Cyprus Tightens the Golden Visa rules

Cyprus made changes to its Golden Visa program, which came into effect on May 2, 2023. Here are the key changes:

• Parents and parents-in-law no longer qualify as dependents under the program. They must now make their own investments to qualify for permanent residency in Cyprus.
• The minimum income requirement for the main applicant has been increased from €30,000 to €50,000 per annum. An additional minimum of €15,000 per annum must be shown for a spouse and €10,000 per annum for a child. A dependent child can be up to 25 years old in case if they are a foreign student.
• Applicants will have to provide proof on an annual basis that they continue to meet the minimum income and investment requirements. This means investors must now prove they have not divested from their original €300,000 minimum investment asset. Failure to do so could result in the cancellation of their permanent residence permits.

These changes do not affect applications where the purchaser entered into contracts to acquire property with the Department of Lands and Surveys prior to April 28, 2023.

Changes have been made to "shield the scheme’s process and eliminate weaknesses that were observed and could potentially leave room for exploitation". The Cypriot government abolished its citizenship by investment scheme in 2020, following an Al Jazeera investigation.