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The Council of Ministers (Minister of Interior and Finance in Cyprus) on 11.11.2011 has set out new criteria and conditions for acquiring citizenship status in Cyprus.

The Council of Ministers reviewed the criteria set out a few weeks ago for the acquisition of the Citizenship status through naturalization of foreign investors and entrepreneurs only.

Council decided the following:

a)      To approve the following criteria and conditions for naturalization (exceptional) of foreign investors and entrepreneurs only under paragraph 2 (f) of the Law.

According to these new criteria, the applicant should be at least 30 years old, with non-criminal record (issued and certified by the Cyprus Police and/or from his/her country  of origin), and with permanent residence-property in Cyprus which is worth approximately Euro 500,000 (at current prices).

These new criteria are applicable solely for those who have investments in Cyprus. Accordingly applicants who meet and satisfy any of the following criteria & conditions are entitled to obtain Cyprus Citizenship:

• Should have direct investments in Cyprus of a min of Euro 10m. ‘Direct investments’ include the purchase of real estate property, the purchase of companies and business in Cyprus, purchase of shares and financial assets etc, or
• Should have registered/set up a company or companies in Cyprus which are controlled by the same and with a total annual turnover of Euro 10m per year on average over the last 3 years preceding the application, or
• Should have fixed deposit/s of Euro 15m in a Cyprus bank for at least 5 years (back-to-back loan is possible), or
• Should have introduced new methods of pioneering technology and research centres of a large scale in Cyprus, or
• Should posses a combination of direct investments, business activities in Cyprus and deposits in a Cyprus bank(s) of a total of 15m.
• Should have registered a company or companies whose management and control is in Cyprus and over the last three years preceding the application to have paid either by way of income tax, VAT or by way of professional fees, the amount of €500,000 on average per year.

b)      It should be noted that the applicant is required to submit the following documents:

In case of direct investments:

• For the purchase of immovable property- the sale purchase agreement or the title deed
• For the purchase of a company and/or business- a certificate of shareholders issued by the Registrar of companies
• For the purchase of shares- the share certificate(s)
• For the purchase of financial assets- certificates and details of the financial assets

In case of business investments:

• A certificate of registration of the company issued by the Registrar
• A certificate of shareholders
• Audited accounts of the company/ies, of the last 3 years before the application is made
• Certificate from the social insurance relating to the employees of the applicant’s company

In case of new methods of pioneering technology and research centres:

• Certificate of ‘patent’ or any other relevant certificate.

In case of bank deposits:

• Certificate issued by Cypriot Bank for deposit(s)

In case of direct revenues/professional fees:-

• Receipts and proofs of payment of VAT, income tax etc to the Cyprus government and professional fees in Cyprus (of the last 3 years preceding the application)

It should be noted here that none of the above criteria affects the absolute discretion of the Council when making/reaching a decision.

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