Permanent Residence Permit

Following the decision of the Minister of Interior, dated 22 February 2016 and on the basis of Regulation 6.2 of the Immigration and Aliens Law, third country nationals who satisfy the requested investment criteria may apply for the granting of a Cyprus Permanent Residence Permit in a fast track process.

The application process takes approximately 2 months to be concluded and there is no actual residency requirement for the applicant and his/her family, other than a required visit to Cyprus once every two years.  Once the Cyprus Permanent Residency Permit has been granted, it is for life.

The process is straight forward with simple investment and personal criteria to be met, and does not entail any language or medical examinations for the applicant and his/her family, making the Cyprus Permanent Residency Permit the most attractive permanent residency scheme in Europe.

The permit is granted on the basis of the following requirements.  Applicant must have:

• Purchased in Cyprus of a NEW immovable property (resale is not accepted) with total purchase cost of at least €300,000 (excluding VAT). At least €200,000 (not including VAT) of the purchase cost must be paid to the vendor (developer).  The immovable property can be purchased by way of 2 residences or 1 residence & 1 office, or 1 residence & 1 shop.

• A secure and steady minimum annual income of €30,000 transferred on a regular basis from abroad to a bank operating in Cyprus. The income should derive from sources other than employment in Cyprus. For example, it might come from salary, rent, pensions, interests, dividends etc.  Income from dividends in a Cyprus company of the applicant shall not be considered as a violation of the requirement of not engaging in any professional activity in Cyprus. The income is increased by €5,000 for each dependent person.

• Funds of €30,000 transferred from abroad and deposited in a bank operating in Cyprus in a 3 year fixed deposit account.

The property could also be purchased in the name of a company however, in such case the following conditions must be met:

• The company must be registered in Cyprus
• Applicant or his spouse (or both) must be shareholders and his/her name/names should appear on the certificate of shareholders of the Company issued by the Cyprus Registrar of Companies. Trust deeds are not acceptable.
• They must be only shareholders of this Cyprus company.

If the shareholder of the Cyprus company is another company, it must be proved that the only shareholders of that other company is the applicant or his spouse or both.