amounts in the payment plan.

Relying on a verbal bank answer. Ask the branch to confirm the required document fields before the transfer. A generic promise that the certificate can be produced later is not enough for a time-sensitive deed appointment.

What the DAB does not prove

The DAB does not by itself prove that the seller was paid, that the property meets the citizenship threshold, that the valuation and seller-history rules are satisfied or that the three-year annotation was entered. It is one link in the file.

Read it alongside the real-estate route, the requirements checklist and the application process. Those pages place the bank document inside the wider investment and citizenship review.

Last source check: 21 September 2026. Bank fees, exchange spreads and processing times are commercial terms; this page does not publish an unsupported standard percentage or turnaround time.