Getting a citizenship in Cyprus may sound like a hell of a process. But, the truth is that if you’re diligent and follow all processes carefully, with a good counseling, you can get your citizenship reasonably easy.
There’re three methods for getting it, but we’ll focus on the Citizenship-By-Investment, that allows you to get your citizenship by participating in Cyprus economy. Whether you buy property in Cyprus or invest in existing businesses, this can be the easiest way to get you to be an EU Cypriot citizen.
How to get a citizenship-by-investment in Cyprus?
Selecting the property
Selecting the Cyprus property is easy as you have a wide range of possibilities and you are able to choose the place. What you need to know is that the investment must be of at least €2million of which, €500.000 must be for a permanent residential property while the rest can be for business properties.
The €1,5million properties must be kept for at least 3 years. After that, they can be sold. Parents can also apply for citizenship-by-investment in Cyprus if they own a residential property for €500,000.
Among the property options you can choose from there are:
⦁ Residential
⦁ Commercial
⦁ Development projects
⦁ Investment funds or financial assets of any Cypriot business or company.
⦁ Participation, creation or purchase of Cypriot businesses or companies.
⦁ Government bonds (maximum €500,000, the rest must be investment in property in Cyprus or business).
⦁ Combination of all these options.
Preparing and applying for the citizenship
Besides the mentioned investment requirements, there’re other factors that any applicant must fulfill to be actually eligible for citizenship. Of course, the age majority (18+) is indispensable.
The investor must be clean when it comes to any list of possible property seized by the EU.
It’s important to know that prior the naturalization of submitter as a citizen, it’s necessary that they hold a permanent residence permit for at least 6 months. The good news is that this process can be performed at the same time of the Citizenship application so you won’t have to take an extra time for doing it.
While you don’t need to live in, if you and your family have never been to Cyprus, you will need to pay a visit to the island. The visit must be the day the application is submitted, so your biometric data and the one of your family can be collected (fingerprint, photos, etc).
It’s also important that you and every member of your family have a clear criminal record in your native country and the one of your residence if they vary.
If you’ve made a purchase or investment in property in the past 3 years, it also can be used as part of the €2,000,000 investment required. IF you have a permanent residence that is under the €500,000 you’ll only need to buy a second property in Cyprus for the difference to meet the criteria.
Cypriot processing fees
Each member of the family must pay the processing fee individually, even if the investment is purchased collectively. The fees according to the age are:
⦁ Investor: must pay application submission fee of €2,000 and certificate issuance fee of €5,000.
⦁ Spouse: must pay application submission fee of €2,000 and certificate issuance fee of €5,000.
⦁ Adult child (under 28 and financially dependent on the parent): must pay application submission fee of €2,000 and certificate issuance fee of €5,000.
⦁ Minor child (under 18): minors must only pay an application submission fee of €80.
Any children which are severely impeded will be considered as financially dependent.
Collecting the necessary documents
Citizenship-by-investment in Cyprus required documentation is not so difficult:
⦁ Filling in the application from the Ministry of Interior.
⦁ Birth certificate.
⦁ Copy of your passport.
⦁ 2 passport-size photos.
⦁ Stamp.
⦁ Paperwork proving that you’re investing in the country: contract of sales, proof of payments, investment plans. It doesn’t matter if they were created in your country or in Cyprus as long as they’re valid.
⦁ Certify and apostille all your documentation.
⦁ Clean criminal record.
⦁ Marriage certificate.
⦁ Certificate of the registration of the business/company/investment that the submitter is acquiring.
⦁ Curriculum Vitae
All documents must be in Greek or English as well as certified/stamped by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Cyprus.
Submit application
⦁ Submit an Application for Cyprus Citizenship by Investment to the Ministry of Interior with all the documents (translated to Gree or English) and a €2,000 fee.
⦁ Once the eligibility criteria are checked and met, then the application is submitted to the Council of Minister by the Ministry of Interior so it can be approved.
⦁ The application for the spouse must be submitted at the same time but the kids can only be submitted once the parent’s citizenship is approved.
Acquire Citizenship approval and naturalization formalization
⦁ The timing of approval for citizens that already have a permanent residence permit is around 3 months.
⦁ If you’re applying simultaneously for the permanent residence permit, you will wait 6 months until you can complete the naturalization and issuance of passport/ID card.
⦁ Once the citizenship is approved, you’ll need to pay a €5,000 as a certificate issuing fee so the Civil Registry and Migration Department issues the Certificate of Naturalization.
⦁ If all the criteria are met, the application is duly submitted and all the certification documents are clear and correct, the process will be completed by the Council of Ministers. This will take around 6 months, as mentioned, and the application submission date will be the one when all the fees were paid.
⦁ Once the process is completed, the applicant must appear at Civil Registry and Migration Department and retire the passport and ID card.
It’s important to remember that the Council of Ministers has complete discretional power regarding which applications they approve and which ones they don’t.
It’s also indispensable that every piece of information you provide to the Government of Cyprus is completely veridical and transparent, and that you don’t withhold vital information.
Otherwise, the Government of Cyprus can proceed to revoke or cancel any solicitation even if the businesses are already on-the-go or if the citizenship was already approved.
