Acquisition of Citizenship through Investment

According to the Decision of the Council of Ministers dated 24/05/2013, non-Cypriot citizens will be eligible to obtain Cypriot citizenship.

By a decision approved by the Council of Ministers of Cyprus on 13th September 2016, the Scheme for Naturalisation of Investors in Cyprus by Exception was amended, pursuant to section 111A (2) of the Civil Registry Laws 2002-2015. Investors can now apply for Cyprus Citizenship by making a stand-alone application (the previous ‘collective investments’ application has been abolished), upon making an investment under the new criteria which must be retained for a period of three years.

Main changes:

  • The investment amount has been reduced to €2 million plus €500.000 (excluding VAT) for residential property for investments A2 – A4.
  • The applicant has to obtain permanent residency in order to be approved for Cyprus Citizenship.
  • The main applicant’s parents are also entitled to apply for Cyprus citizenship by exception provided that they own a lifetime residence of at least €500.000 (excluding VAT).
  • Where the purchase price of the residential property exceeds the amount of €500.000 (excluding VAT), the excess amount can be calculated and included in the whole investment.
  • A cap has been set on investment in Cyprus Government Bonds.
  • The criterion of bank deposits has been abolished.
  • A combination of all economic criteria is now possible.
  • A broader range of investments is now possible, including land for development, AIF’s and financial assets (bonds and debentures) of Cyprus companies issued by the CySEC.

Our company offers an individual approach to each client and criteria’s may be customized with the permission of relevant authorities.

Acquisition of Citizenship by Naturalisation

In order to be able to apply for Cyprus citizenship through naturalization, an EU citizen or third country national must have resided for a minimum 7 years legally in Cyprus, of which the year preceding the date of application should be full and uninterrupted.

To be entitled to apply for naturalization and become a Cypriot citizen, an alien needs to have held a Permanent Resident status and resided in Cyprus for at least 7 years out of the previous 8 years prior to his/her application. The applicant has to be resident in Cyprus or has to be in the Cyprus public services (or a combination of the two) for periods amounting to no less than 4 years / in the case of an applicant residing in Cyprus due to employment he/she must have spent at least 6 years of the preceding 7 year period in Cyprus. He/she should submit all documentary evidence as required and demonstrate a basic knowledge of Greek at the interview. According to section 111 of the Law, the Minister of the Interior can grant a certificate of naturalization to any foreigner who satisfies the Minister that he or she qualifies for naturalization under the provisions of the third schedule of the law. It should be noted, that during the final year prior to the citizenship application, an alien is permitted to be out of the country for no more than 2 weeks.

Please note that the procedure to finalize the review for an application of naturalization could take approximately 1.5 to 3 years.