Cyprus Approved New Amendments to the Citizenship by Investment Program

Nowadays, having citizenship or at least a residence permit in one of the EU countries is not only a matter of prestige, but of comfort for passport owners and their families.

However, not all states of the European Union provide an opportunity to easily and quickly obtain a residence permit, permanent residence and citizenship. However, there is an exception! And this is Cyprus, the kingdom of the sun, sea and beaches.

By investing € 2 million in real estate or the country's economy, you can cut yourself a window to Europe.

As you may know, you can obtain a Cypriot passport by purchasing residential or commercial real estate worth at least € 2 million, or by investing at least € 2 million in companies that are actually located and operating in Cyprus, as well as in alternative investment funds or shipping industry in Cyprus.

And yet, at the same time, it is necessary to fulfill a number of conditions that can guarantee a positive result.

Recently, the Parliament of Cyprus voted for amendments to the Citizenship by Investment program.

The final version with all the changes made was announced by Henley & Partners, which advises the governments of various countries in the development and implementation of such programs. Official changes are expected to be announced in the Cyprus Government Gazette shortly.

According to the proposal of MP Diko Panikos Leonidou, all applications from investors submitted from January 31, 2020 to June 19, 2020, as previously proposed, will be considered in accordance with the rules in force until January 31, 2020. By the way, for five months, from January 31 to June 19, 2020, the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not process incoming applications due to legal uncertainty.

What has changed for potential Cyprus passport applicants?

1. The investor is now not allowed to establish a development company within the framework of their investment plan and purchase real estate for it. All investments must be made only by a private individual.
2. Parliament voted to increase the amount of mandatory contributions to the two state funds from € 75,000 to € 100,000 each. Thus, the total mandatory non-refundable payment has increased from € 150,000 to € 200,000.
3. For setting up a business in Cyprus, the number of Cypriot citizens that the investor must employ has changed. Now it is nine people instead of the five.
4. Together with the main applicant, not only his parents can now participate in the program and obtain citizenship, but also the parents of the spouse, in the event that a property worth from € 500,000 (plus VAT) is purchased for each of them. Real estate can be acquired collectively for several families - for example, one house worth at least € 1 million at once for both the parents of the main applicant and the parents of his spouse.
5. If earlier politically exposed persons (PEP) were prohibited from obtaining investment citizenship of Cyprus for three years after being in this status, now this period has been reduced to 12 months. This category of persons includes: heads of state, heads of government, ministers, their deputies or assistants, members of parliament and governing bodies of political parties, members of supreme, constitutional courts and other judicial bodies whose decisions are not subject to further appeal, ambassadors, high-ranking officers of the armed forces , members of administrative, managerial or supervisory bodies of state enterprises, mayors of cities.
6. The new rules concretize the concept of a "minor child": it is an unmarried child of spouses, partners who is under 18 years of age, adopted or illegitimate.
7. A police clearance certificate, which is required as one of the required documents from the investor, is now valid for six months from the date of issue, instead of three.
8. The authorities have the right to revoke the investor's citizenship in the event that violations provided for by the current legislation are found.