Client story
Client's Story
Where they started
Denis is twenty-nine, an IT investor from Moscow who is almost constantly traveling. At the time we met, he was living in Bali and wanted to obtain a Turkish residence permit based on real estate - a convenient secondary status that does not require relocation right now. He had already identified a property: a liquid apartment in Izmir for $230,000, right at the program threshold. The catch was that there were several interested parties - there was actually a queue of local buyers for the apartment, and whoever made payment first would get it.
Why the standard route did not work
And here the main difficulty arose. Denis was in Bali, he could not fly to Turkey for each stage of the transaction, and the money needed to reach the seller quickly. The standard method - a bank SWIFT transfer - did not work in his case: transfers from Russia and Asia to Turkey during that period experienced delays of up to a month, underwent additional checks, and could get stuck. During the month that money would be traveling through bank channels, the property would simply be sold to someone else. That is, formally everything was ready for the purchase, but the payment instrument failed.
What BRIDGES had to solve
Denis had cryptocurrency capital, and it seemed logical to settle with crypto. But it was important not to slip into a gray scheme: for obtaining a residence permit, the Turkish immigration service and the notary when registering the Tapu must see legal and verified origin of funds. Simply "transferring USDT to the seller" is not possible - such payment would not be accepted for residence permit purposes. Cryptocurrency transactions in Turkey are legal, but on condition that they go through a licensed agency with conversion to lira or currency and issuance of an official DAB certificate (Döviz Alım Belgesi) - a Central Bank document on currency exchange. It is this certificate that transforms crypto payment into a transaction transparent to the state.
Why a standard answer would not do
Denis came to BRIDGES with two tasks at once: to conduct the purchase remotely without flying to every stage, and to solve the issue of fast and yet legal payment. Remote transactions are our specialty, and we arranged the payment through a licensed crypto agency with escrow and a DAB certificate, so that neither the property would be lost nor would there be any questions about the origin of funds when registering the residence permit.
I was in Bali, and I found an apartment in Izmir that was about to be taken - there was a queue for it. A bank transfer from Russia would have taken up to a month, I would definitely have been late. I have cryptocurrency, but I was afraid that if I paid with it directly, I would not get the residence permit - the money would be considered suspicious. At BRIDGES, everything was done remotely by power of attorney: the payment was made through a licensed crypto agency, USDT was placed in escrow, and I received a bank check and a DAB certificate - an official currency exchange document. The Tapu was registered without me present, I only flew in for biometric registration. I did not lose the property, I obtained the residence permit, and there were no questions about the money at all.
