May 2023 – The Cyprus Government Council of Ministers amended recently the criteria for obtaining an Immigration Permit in Cyprus as a foreign investor. The new criteria are in force as of 2 May 2023.
The most significant changes are the following:
Real estate investment in Cyprus
The required investment amount in real estate in Cyprus remains unchanged at EUR 300.000 (excl. VAT). With the new, amended criteria, payment receipts for the amount of EUR 300.000 (excl. VAT) should be submitted to the relevant Authorities together with the submission of the application, regardless of the delivery date of the acquired immovable property. Before the amendments, payment receipts of at least EUR 200.000 were required at the time of the submission of the application.
Annual secured income
The investor must provide proof of an annual secured income of EUR 50.000, instead of the previous amount of EUR 30.000 per year. This secured income requirement is increased by EUR 15.000 for the spouse and by EUR 10.000 for each child of the investor. Under the previous version of the program and its requirements, this amount was EUR 5.000 for each dependent.
The investor and spouse must submit tax declarations as proof of the annual secured income from their country of tax residency, to the local authorities.
Other terms and conditions
The investor and all the adult family members must provide clean criminal record certificates to the local Authorities upon the submission of the residence application. These documents must come from both the country of origin and the country of residence, if different. Before these recent amendments only a criminal record certificate from the country of residence was required.
Another important term that changed is that the parents and the parents-in-law of the investor cannot apply for a permanent residence permit as dependents.
Annual updates requirements to the Authorities
After gaining the permanent residence permit, the investor must provide the following on an annual basis:
- Evidence and supporting documentation that the investor sustains (still owns) the investment in Cyprus,
- Supporting documentation of the investor’s secured annual income requirement, as determined based on the number of the dependents previously mentioned,
- Updated clean criminal record certificates for the investor and the adult family members from both the country of origin and country of residence,
- A valid health insurance in Cyprus by the investor and its dependents.
Failure to provide required documents
Interested investors must note that in the case where the above-required documents are not provided to the Authorities on an annual basis, the permits for the investor and the dependents may be cancelled.
If you require further assistance in gaining a foreign investor immigration permit in Cyprus please feel free to contact us directly >>