TIMSON Immigration
Cyprus - Citizenship by Investment Program
1. Immigration Rules of the Program
On the basis of Section 111A of the Civil Registry Laws of 2002-2019 together with the Aliens and Migration Law (Amendment) (No. 2) Law of 2020, the Government of Cyprus is offering Cypriot citizenship and passports to international investors who contribute to the country's economic development through the Citizenship by Investment Program (here-in-after called the “CIP”).
Investors with Cypriot citizenship status and passports can freely live, work or study in any member state of the European Union.
The Cypriot government announced on 13th October 2020 that the CIP would be abolished effective on 1st November 2020. Therefore, please contact us immediately if you are interested in applying for Cyprus passport through the CIP.
2. Application Requirements
The applicant shall:
(1) be at least 18 years old ;
(2) have no criminal records;
(3) pass the vigorous source of fund and due diligence checks as required by the relevant government authorities of Cyprus
(4) have a valid Schengen visa;
(5) have no refusal record of immigration visa application to any other member state of the European Union;
(6) complete the investment and donation requirements under the CIP; and
(7) have obtained Cypriot resident permit for at least 6 months before the date of application for citizenship.
3. Donation Requirements
The applicant shall complete donation of not less than €200,000 to the designated funds and/or organizations concerned after his/her citizenship is approved but before the issuance of his/her certificate of naturalization.
4. Investment Options
The applicant may choose any one of the following two options to complete his/her investment:
- Residential Real Estate Option
This option requires a minimum total investment amount of €2 million in residential real estates. The total investment amount shall include a permanent private residence of not less than €500,000. The balance (being the balance of €2 million less the amount invested in the permanent private residence) shall be invested in other residential real estates which shall be held for at least 5 years. If the investment in the permanent private residence is not less than €2 million, no additional investment is required.
If the investment includes a second hand residential real estate which has been subject to a CIP application before, the minimum total investment shall be increased to €2.5 million.
- Other Option
This option requires a minimum total investment of €2.5 million. The total investment amount shall include a permanent private residence of not less than €500,000. The balance (being the balance of €2.5 million less the amount invested in the permanent private residence) shall be invested in a combination of the following investments which shall be held for at least 5 years:
(1) Eligible Real Estate, such as residential, commercial, infrastructure or developed land, or
(2) Qualified alternative investment funds (“AIF”) or registered alternative investment funds (“RAIF”) licensed by or registered with and supervised by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (“the CSEC”); or
(3) Qualified financial assets approved by the CSEC; or
(4) Companies or organizations established and operating in Cyprus which shall have proven physical presence in Cyprus with significant activities and turnover, and employ at least 9 Cypriots or EU citizens; or
(5) A combination of any of the above.
The parents of the applicant and/or the parents of the spouse of the applicant may join the CIP application as dependents provided that the applicant has to additionally invest in another permanent private residence of or increase the investment in his/her permanent private residence by not less than €500,000 (for each pair of the parents who join the CIP application).
4. Advantages of Cyprus Immigration by Investment
a. No language, education, or business experience requirements;
b. No residence requirements;
c. Allowing migration of three generations: The applicant can bring along his/her family members (including spouse, minor children, unmarried children aged 18 to 28 years and financially dependent on the applicant, physically or mentally disabled children of any age) to move to Cyprus;
d. Visa free travel: Cyprus passport holders can enjoy visa free travel to more than 173 countries including Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and all the EU countries;
e. Cyprus passport holders can move freely in and out of any EU countries, they can live, work, study, be employed and do business freely in any EU countries;
f. Low tax rates, no exchange control, no estate duty, no tax on capital gain on disposal of foreign real estate properties, no tax on capital gain on sale of securities, no tax on dividend, no tax on interest and royalty fee;
g. Recognition of dual and multiple citizenship;
h. In Cyprus, the whether is very human friendly, its wonderful sunshine, its beautiful snow mountain, its blue and clear sea water, its white sand beaches together with its ancient historical heritage make it very suitable as a living place;
i. Cyprus is the safest country in Europe with the lowest crime rate;
j. Cypriots are very nice, most of them can communicate in English fluently.
5. Application procedures
The documents and information requirements of the Citizenship by Investment Program of Cyprus are quite reasonable and application procedures are very straight forward, no interview is required. Applicants will normally come to Cyprus to study their targeted purchase real estate investments, sign the related sale and purchase agreements, pay the required deposits. Approval will be granted in about 8-10 months after submission of the application documents to the Cyprus government. The applicant and his/her dependents are required to land Cyprus for extraction of their biometric information after the approval of their CIP application.
Note: This document is for reference only, all terms are subject to written contract.