The market for tax residencies has repriced sharply since 2024. Portugal closed its NHR scheme to new applicants at the end of that year; its successor, IFICI, demands a qualifying professional activity and excludes passive investors and most retirees. Italy raised its flat tax for new arrivals from EUR 200,000 to EUR 300,000 a year in 2026. Against that backdrop, Türkiye’s new regime is not incrementally better. It is a different category.
The lump-sum regimes
Italy’s substitute tax buys exemption on foreign income for up to fifteen years at EUR 300,000 a year, plus EUR 50,000 per family member. Greece offers a comparable non-dom arrangement at EUR 100,000 a year for fifteen years, conditional on a EUR 500,000 investment. Both are honest, predictable and expensive: over a full term, Italy costs EUR 4.5 million per person before any tax is even considered.
Türkiye asks no lump sum. The 20-year exemption is a statutory right for those who qualify, at no annual price. For foreign income of any size, the comparison with the lump-sum regimes is not close.
The zero-tax and non-dom alternatives
Dubai remains the benchmark for simplicity: no personal income tax, indefinitely. What it cannot offer is the Mediterranean: seasons, coastline you can live on year-round in a European rhythm and, for many families, cultural proximity to home. Whether that matters is a personal question, not a fiscal one.
Cyprus deserves respect: seventeen years of non-dom status with no levy on dividends and interest, inside the EU. Its limits are scope (the exemption is narrower than Türkiye’s) and the fact that most other foreign income falls under normal Cypriot tax. Malta and Ireland run remittance systems that reward keeping money out of the country, which sits awkwardly with actually living there.
The honest scorecard
Türkiye wins on cost (zero), scope (all qualifying foreign income), duration (twenty years) and the quality of what your housing budget buys on the Bodrum peninsula. It concedes points on currency stability, on being outside the EU and on regime youth: Law No. 7582 is barely a month old as we write, and track record takes years to accumulate.
Our view: for families whose income is foreign-sourced and who want a Mediterranean base rather than a Gulf one, Türkiye is now the rational first conversation. It should still be a conversation that includes the risks, which is how we run ours.
Insights are general information, not tax advice. Figures reflect the law as of the publication date. Obtain personal advice before acting.