The Council of Ministers, pursuant to a decision dated 21 May 2018, approved inter alia the following amendments to the Cyprus Investment Programme (the “Programme”):

1. The Scheme for Naturalization of Investors in Cyprus by Exception has been renamed and is now known as the “Cyprus Investment Programme”.  

2. From 2018 onwards, seven hundred (700) main applications will be approved under the Programme per annum.

3. The examination period for any citizenship application under the Programme by the authorities will now be six (6) months from the date of the submission of the application.  

4. In the event that the investment involves the purchase of property or properties under construction, the investor must retain the investment for a period of three (3) years after the town planning permit has been issued.

5. Any citizenship applications under the Programme may be submitted on behalf of the applicants only by approved natural/legal persons duly licensed to provide such services and registered with the newly created Registry of Service Providers of the Programme (herein referred to as a “Service Provider”).

6. All citizenship applications must be accompanied, inter alia, by the Service Provider Self-Declaration form and by the Self-Declaration form completed by the applicant who has received services from the said Service Provider for the purposes of the Programme.

7. The Service Provider has to submit a due diligence report for each applicant, in the form of a background check or report generated and issued by an internationally accepted database.

If you require any information with respect to the programme, please click here.