Over the past few years, Cyprus has emerged out as a well-acclaimed international financial and investment center due to its operative legal system, the low-slung rates on company tax, the effectual administration system and decidedly skilled workforce.
Considering all these pointers, Cyprus has put down rules in its citizenship laws to enable the granting of Cypriot citizenship to people who choose to invest in Cyprus, which by importance makes such investors citizens of the European Union and permits them to reside permanently in Cyprus, or even in any other EU member state of their choice.
In general, citizenship is given after the fulfilment of a number of criteria vis-à-vis the length of one's stay in a country. Nonetheless, Article 111A of the Population Archive Law 141(I)/2002 exactly delivers that in relation to foreign investors and businessmen, Cyprus citizenship by investment may be given even if the mainstream criteria are not fulfilled, but rather on alternative criteria that may be defined by the Council of Ministers of the Republic through a Regulatory Act.
The Council of Ministers of the Republic has delivered such Regulatory Acts over the years, with the most recent being the Regulatory Act dated 13/09/2016 (hereinafter "the Regulatory Act") which reviews the "citizenship by investment" criteria and also includes members of the businessman's or investor's families in the scheme of citizenship granting. This Regulatory Act will come into action on the 31st of October, 2016.
Before applying for Cyprus citizenship by investment, one must need to fulfil the following criteria:
· They must have a pure criminal record;
· They must have a permanent private residence in Cyprus of value of €500,000 excluding VAT;
· The applicant must possess a permit to reside in the Republic at the time of their application for citizenship.
An investor may avail citizenship, after submitting an application to the Ministry of Interior and if any one of below criteria is met:
1. First Criterion
The applicant should need to make an investment of a minimum of €2 million for the purchase or building of fixed property or the development of new projects in the residential, commercial, tourism or infrastructure domain.
2. Second Criterion
The applicant must have bought, set up or invested in firms or businesses with their establishment in the Republic of Cyprus and that investment must be of a minimum of €2 million. Such financed capital must be directed for the funding of investment objectives of such companies/businesses exclusively in
3. Third Criterion
They applicant may need to invest in Alternative Investment Funds (AIF) or financial possessions of Cyprus businesses or entities that are approved by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (hereinafter "CySec").
In the case of AIFs the applicant must have purchased units of a value of €2 million in AIFs controlled in Cyprus by the CySec and of which the investments are showed solely in Cyprus. Such investments must be kept on for a minimum time period of three years, the auditor of the AIFs that succeed this particular citizenship granting scheme shall inform the Ministries of Interior and Finance on an annual basis.
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