Under the Civil Registry Law, 141(I) of 2002 as amended ("the Law"), there are three ways to acquire Cypriot citizenship, namely by birth or descent, by registration and by naturalisation. Registration is available only to citizens of the United Kingdom or other Commonwealth countries who are married to a Cypriot citizen and have been permanently resident in Cyprus for the three years preceding the application. For anyone else, the only available option is naturalisation.
According to section 111 of the Law, the Minister of the Interior may grant a certificate of naturalisation to any foreigner of full age and capacity who applies in the prescribed manner and satisfies the Minister that he or she qualifies for naturalisation under the provisions of the Third Schedule to the Law. On making the affirmation of loyalty to Cyprus in the form set out in the Second Schedule to the Law, the person to whom the certificate is granted will be a Cypriot citizen by naturalisation from the date on which the certificate is granted.
The Third Schedule sets out the conditions which applicants must satisfy in order to obtain Cypriot citizenship by naturalisation, which are as follows:
- The applicant must either have resided in Cyprus or been in the Cyprus public service, or a mixture of the two, throughout an uninterrupted period of 12 months immediately before the date of application;
- During the seven years immediately preceding the period of 12 months mentioned above, the applicant must either have resided in Cyprus or been in the Cyprus public service, or a mixture of the two, for periods amounting in total to not less than four years. If the applicant was resident in Cyprus for the exclusive purpose of employment, he or she must have spent at least six years of the seven-year period in Cyprus;
- The applicant is of good character; and
- If a certificate is granted, the applicant intends either to reside in Cyprus or to enter into or continue in the service of an international organisation of which Cyprus is a member or the service of a society, company or body of persons established in Cyprus.
Fast track economic citizenship program
The Council of Ministers has now decided to implement an "economic citizenship" programme, granting accelerated citizenship to applicants who satisfy one of the following criteria:
- The applicant has invested at least €3 million in Cyprus, comprising €2 million in the Development and Investments Fund and €500,000 each in the Research and Development Fund and the Solidarity and Employment fund. These deposits should remain blocked for at least five years and in the event that this condition is violated, the naturalisation may be rescinded.
- The applicant has invested at least €5 million in Cyprus in the following:
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- acquisition of immovable property (residential properties, commercial properties, hotels, and other similar types of properties which are in a progressed stage of completion). Undeveloped land does not qualify;
- acquisition of businesses or companies;
- acquisition of shares of public companies registered in Cyprus;
- acquisition of financial assets (securities) (e.g. bonds, etc registered and issued by the Republic of Cyprus including those which will be issued by the Solidarity Fund in accordance with the National Solidarity Fund Law of 2013);
- participation in a company or a joint venture which has undertaken the execution of a project in Cyprus.
- The applicant has significant business activities in Cyprus, being a substantial shareholder of a company incorporated and doing business in Cyprus, the principal offices of which are situated in Cyprus, which employs at least ten Cypriot citizens and which has paid at least €500,000 per year to public revenues over the preceding five years. For each such company no more than two applications for naturalisation may be submitted.
- The applicant was the holder of deposits in Bank of Cyprus or Laiki Bank at 15 March 2013 and incurred losses of €3 million or more as a result of the measures imposed on the two banks during March 2013.
Apart from satisfying the criteria set out above, the applicant must have a clean criminal record and be the owner of a permanent residence in Cyprus with a value of €500,000 or more excluding VAT.
We should be delighted to advise on eligibility and to assist with applications.
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