On April 01, the European Commission called on Cyprus, Malta, Bulgaria to close their passport program in exchange for investment. In an interview with Phileleftheros, the head of Internal Affairsof the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Nuris, said that the government is not going to refuse the concept of “golden passports”. It can become one of the main ways to get finances to the Cypriot economy, which is in crisis situation after COVID-19 pandemic.
We believe that according to measures that were taken after May 2019, we do not need to complete this program,– the Minister of Internal Affairs explained.
According to his opinion, the authorities of the Republic of Cyprus intend to intensity the process of considering applications. Now, about 900 applications have accumulated from foreign millionaires, asking to grant them Cypriot citizenship in exchange for investment. The process of reviewing documents that were submitted in March 2019 has been completed. Authorities are studying 474 applications, that were submitted in April and May 2019.
When the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic will over, the competition will intensify from other countries, which will also try to attract foreign investments. The authorities of the Republic of Cyprus intend to increase the level of confidence in their investment program by tightening the conditions for issuing passports. Special committee of three is developing amendments to the law, that will be soon submitted to parliament.
Earlier, in response to criticism from the US and the EU, Cyprus began to revoke already issued citizenship before the coronavirus epidemy. It was obvious, that the rules of issuing passports would be tightened. But with the start of the epidemic, everything changed. But the country urgently needs funds to liquidate the consequences of COVID-19, but the EU is not hurrying up to help. The idea if selling citizenship for contributions to a special fund without real estate investment is currently being discussed in Cyprus. If these conversations move to the legislative plane, the amount of the contribution may be about 700 000 EUR.
Despite the fact, that many people have already rushed to write off Cyprus, it can make the most modified and attractive program, when the crisis and quarantine will end.