Cyprus Prepares to Join Schengen

Clients investing €300,000 for residency in Cyprus will soon benefit from being able to travel across the Schengen zone in Europe.

Cyprus has begun preparations to join Schengen which it hopes to achieve by August 2016. Before the island becomes a full member of the visa-free area there are a number of assessments that need to be completed including air boarders, visa control, police co-operation and personal data protection.

The Schengen Agreement has led to the creation of Europe’s borderless Schengen Area. Currently, 22 of the 28 EU member states participate in the Agreement. Of the six EU members that do not form part of the Schengen Area, four – Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Cyprus, are legally obliged and wish to join the area, while the other two – Ireland and the United Kingdom maintain opt-outs.

In addition, all four European Free Trade Association (EFTA) member states – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland – have also signed the Schengen Agreement, even though they are outside the EU. One of the main benefits of being part of the agreement is that people can move freely across the boarders without the need for separate visas or passport checks. In the past, tourists entering the EU would have needed a separate visa for each country they wanted to visit. It was designed to promote trade and integration between different nationalities as well as encourage tourism from emerging markets such as China and India.

Those investing €2.5 million for citizenship and an EU second passport are not affected by such changes. A Cyprus  passport allows freedom to live, work and travel throughout all countries in the EU.