Cyprus passed a new law which comes into effect on Jan 31, 2021, which will empower MPs to have their say on the naturalization of third country nationals under the investment scheme. The law will be published soon in official gazette.
According to the law, honorary naturalisations for reasons of public interest and naturalisations for investors who are third-country nationals will be permitted under terms and preconditions set by regulations tabled to the House for approval and which will be published in the Official Gazette, which was reported by Cyprus Mail.
Cyprus granted 45 honorary citizenships on public interest between 2008 and 2018, whileCyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and no more than 4700 citizenships issued to foreign investors under the citizenship by investment scheme.
MP Perdikis said there were sectors of the economy in need of investment such as research and innovation and agriculture, but none of them existed in the citizenship by investment scheme. The government’s investment plan was limited to building luxury residences, most of which were related to the construction of the high-rises in Limassol.
Last week, the Cyprus Economic and Competitiveness Council proposed a special fund from CIP revenues and can be invested in sustainable development in Cyprus such as agriculture, education, startups, research etc..
The recently released EU report said ,there are no statistics and laws do not provide monitoring on the impact of the investor citizenship scheme on the national economy. However, under the Council of Ministers Decision dated 21 May 2018, as of 15 June 2018, the Ministry of Finance must study and assess the application of the Cyprus Investment Program and its effects on the economy and provide information to the Council of Ministers.
The Cypriot Government recently introduced a cap limiting the number of citizenships (including family members) through investment to 700 per year, as of 2018.
The Government also established The Committee of Supervision and Control for the Cyprus Investment Program to monitor the registry of service providers. As of July 31 2018, any applications for the Cyprus Investment Program may be submitted on behalf of the applicants only by natural / legal persons registered with the Registry of Service Providers (Registry)
