Cyprus Caps Citizenship Investment 2018

The government in Cyprus has announced some key amendments to their Citizenship by Investment Programme. The programme will now be capped to a limit of 700 naturalisation applications per year, taking effect from this year, 2018. This cap refers to the main applicants only and not to subsequent family members.

Additionally, a new code of conduct has been implemented with clear provisions to avoid any abusive practises taking place in the industry. Enhanced due diligence checks will also be conducted by specialised professionals. All these positive changes will ensure that the programmes remains strong and highly reputable, encouraging professional conduct to be followed at all times, by those specialising in the programme.

The programme has proven to be extremely popular since released in 2012, predominantly as it offers one of the quickest routes to gain EU Citizenship. Investors can obtain a passport in just six months following a real estate investment at €2,000,000. The new cap on annual applications will of course ensure that more time and care is taken by the immigration authorities when processing each application. However this will also mean that applications for citizenship by investment in Cyprus will be limited each year.

Considering we are now half way through 2018, we recommend anyone who has been contemplating this programme to proceed promptly to ensure they submit their application before this year’s quota has been reached.

For more details on how to move forward, please contact our team.