On the 18 of August,2020 the Council of Ministers of Cyprus accepted the following amendments inlegislation regarding Cyprus Investment Program:
1. DONATION AMOUNT HAS CHANGED
Before: theamount of the donation (one-time non-refundable payment) was 150,000 euros.
Now: the amountof the donation has become 200,000 euros. The investment of a minimum of2,000,000 euros for 5 years stays as before;
2. THE DEFINITION OF FINANCIALLY DEPENDANT CHILDREN HASCHANGED
Before:financially dependent adult children (18 to 28 years old) who were married,could apply for citizenship under their parents’ application.
Now: if they aremarried, they do not qualify under the parents’ application anymore;
3. PARENTS OFINVESTOR’S SPOUSE NOW QUALIFY FOR CITIZENSHIP
Before: under aninvestor's application for citizenship, only his/her parents could apply (foran additional investment of 500,000 euros).
Now: the parentsof the investor's spouse can also apply (for an additional € 500,000investment). It is allowed for the parents of both spouses to buy one propertyfor at least 1 million euros;
4. TIME SPAN FORGRANTING THE CITIZENSHIP TO INVESTOR’S FAMILY MEMBERS HAS REDUCED
Before: adultfamily members (children from 18 to 28 and the parents of the spouse) couldapply for citizenship under the investor’s application only after the investorhad been granted citizenship.
Now: adult familymembers can apply for citizenship at the same time as the main investor. Thissignificantly reduces the time it takes to obtain citizenship for adult familymembers;
5. THE RECENCY OF CLEAN CRIMINAL RECORD HAS CHANGED
Before: a policeclearance certificate had to be no older than 3 months.
Now: the term hasbeen increased to 6 months;
6. POLITICALLY EXPOSED PERSONS CAN NOW APPLY FOR CYPRUSCITIZENSHIP 1 YEAR AFTER LEAVING THEIR POSITION
Before:politically exposed persons should not have held public office for five yearsat the time of applying for citizenship.
Now: the term hasbeen reduced to ONE year. This is provided that they did not occupy significantpolitical positions (heads of states or governments, ministers or theirdeputies, ambassadors, mayors of cities, etc.);
The followingrestrictions have also been introduced:
• It is nolonger allowed to create a development company and invest in own developmentprojects in order to obtain citizenship;
• If theapplicant invests in a Cypriot company, then it must employ at least 9 citizensof Cyprus or the EU, and not 5 as before;
• The fundsrelating to all investments mentioned above as well as the purchase ofpermanent private residence under the provisions of the regulations, shall bewired from an overseas bank account of the foreign investor or his/her companyor companies and all payments for the investments in the Republic shall end upin Cypriot credit institutions or payment institutions which are licensed andsupervised by the Central Bank of Cyprus (copies of the wire transfers shall beattached to the investor application). Earlier, some relaxation was allowed onthis matter;
• Citizenshipcannot be claimed by applicants convicted of a serious criminal offensepunishable by imprisonment of five (5) years or more, or another offense of asimilar severity. The implication is that, if convicted in another country, itis required that the specific crime also be considered a crime in the Republicof Cyprus, punishable by similar imprisonment;
• Applicantswho are under criminal investigation with a possible sentence of 5 years ormore cannot apply for Cypriot citizenship either.
The above requirements were introduced to monitor thereliability of the investor and will not affect the transaction process.