Cyprus Investment Programme Amended

September 2016 has seen a number of changes being carried out to the Cyprus Investment Programme as earlier this week, the Cypriot Cabinet approved a number of revisions with the aim to attract more investors to its shores. The need of investors, the importance of ensuring further transparency and simplicity in the evaluation process of the application were kept in mind when these amendments were proposed, and the result was a revamped programme which promotes a simple application process and further benefits for the applicants.

Changes carried out to the Cyprus Investment Programme

Vaunting a 6 month processing time, unparalleled in comparison to several other citizenship programmes around the world, the revised Cyprus Investment Programme builds on its predecessor’s success and offers a further simplified and efficient application process which provides for more safeguards for investors. Furthermore, the new programme also gives the main applicant the opportunity to include his/her dependent parents in the programme who will be granted Cypriot citizenship as well. The straightforward and quick nature of the programme was instrumental as it is now dubbed one of the “top ten best in the world.”

A number of amendments have been carried out, but Finance Minister Harris Georgiades is of the opinion that the omission of a provision for a collective investment of €12.5 million was the most far-reaching change. This requirement was replaced by a minimum investment of €1.5 million in residential property or a minimum individual investment of €2 million, plus the purchase of a residence worth a minimum of €500,000.

A significant change which took place was the reduction of the €5 million requirement of the upper threshold on the required investment for single applications to €2 million, thus making the programme more cost-effective as well.  Also, parents of the main applicant can now be included within the same application.

Furthermore, applicants will now be granted a residence permit as they wait for their passport to be secured. This will ensure that the immediate needs of the applicant are met on the onset and also makes the Cyprus Investment Programme a highly competitive one.

To ensure that investors maintain a genuine link with Cyprus, the property purchased for €500,000, as part of the eligibility requirements must be held for life. This ensures that new Cypriot citizens will always have a permanent housing unit in Cyprus.

Finally, the provision which granted Cypriot citizenship on the basis of €5 million in bank deposits has been eliminated.