Cyprus Golden Visa

The Cyprus Golden Visa is a program that enables foreign investors and their families to obtain permanent residence in Cyprus by purchasing assets worth €300,000 and demonstrating an annual income of at least €50,000. After eight years of legal residence, and once the language and civics conditions are met, investors can apply for citizenship.

The main requirements in 2026:

• An investment of at least €300,000, excluding VAT, through one of four routes.
• A personal secured income of at least €50,000 a year, measured before tax.
• An examination of about two months by the Migration Department's estimate, and about six months in practice.
• An application fee of €500, plus €70 per person for the ARC card where needed.

The citizenship by investment program, known as the "golden passport program," took no applications after 30 October 2020.

This guide sets out the criteria and the process for the Cyprus Golden Visa, and the benefits of living in Cyprus.

Key takeaways

• The program grants the applicant, their spouse, and underage children the right to reside permanently in the Republic.
• An investor can apply for citizenship after eight years of legal residence, and must pass a Greek language test at B1 and a state civics examination.
• The family members covered, upon conditions, are only the applicant's spouse and children.
• The applicant must meet specific income and personal criteria to be eligible for permanent residency in Cyprus.
• With limited exceptions, the Golden visa does not give the applicant the right to work.
• The applicant must verify specific criteria annually and every three years, as outlined below.

Cyprus Golden Visa requirements in 2026

In 2026, the requirements are a minimum investment of €300,000, an annual income of at least €50,000, a clear criminal record and a health insurance certificate. Every year you must give the Migration Department proof that you maintain the investment and, if you are not a GESY beneficiary, your health insurance certificate. Every three years you and your adult family members must give clean criminal record certificates.

This page covers the golden visa in outline. The criteria route by route, with the full document list, are on our page on Cyprus residency by investment, and readers who plan to invest less will find other routes further down.

Minimum investment

To obtain the Cyprus Golden Visa in 2026, the applicant must invest a minimum of €300,000 in Cyprus.

Four ways to make the investment

The €300,000 investment can be made in one of four ways:

• A house or apartment bought from a development company. It must be a first sale, worth at least €300,000 before VAT, and it can be up to two housing units counted together. They need not come from the same developer. A resale of a house or apartment is accepted only if the sale contract was filed with the Department of Lands and Surveys before 7 May 2013.
• Other real estate, such as offices, shops, hotels or similar developments, or a combination of these, with a total value of €300,000. These purchases may be resales.
• An investment of €300,000 in the share capital of a new Cyprus company, or an increase of €300,000 in the share capital of an existing Cyprus company. The company must be based and operating in Cyprus with a proven physical presence, and must employ at least five people.
• Units worth €300,000 in a Cyprus collective investment organisation (AIF, AIFLNP or RAIF), whose investments are held in the Republic.

Our guide on buying a house in Cyprus and getting residency covers the purchase.

Our guide to opening a bank account in Cyprus covers the banking side.

Income requirement

The applicant must show a personal secured annual income of at least €50,000. The Migration Department measures that figure gross, before tax, and has confirmed this to us in writing.

On the house or apartment route the income has to come from abroad. On every route it is proved by a tax return from the country where you are tax resident, or by official certificates from an independent certified accountant.

On the other three routes part or all of it may come from activities inside Cyprus, if it is taxed in Cyprus.

If the applicant brings a spouse, the annual income rises by €15,000. The spouse's income can count towards the total.

The permit covers children under 18, and the income rises by €10,000 for each dependent child under 18.

Personal requirements

The applicant and the spouse must each provide a clean criminal record certificate from their country of origin and, if different, from their country of residence. They must not pose a threat to public order or public security in Cyprus.

The applicant and the dependent family members must submit a health insurance certificate that covers inpatient and outpatient care.

The Migration Department announced that from 1 September 2026 applications for Immigration Permits in Categories A to F need original blood test results and a chest X-ray. The investor permit is issued under Regulation 6(2), outside those categories, and the Migration Department confirmed to us in writing in October 2026 that investors do not submit these tests.

Accommodation

On every route except the house or apartment purchase, the applicant shows evidence of a home in Cyprus that they own or rent. Where the investment home has too few bedrooms for the family, the applicant shows a second home for the others.

A separate permit for the spouse

Each spouse can hold a permit of their own, on a separate application with its own fee, and the second spouse does not have to meet the criteria. If the investor's permit is cancelled, the spouse's permit falls with it.

Need to verify

There are specific verification requirements related to the investor's visa.

Every year (annually), you should submit the following:

• Evidence that you maintain the investment and
• Health insurance certificate for yourself and your family (in case you are not GESY beneficiaries).

Every three years, you should submit the following:

• A clean criminal record certificate for yourself and your adult family members, from your country of origin and your country of residence.

The requirement to annually submit proof of meeting the necessary income level has been abolished.

You lose the permit if you:

• Acquire permanent residence abroad, or
• Absent yourself from Cyprus for two years.

In either case, you lose the right to permanent residence.

Selling or otherwise disposing of the investment starts the procedure to cancel the permit. The exception is an immediate replacement with another investment of equal or greater value that meets the same conditions. If the investor's permit is cancelled, the procedure to cancel the permits of a spouse and of a child who hold their own permits starts too.

Visit to Cyprus

The permit ceases to be valid if the holder is absent from Cyprus for an unbroken period of two years. A visit to Cyprus restarts the count, so a visit before two years have passed since the last one meets this condition.

Cyprus Golden Visa cost

The cost of a Cyprus Golden Visa includes:

• A minimum investment of €300,000 excluding VAT.
• A first sale from a development company carries VAT at 19%. Commercial property bought as a resale, once the building has been occupied or put to systematic use, carries no VAT and attracts Land Registry transfer fees instead. The transfer fees are halved, except where the seller acquired the property in a sale procedure under Parts VI and VIA of the Transfer and Mortgage Law.
• In the standard case the reduced 5% rate covers the first 130 m² of buildable area and the first €350,000 of a main home, with the balance at 19%. It applies where the total value of the transaction does not exceed €475,000 and the total buildable area does not exceed 190 m². Other limits apply to a buyer with a disability.
• The rate is available to individuals aged 18 or over, not to companies. A buyer who stops using the home as a main and permanent home within ten years notifies the Tax Commissioner within 30 days and pays the difference in VAT for the time not used.

Government and legal fees

The fees are:

• A government fee of €500 for the application, which covers the investor and the family members included in it (the spouse and children under 18). A separate application, such as one for a child aged 18 to 25 who studies abroad, carries its own fee.
• Each adult child files their own application and pays €500, plus €70 for an ARC where one is needed. A family member added to an approved permit later costs €50, plus €70 for an ARC where one is needed.
• A registration charge of €70 for the Alien Registration Certificate (ARC) card of each person included in the application who does not already have one.
• A due diligence and legal support fee of €3,000 for a single applicant and €3,500 for a family.

Two worked examples

Both examples assume a new house or apartment bought from a developer for €300,000 before VAT, at the standard 19% rate. A first sale that carries VAT pays no Land Registry transfer fees, and no stamp duty is payable on a contract signed on or after 1 January 2026.

A single applicant:

• Property: €300,000, plus VAT of €57,000.
• Application fee: €500.
• ARC card: €70.
• Our due diligence and legal support: €3,000.

Total: €360,570.

A family of four, a couple with two children under 18:

• Property: €300,000, plus VAT of €57,000.
• Application fee: €500, covering the whole family.
• ARC cards: €280, at €70 for each of the four.
• Our due diligence and legal support: €3,500.

Total: €361,280.

If the home becomes the buyer's permanent residence and meets the limits above, the VAT on a €300,000 home of up to 130 m² falls to €15,000, which takes €42,000 off each total. The examples leave out document translation and health insurance. Our property lawyers handle the purchase itself.

The right to work

The policy is for investors who do not intend to work in Cyprus. The applicant and the spouse confirm in an official statement that they do not intend to take up employment there.

The one exception is a directorship in the company in which they invested under the policy. The policy words it as employment as a director and does not require the post to be unpaid.

Where the investment is not in a company's share capital, the applicant and the spouse may hold shares in Cyprus companies and take dividends from them. They may sit on the boards of those companies as unpaid directors.

The rules about parents and parents-in-law

The golden visa does not cover the parents or the parents-in-law of the applicant and the spouse.

The rules about children

The permit covers the applicant's spouse and their children under 18 as dependants. A child's permit is valid until the child turns 18. Older children and adult children are handled separately, as set out below.

Where an application includes minor children and one parent is not taking part, only a consent declaration signed before a consular officer of the Republic of Cyprus is accepted. It must state that the parent consents to the child living permanently in Cyprus.

Children aged 18 to 25

Children between the ages of 18 and 25 are not dependants on the parent's permit. Each of them files a separate application and pays the fee.

On the date of submission the child must be enrolled in tertiary education abroad. The child must be unmarried and financially dependent on the applicant, and the parent shows an extra €10,000 of annual income for each such child.

A child who wants to study in Cyprus applies through the institution for a student residence permit instead. After finishing those studies the child can apply for an immigration permit, at any age by then, on the same €10,000 income condition.

This permit remains valid after the child turns 25, marries, stops being a student or stops being financially dependent on the parents. It does not cover the child's spouse or children.

Adult children

Investors may obtain a permit for adult children who do not depend on them financially. The investment rises by €300,000 for each adult child who relies on it: €600,000 for one adult child, €900,000 for two.

Where the investment is real estate, proof of payment of at least 66% of the market value goes in with the application. The investment may be held jointly by the applicant and the adult child, or by the applicant alone.

Each adult child files their own application and must individually demonstrate that they have an annual income of at least €50,000. This amount increases if they have dependents (by €15,000 for a spouse and €10,000 for each child).

How to obtain Cyprus citizenship

An investor can apply for citizenship by naturalisation after eight years of legal residence: twelve months of continuous residence immediately before filing, plus at least seven years in the ten years before those twelve months. Absences adding up to no more than 90 days do not break that final year.

Time in the country is not the whole test. Since 19 December 2023 the applicant needs:

• a Greek language certificate at B1,
• a pass in the state examination on the basic elements of the political and social reality of Cyprus,
• good character,
• suitable accommodation with stable and regular income,
• an intention to live in the Republic.

Holders of a diploma from a recognised Greek-medium secondary school, and holders of a degree taught in Greek, do not need the language certificate.

Read more about Cypriot citizenship by years of residence.

A holder who lives in Cyprus can apply for long-term resident status after five years, a separate EU status with its own tests. For how the two statuses compare, see Cyprus residency vs citizenship, and for the travel document itself, the Cyprus passport.

Processing time for an investment visa

The Deputy Minister of Migration and International Protection decides the application, on submission through the Permanent Secretary of the Deputy Ministry. The Migration Department estimates the examination period at about two months from the date a complete application is filed.

In practice it takes about six months from submission to decision, so plan on that figure.

The Migration Department publishes no waiting time for the card and sends a notice when it is ready. On the applications we handle it takes about 30 days from biometrics to collection.

When a different permit fits better

The golden visa is for non-EU investors who want permanent residence and do not plan to work in Cyprus. Other routes suit other readers, and Cyprus permanent residency sets them side by side.

• EU citizens need no permit of this kind and register for a yellow slip instead.
• The investor policy asks the investor to confirm that no employment is intended, apart from a directorship in the company invested in. A holder who later wants a job in Cyprus should check the work permit rules first.
• Readers with a steady income from abroad but no plan to invest €300,000 can look at the Category F visa.
• Readers after a passport need the naturalisation route in how to get Cyprus citizenship. Citizenship by investment closed in 2020.

Golden Visa benefits

Cyprus Golden Visa program offers several advantages for non-EU nationals:

• It grants the principal applicant, their spouse, and dependent children the right to reside permanently in Cyprus.
• It opens a route to Cypriot citizenship after eight years of legal residence, subject to the Greek language and civics tests.
• The policy sets no minimum number of days in Cyprus each year. An unbroken absence of two years ends the permit.
• Permit holders may become tax residents by fulfilling the physical presence requirements and potentially benefit from Cyprus's tax environment.
• Cyprus takes part in Schengen cooperation, but internal border controls have not been abolished yet and its integration into the Schengen area is under way. Today a Cyprus residence permit is not valid for travel to Schengen countries.
• Once Cyprus applies the Schengen rules in full, a valid Cyprus residence permit will let the holder move around the Schengen area for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. The holder needs a valid travel document and must meet the entry conditions. The right does not apply to a holder on the national alert list of the country visited.

Tax benefits of living in Cyprus

The corporate tax rate is 15% from 1 January 2026, up from 12.5%. For most investors the non-domicile rules matter more than the headline rate.

Tax residency and its benefits

Anyone who spends more than 183 days in Cyprus in a calendar year is a Cyprus tax resident and is taxed on worldwide income.

A second test, the 60-day rule, covers a person who spends at least 60 days in Cyprus in the tax year and no more than 183 days in any other single country. The person must keep a permanent home in Cyprus that the person owns or rents.

At some point in the year the person must carry on a business or be employed in Cyprus, or hold an office (a directorship, for example) in a person that is tax resident in Cyprus. The test fails if the business, or the job or office, ends during the year.

A permanent residence permit does not by itself make you a Cyprus tax resident. The benefits of Cyprus tax residency include:

• no special defence contribution on dividends and interest for tax residents who are not domiciled in Cyprus, until they have been Cyprus tax residents for 17 of the last 20 years (a person with no Cyprus domicile of origin can apply to the Tax Commissioner, by 30 June of the first year of the period, to pay a flat €50,000 a year as one €250,000 payment for each five-year period, for two periods at most; the choice cannot be revoked),
• no inheritance tax,
• no gift tax,
• no wealth tax,
• no immovable property tax.

Read more about Taxes in Cyprus.

Is investing in Cyprus a good idea?

Investing falls into two broad categories: real estate and business.

Investment options for the investor immigration permit

The RICS Cyprus Property Index for the second quarter of 2026, published on 25 August 2026, shows residential prices still rising: apartments by 5.42% year on year and houses by 4.04%. Rents rose faster, by 7.36% for apartments and 5.30% for houses. Yields stood at 5.51% for apartments and 3.01% for houses.

Read more about the Cyprus real estate market trends and property investment in Cyprus.

Economic growth figures and forecasts

Real GDP growth for 2025 was 3.8%, according to the updated national accounts reported in April 2026.

In its September 2026 projections the Central Bank of Cyprus put growth at 2.9% for 2026 and 3.1% for both 2027 and 2028, raising its June figures. For 2026 the bank pointed to better tourism figures and strong residential investment. The higher 2027 figure rests on expected defence spending under the EU SAFE programme.

The IMF Executive Board concluded its 2026 Article IV consultation with Cyprus in June 2026. It found the economy resilient, with strong growth and a sound fiscal position, against a background of higher energy prices and lower tourist arrivals.