Cyprus Startup Visa

The Cyprus Startup Visa lets founders from outside the EU and the EEA enter, live and work in Cyprus to build an innovative startup. You apply alone or as a team of up to five people.

Initial approval carries the right to economic activity for three years, renewable for at least two more. The first residence permit the Migration Department issues runs for one year from the date of that approval and is renewed after that.

The scheme is capped at 150 visas and runs to December 2026.

The Cyprus Startup Visa is intended for third-country nationals, meaning only non-EU and non-EEA citizens are eligible.

The purpose of the Cyprus Startup Visa program

The Startup Visa sits inside the National Policy Statement for the Enhancement of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Cyprus. The stated goals are new jobs, more research and innovation, a working business ecosystem, and economic growth for the country.

Categories of Cyprus startup visas

The beneficiaries of the Cyprus startup visas can be individuals or teams.

Individual Startup Visa scheme

A third-country national who applies as the sole founder of an innovative startup is eligible for this scheme.

Team Startup Visa scheme

A team of up to five non-EU nationals qualifies. The team can be made up entirely of the startup's founders, or of at least one founder plus senior executives.

You do not have to arrive with all five. A team approved with fewer members may fill the remaining places at any point within the three years that follow the Notification of Initial Approval, and an individual application can move to the team scheme later if it meets that scheme's conditions.

In both cases (individual or team), the applicant or team of applicants must own at least 25% of the shares.

Who can benefit?

Non-EU country nationals who have established or are in the process of establishing an innovative small business and their families have the right to residency and family reunification.

Cyprus Startup Visa requirements

The application requirements for the Cyprus Startup Visa depend on the revenue stage of your enterprise.

For startups with under €1 million in revenue

Your application must include a business plan if your startup has yet to generate revenue or has earned less than €1 million. Two independent evaluators rate the plan, and a third steps in if they split. You are required to submit:

• A completed application form with supporting documents.
• A business plan of 10 to 15 pages, in English, in PDF. The Deputy Ministry publishes drafting guidelines in Annex II setting out the headings it expects, from the value proposition through to a three-year financing plan.

For startups with over €1 million in revenue

If your startup has certified revenue of at least €1 million, you must submit the following:

• A completed application form with supporting documents.
• Your most recent audited financial accounts.
• A certificate from an external auditor verifying both of the following:
  • Revenue of at least €1 million.
  • Research and development (R&D) costs were at least 10% of total operating costs in one of the last three years.

Proof of funds at the permit stage

A self-employed founder shows proof of holding at least €10,000 a year for living expenses at the Migration Department stage. A bank statement is the example the department gives. A founder taking a salary from their own company shows an employment contract instead, at a gross monthly salary of at least €850.

Neither figure is part of the Deputy Ministry's assessment of the business. They belong to the permit application that follows initial approval.

Enterprise requirements for an innovative startup

The scheme defines an innovative startup as an unlisted small enterprise, no more than five years past registration, that has distributed no profits and was not formed through a merger.

On top of that, the enterprise has to be developing new or clearly improved products, services or processes that create new markets or disrupt existing ones, built on new technology, on existing technology put to new use, or on a new business model. The definition tracks EU Regulation 651/2014 of 17 June 2014.

Application and evaluation procedure

The Cyprus Startup Visa runs in two stages, and each stage goes to a different body.

Stage one is initial approval. You send the application to the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, by email to startupvisa@dmrid.gov.cy. The Deputy Ministry approves or rejects it within five weeks of a complete submission. You can apply from abroad or from inside Cyprus if your stay here is legal.

Stage two is the permit. A Notification of Initial Approval gives you no right of entry, residence or employment on its own. The Migration Department issues that, and the next section sets out what it costs.

The application form, the annexes and the practical guide sit on the government service page: Apply for a Cyprus Startup Visa - gov.cy

How the business plan is scored

Startups at pre-revenue stage, or with revenue under €1 million, are judged on the business plan against four criteria, five marks each:

• Implementation. Can the team build the product, and has it done anything like this before?
• Impact. Business model, go-to-market, financial planning and room to scale.
• Excellence. How far the idea moves past what the market already has.
• Financing plan. Budget, cash flow, costs and forecast sales over three years.

You need at least 3 on every criterion and at least 15 out of 20 overall, from both evaluators. Meet it with one evaluator only and a third evaluator decides.

A rejected applicant whose average is above 12 out of 20 may resubmit once, with a revised business plan that answers the evaluators' comments. Below that, the file is closed.

Fees and how long it takes

The Deputy Ministry charges nothing for the initial approval. The Migration Department charges for the permit:

• Entry permit together with a temporary residence permit: €120
• Issue or renewal of a temporary residence permit: €130
• Registration in the Aliens' Register, first registration only: €70

That last registration is what gives you an ARC number, the identifier Cyprus assigns to foreign residents.

The timings run like this. The Deputy Ministry answers within five weeks of a complete application. If you are abroad when initial approval arrives, you have six months to lodge the visa application with a consular authority or with the Migration Department. If you are already in Cyprus legally, you have one month.

Either application is answered within three weeks once the file is complete. Coming from visitor status adds a step: you first ask the Migration Department in writing to change your residence status, and that request is reviewed within five weeks.

Legal fees are quoted separately from the government charges above.

Documents the Migration Department asks for

The permit application is form MSUP2, lodged at the Migration Department's headquarters in Nicosia. The department publishes a checklist covering founders, managers and support staff, at first permit, at change of status and at renewal.

For a founder applying for a first permit, the list runs to:

• A passport or travel document valid for at least two years from the date you apply.
• Certificates of incorporation, registered office, directors and shareholders from the Registrar of Companies, plus tax clearance for the company. None of these apply if you are self-employed. Our Cyprus company formation page covers how the company is set up.
• The Notification of Initial Approval, issued no more than six months before you apply.
• Proof of holding €10,000 a year for living expenses if you are self-employed, or an employment contract at €850 gross a month if the company pays you a salary.
• A criminal record certificate from your country of origin, or from your country of residence if you live elsewhere.
• Blood tests for HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B and C, and a chest x-ray for tuberculosis.
• A ten-year bank guarantee covering repatriation costs, for self-employed applicants.
• Health insurance covering inpatient and outpatient care, or registration in the General Healthcare System with private cover for repatriation of remains.
• Title of ownership or a rent agreement for your accommodation.

Photo, fingerprints and signature are captured when you lodge the application, or within one week at the District Immigration Unit of the Cyprus Police for your district. The file is not complete without them, and the same applies on renewal.

One note on the checklist. It asks for certain documents to be stamped. Cyprus repealed the Stamp Duties Laws with effect from 1 January 2026, so for contracts signed on or after that date no stamp duty is payable. For contracts signed before 2026 we pay the correct duty to the Inland Revenue Department before registration.

Recruitment of foreign personnel in the enterprise

You can hire up to five foreign employees without prior approval from the Department of Labour. They must earn a gross monthly salary of at least €1,500. They will have the right of residence and employment, with a possibility of a 2-year renewal.

If you invest €150,000 or more in the Republic, you can hire an additional 10 foreign employees without prior Department of Labour approval.

Beyond those numbers you recruit through the ordinary route for third-country nationals, with prior approval from the Department of Labour. The Department approves further recruitment where foreign staff stay at or under 50% of the company's total headcount, and it drops the labour market test where the gross monthly salary is at least €1,500. The employment contract has to be sealed by the Department of Labour.

A company of foreign interests registered with the Business Facilitation Unit hires non-EU staff on a separate track, set out on our Cyprus work permit page.

What happens after three years

A renewal application may be submitted three months before the end of the third year. The re-evaluation application itself goes in two months before the residence permit expires, and the Deputy Ministry answers within five weeks.

Viability. Audited financial statements for the previous year or the one before, showing revenue up by at least 15% or investment of at least €150,000 during the company's operation in Cyprus.

Contribution to the scheme's goal, proved by any one of these:

• At least three new jobs created in the company in Cyprus.
• Participation in a local incubator or accelerator programme.
• The launch of at least one new product or service.

Digital skills. Internationally recognised certificates in IT, digital marketing, data analytics and machine learning, design and UX, project management, or new product development. An individual applicant submits at least two of them. A team submits one for each member.

Pass, and a Notification of Final Approval follows within five weeks, with two-year residence permits for salaried staff and one-year permits for the self-employed. Fail, and the Migration Department is told; you then settle your stay on another basis or leave the country.

A company assessed as successful puts its founders on the road to long-term resident status.

New Cyprus Startup Visa program changes

Cyprus revised the scheme in December 2024. Four things changed:

• The startup temporary residence and employment permit has been extended from two to three years.
• The possibility of renewal has been extended from one to two years.
• The applicant(s) must now own 25% of the shares, not 50%.
• Rules regarding the additional foreign personnel have been relaxed. It is possible to have 50% foreign personnel instead of 30%.

The benefits of the Startup Visa in Cyprus

Approval gives you:

• The right to economic activity and residence in Cyprus for three years, renewable for at least two more.
• For founders, the right to be self-employed or to take paid employment in your own registered company.
• For senior executives on the team scheme, the right to paid employment in the company the founders register.
• For family members, an immediate right of residence, and family reunification that gives a spouse access to the labour market on the same terms as the sponsor.
• Eligibility for a Certificate of Innovative Company.
• The prospect of long-term residence if the company is assessed as successful at the end of the third year.

Tax in Cyprus for a startup founder

Cyprus taxes company profits at 15% from 1 January 2026, up from 12.5%.

Income from qualifying intellectual property is taxed lightly. A company deducts 80% of the qualifying profit, which leaves an effective rate as low as about 3% against that 15% corporation tax. The modified nexus fraction scales the deduction, so a company reaches the floor only where it did the research itself or bought it from unrelated parties.

There are no local government taxes on income in Cyprus. A company that owns immovable property pays municipal property charges, which are separate from income tax.

Personal income tax starts above €22,000. From 1 January 2026 the bands are 20% from €22,001 to €32,000, 25% from €32,001 to €42,000, 30% from €42,001 to €72,000, and 35% above €72,000.

Dividends and interest sit outside personal income tax in Cyprus. They carry the special defence contribution instead, at 5% on dividends from 2026 and 17% on most interest, and whether you pay it turns on your domicile rather than your residence.

Cyprus charges no inheritance tax and no gift tax. The annual immovable property tax was abolished on 1 January 2017, though municipalities still charge their own property fees.

The full picture is on our Cyprus tax system page, and the domicile rules are on our Cyprus tax residency page.

If the Startup Visa is not the right route

The scheme is narrow, and plenty of founders who land on this page need something else. If you are opening or buying a Cyprus company with no innovative product behind it, the Cyprus business visa covers the Category C and Category E routes. If you already run a foreign-interest company and the real question is staff, the work permit under the Business Facilitation Unit is the faster track.

Founders working for clients outside Cyprus, with no Cyprus company, belong on the digital nomad visa. A qualified employee you want to bring in may fit the EU Blue Card. Moving an existing business rather than starting one is covered on our relocating your business to Cyprus page.

Our Cyprus immigration lawyers handle all of these. Get in touch and we will tell you which one fits before you spend money on the wrong application.