The Council of Ministers recently revised the criteria for obtaining an Immigration Permit as per Regulation 6(2) of the "Aliens and Immigration" Regulations (i.e. Permanent Residency (PR) Permit for Investors). The revised criteria entered into force as from 2 May 2023.
The most important changes are as follows:
Changes in the economic criteria
- The required investment amount under Criterion A and B (i.e. investment in real estate in Cyprus) remains unchanged at EUR 300.000 (excl. VAT). However, as per the revised criteria, official payment receipts for the amount of EUR 300.000 (excl. VAT) should be submitted to the Authorities together with the submission of the PR application, regardless of the delivery date of the immovable property to be acquired (previously official payment receipts of at least EUR 200.000 (excl. VAT) were required at the time of the submission of the application);
- The annual secured income requirement for the investor has now been increased to EUR 50.000 (previously EUR 30.000). It is further noted that the secured income requirement should be increased by EUR 15.000 for the spouse of the investor and by EUR 10.000 for each child of the investor (previously EUR 5.000 for each dependent);
As proof of the annual secured income, the submitted tax declarations of the investor and/or the spouse of the investor from their country of tax residency, should be submitted to the Authorities.
Changes in the terms and conditions
- The investor and the adult family members (i.e. spouse, financially dependent adult children who are students) should provide to the Authorities upon the submission of the PR application, a clean criminal record certificate from both the country of origin and the country of residence, if different (previously a criminal record certificate only from country of residence was sufficient);
- As per the revised criteria introduced, the parents and the parents in law of the investor cannot apply for a PR permit under the PR permit of the investor as dependents.
Requirement for providing annual updates to the Authorities
As per the revised criteria, after the granting of the PR permit, the investor should provide on an annual basis to the Authorities, the following:
- Supporting documentation evidencing that the investor maintains the investment in Cyprus;
- Supporting documentation regarding the investor's secured annual income requirement, as determined based on the number of the dependents;
- Clean criminal record certificates for the investor and the adult family members, from both, the country of origin and country of residence;
- Confirmation that the investor and its dependents have a valid health insurance in Cyprus.
In case where the above required documents are not provided to the Authorities on an annual basis, the PR permits for the investor and the dependents may be cancelled.
KPMG Cyprus comments
It is expected that the revised criteria of the Immigration Permit for foreign investors under Regulation 6(2) will render the scheme more transparent, credible and reliable for potential investors as well as other stakeholders.
Also, by implementing the recent changes of the criteria of the PR programme, it is ensured that this scheme is well safeguarded to remain in effect for the foreseeable future and be used as an effective tool for attracting foreign direct investments in Cyprus, which will positively impact the Cyprus economy.
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