New changes have been announced by the Council of Ministers on the Cryprus citizenship program by exception, according to Cyprus mail.
The Crypriot citizenship program was introduced in 2014 offering EU citizenship to foreign investors through €2 million purchase of real estate.
Important Changes
The most important changes with the Cyprus citizenship program are
- Naturalisations to Investors scheme is limited to maximum of 700 per year starting this year.
- The Cyprus citizenship-by-investment scheme will also be renamed the “Cypriot Investment Scheme”
- Applicants are subjected to “Enhanced due diligence” who has to pay the fee and wait upto 6 months for clearance.
- Buyers of real estate must hold their investment for a minimum three year period.
Cyprus Passports Issued
Cyprus citizenship program has brought excess of 4 billion euros in revenues to Cryprus, and as of now has issued 2996 passports under the CBI program.
| Year | Main Applicant Passports | Family passport |
| 2014 | 503 | 510 |
| 2015 | 443 | 461 |
| 2016 | 337 | 342 |
| 2017 | 214 | 186 |
| Total | 1497 | 1499 |
Cyprus earlier this year announced it may cap its citizenship program and will enforce rules to limit promotion of the program. In Feb 2018, the Government announced, In the future the names of legal and auditing companies that arrange citizenship for foreign investors will be made known to the interior committee.
The Decision of the Council of Ministers dated 13.9.2016 requires that the investor and his/her adult family members, prior to their naturalization as Cypriot citizens, must hold a residence permit in Cyprus. The applicants must acquire a Permanent Residency (P.R.) prior of their naturalisation approval. The Passport can only be issued 6 months after the P.R.
Cyprus also offers a residency program for €300,000
It is worth to note that Malta IIP also has a cap of 1500 applications in total. The Government previously announced IIP will be extended once the cap is reached.
Source: http://cyprusbusinessmail.com/?p=64038
