Updated: November 24, 2024
Before its suspension in 2020, the Cyprus Citizenship Program, officially named the Cyprus Investment Programme (CIP), was updated over the years by the Cyprus government to make it more competitive, reliable, and trustworthy. Thus, the Cyprus passport requirements for investment, procedures, and rules have been modified over the last decade.
The granting of a Cyprus Passport to investors was based on subsection (2) of section 111A of the Civil Registry Laws of 2002-2013. This Law entitled the Council of Ministers to determine special criteria by which Cyprus Citizenship could be given to foreign investors.
The Council of Ministers decided to suspend Cyprus citizenship by investment program. The decision is effective November 1, 2020, and no new applications will be accepted.
Please check our Cyprus residency by investment program page for the alternative way to get a Cyprus investor visa.
The last significant alteration was done on the 13th of February 2019. The Cyprus citizenship by investment changed by adding a mandatory donation to governmental organisations €150.000.
The applicants must have a Schengen visa before applying and keep the investments for 5 years instead of 3.
Those Cyprus investment program changes took full effect on May 15, 2019, and any new applications should follow those rules.
Some alterations, mainly to the procedure for submitting a Citizenship application under the scheme, were decided on January 9th and May 21st, 2018.
Those established the Committee for Supervision and Control, which included representatives from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Interior, and Invest Cyprus. This committee was the regulatory body of citizenship service providers.
It could approve members, which will be included in the Registry of Service Providers for the Cyprus Investment Programme. Only such registered providers will be able to submit applications.
Also, the program was renamed the Cyprus Investment Programme, and a set of rules—a code of conduct—was approved, which regulated the marketing and presentation of the program by the providers.
The service providers should not use the following:
Any reference to the title of the programme should be in its official name, ‘Cyprus Investment Programme’. Other titles, such as Cyprus golden passport and Cyprus golden visa, should not be used.
Finally, a due diligence report by an international database should be included in the application.
One of the most significant changes to the Cyprus investment programme was made on September 13, 2016. The requirement for group investments was abandoned, and investors could apply individually. The investment amount was also reduced to €2 million for residential properties or € 2.5 million if it involved commercial properties. This change simplified the Cyprus passport requirements.
The option to deposit money in the bank as an acceptable investment for the program was abolished.
Another significant modification was the requirement to hold a Cyprus Permanent residency for 6 months before being able to get the Cyprus Passport. The investor must apply for permanent residency simultaneously with the citizenship application issued within a few days.
The last main change was to add an acceptable investment in A.I.F or financial assets of Cypriot companies licensed by CySec.
The ministerial council amended the Programme on 19 March 2014. The main change was to increase the required investment amount to €2,5 for each investor who participates in a group investment, and therefore, the total investment required will be €12,5 million.
The Council of Ministers made the first significant modification to the Citizenship by exception scheme on 24 May 2013. The Scheme was called the “Scheme for Naturalisation of Investors in Cyprus by Exception.” The main provisions allowed investors to invest €5 million in properties or businesses or deposit it in a bank account.
The most significant, however, was the provision that allowed collective investments. Based on this provision, the amount required was reduced to €2 million for a group of 5 investors (major collective investments) who purchase property in Cyprus, investment for a total amount of €10 million.
George K. Konstantinou
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