Cyprus Government Accelerates the Approval of Citizenship Applications

The Ministry of Interior is planning to take a series of measures to substantially speed up the process of CIP citizenship applications approval. According to the government, they will contribute to the economic recovery and the influx of investment in development.

One of these measures is the abolishment of quota for the number of passports issued for 2020. The quota of 700 naturalization approvals has been set by the Council of Ministers previously.

The second significant step is related to the process itself, namely: it is aimed at reducing the period of application approval to 6 months. For this purpose, the group for processing the applications has been significantly strengthened.

In addition, the programme might include more investment options, such as projects related to the environment or small and medium-sized enterprises. The financial criteria threshold will remain the same.

As the for the application criteria, they will mostly remain unchanged. However, a couple of conditions should be taken into account. For instance, politically exposed persons will be able to apply but the source of investment funds will continue to be subject to the strictest due diligence procedures.

Another important point worth mentioning is that the Government is considering the abolishment of capital gains tax for properties purchased before 2021. This means that investors who want to save on the tax when selling their property, should make their investments this year.

Cyprus Sotheby’s International Realty recommends to start considering property investment options now. Contact us and we can help you select the properties that best suit your budget and goals.