The Cyprus parliament has blocked issuing of passports under Cyprus investment scheme, according to Cyprus publication Stockwatch which reported yesterday. This means no applications submitted after Jan 31, 2020 will be reviewed by government.
The House considers any foreign investor who filed an application after January 31st to be illegal, said parliamentary committee chairwoman Eleni Mavrou, according to Stockwatch
Ms Mavrou, at the end of the session, which once again dealt with the government’s policy on the investment program for gold passports, said that “until the government adopts the regulations requested by the parliament that will be transparent the terms of granting citizenship to the notorious investors as it was bound last November are not entitled to grant citizenship to a foreign investor. ”
He noted that “until the Regulations come to parliament the Cabinet has no right to consider any application for a passport submitted after January 31, 2020”.
The Ministry of Interior responding to the developments, released a statement today that on the occasion of yesterday’s debate in the Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs on regulations governing the naturalization of foreign investors under the Cyprus Investment Program, the adoption of which the House of Representatives has voted for, the Ministry has setup three member Independent Three-member Committee to look into the matter.
The Ministry also clarified that until the regulations are adopted, the Council of Ministers will continue to consider approving any applications submitted before January 31, 2020, as provided in the relevant legislation that the House of Representatives voted for.
In Feb 2019, Cypriot parliament passed by majority an opposition bill at a meeting, requiring that with effect as of 2020, the rules for the naturalization program must have the approval of parliament.
So far until 2020, there has been about 4000 naturalizations under the Cyprus citizenship by investment scheme. Of these the Government previously identified to strip citizenship for 26 investors. But this measure has been stuck in legal vacuum, reported Reuters yesterday.
