On Friday, the 31st of July 2020, the Cyprus Parliament has voted the revised legislation and regulations of the Cyprus Investment Program. The new finalized document of the legislation is expected to be officially published this week.
Below, you will find an outline of the amendments/additions that were voted:
1. The financial criteria of the program have remained the same, that is an investment of €2,000,000 is required plus acquiring a residency of at least €500,000 plus VAT. In the case that the investment of €2,000,000 is in residential property, then no additional residency is required to be purchased. However, the investor is not allowed anymore to set up a land developing company as per of his/her investment plan.
2. Donation amount has increased to a total €200,000 (€100,000 and €100,000).
3. Parents of both the investor and his/her spouse can now apply provided that they acquire a residency of at least €500,000 plus VAT for each side. The newly amended regulation provide also the option to acquire a combined property of at least €1,000,000 plus VAT for both applications.
4. The funds in regards to the Investment should be wired to Cyprus from an overseas private account of the investor and/or his/her company’s account.
5. A definition of a Politically Exposed Person has been clearly set and any investor has the right to apply, as long as he/she has given up his state office 12 months prior to the application date (instead of 3 years).
6. Criminal record can be issued 6 months prior to the application (instead of 3 months).
7. The Government has the right to revoke the Cyprus Citizenship if some conditions occur which are clearly defined in the new regulations. An independent committee is to be formed in order to examine such cases and provide opinions to the Council of Ministers.
8. All the applications that were submitted after the 31st of December 2019 are eligible to be examined based on the new regulations.
