Civil Registry Laws of 2002-2015

The Council of Ministers of Cyprus have approved the below amendments on the Cyprus Investment Program:

Α. CRITE RIA

Α.1 Economic Criteria:

  1. Donation of the amount of €75.000= to the Research and Innovation Foundation of Cyprus. Alternatively, this donation is not applicable when:

- investment is made in a Certified Innovative Business or Certified Social Company, or

- investment of at least €400.000= is made in a company, which is operating in the Primary or Secondary sector of the economy or in the sector of research, technology, education, health and/or  renewable energy sources sector

  1. Donation of the amount of €75.000= to the Cyprus Land Development Corporation

Α.3 Purchase or creation or participation in Cypriot businesses or companies:

  1. Investment in the area of Shipping will be included under this criterion, subject to specific measurable criteria, which will be determined collectively by the Ministry of Finance and the Shipping Deputy Ministry.

Α.4 Inves tmen t in Alterna tive Inves tmen t Funds or Registered Alternative Investment Funds or in fina ncial assets of Cypr iot comp anies or orga nizati ons which are licensed by the Cypr us Secu rities and Excha nge Commis sion :

  • The applicant must have proceeded with the acquisition of units of at least €2,0 million from Alternative Investment Funds (AIF) or from Registered Alternative Investment Funds (RAIF) which have been established in Cyprus and licensed and supervised by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission ("CySEC"),  the investments of which are exclusively in Cyprus, in investments which fulfil the criteria of the present program, or in sectors which are approved by the Minister of Finance. The said AIF and RAIF will have the possibility to invest in stock markets of the secondary market of the Cyprus Stock Exchange up to the amount of €200.000=.

B. TERMS AND CONDIT IONS

  1. The applicant must not be included in the list of people whose assets have been bounded (frozen) within the European Union under a Court Order
  2. Citizenship applications are not allowed for any applicant who has been rejected by any other country of the European Union for Citizenship.
  3. The applicant as well as all the adult family members must be holders of a Schengen Visa at the time of the submission of the Citizenship application
  • Applicants of those Nationalities for whom a visa is not required to enter the Member States of the European Union, as well as applicants who are EU-Nationals are excluded from this criterion
  1. When the applicant is purchasing property or properties from a previous investor (considered as resale properties), the investment amount is increased to €2.500.000=
  2. The investment must be kept for a period of 5 years (any change to the investment within the 5 years requires the prior approval of the Ministry of Finance).
  3. The applicant must be a holder of a Cyprus Permanent Residency Permit for a period of at least 6 months before the approval is granted.

C. FURTHER DOCUM ENTS REQUIRED

  1. A declaration from the applicant regarding any other Citizenship that he/she was granted by any other EU Member State
  2. Planning permit for the investment property/properties
  3. Bank waiver letter by the Bank in favour of the applicant regarding the mortgage(s) encumbering the property/ies
  4. Completion certificate by the supervising architect of the property/ies OR for property/ies under construction:
  1. Deposition of an amount equivalent to 5% on the total investment amount in a special bank account, OR
  2. Granting of a Bank Guarantee of an amount equivalent to 5% on the total investment amount

ALL THE ABOVE AMENDMENTS ,EXCEPT THE CRITERIA AS PER   B1 AND C1, WILL BE IN FORCE FOR  ALL APPLICATIONS THAT WILL BE DEPOSITED AS FROM 15th OF MAY 2019  AND ONWARDS.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.