Permanent residence (PR) on Cyprus through investments to real estate
There is the accelerated procedure for obtaining the permanent residence on Cyprus for foreign citizens- the buyers of real estate.
Advantages of accelerated procedure
The receipt of permanent residence through the accelerated procedure has a lot of advantages:
- Express procedure – 2 months before obtaining permanent residence
- When Cyprus enters the Schengen area (which is expected in 2016), individuals having permanent residence in Cyprus, will have the right of free movement in the Schengen area
- Permanent residence is granted to the spouse of the applicant, their minor children, financially dependent adult children up to 25 years (if they are not married), as well as to the parents of the applicant and the parents of the applicant’s spouse
- Persons having a permanent residence, are free to enter and reside on Cyprus without a visa
- The holders of permanent residence are not required to actuallymove to Cyprus. The only condition is to visit Cyprus at least once in 2 years
- Individuals with a permanent residence have a “second home” represented by Cyprus
- The permanent resident itself doesn’t entail the tax liability in respect of Cyprus
- The actual residence in Cyprus leads to the Cyprus citizenship (currently after 7 years, that is 2.555 days of residencewithin 10 calendar years)
Requirements to the applicant
Applicant on permanent residence is required:
- To buy the real estate with a minimal cost of € 300.000 (hereinafter the amounts are indicated without VAT). The real estate must be from the primary market and be purchasedfrom the developer. Accelerated procedure of obtaining permanent residence is not applied to the cases of secondary real estate purchase
- To pay from its own funds an amount of € 200.000 from the sum ofthe property value
- To demonstrate that the purchase is carried out using the funds received from the sources outside Cyprus
- To provide the proof that the applicant’s annual income (outside Cyprus) is at least € 30.000. It can be: wages, dividends, rental income, interest on bank deposits, pensions, etc. The applicant must also provide extra income in the amount of at least € 5.000 for the spouse and each child, as well as € 8.000 for each parent of the applicant and spouse
- To place the amount of at least € 30.000 on the deposit in Cyprus bank for a period of 3 years
- To provide the certificate of no criminal record and the certificate of not being under investigation for criminal offenses, certified by the competent authorities of the country of issue
The issuance of Cyprus permanent residence through accelerated procedure takes 2 months
Applicant’s family members, participating in accelerated procedure of Cyprus permanent residence
Permanent residence can be provided to the following family members of the main applicant:
- spouse of the applicant. The permanent residence for the spouse is made together with the main applicant, but is considered as a separate permanent residence. When making a permanent residence for the spouse there is no need to purchasethe real estate or place € 30.000 on a bank account in Cyprus bank.
- financially dependent minor children of the applicant and his/her spouse. The minor children can be specified in an application for permanent residence of one of the spouses.
- unmarried and financially dependent children of the main applicant at the age of 18-25 years, which can provide a certificate from the place of their study, valid for at least six months from the date of submission of the application.This category of children can also obtain the permanent residence without any additional investments. In this case, the parents should provide the proof of extra income in the amount of € 5.000 for each financially dependent child. The obtained permanent residence remains in force even after its holders reaches the age of twenty-five years and even if he/she is already married, is not a student anymore and is not financially dependent on the parents. However, this does not mean that the future spouse and children of such a person automatically receive the permanent residence.
- parents of the couple (of both spouses) of the main applicants, which areapplying for permanent residence or have already received this status, are also eligible to obtain the permanent residency without any additional investments. Main applicants must provide proof of extra income of at least € 8.000 for each of the parents who are financially dependent on them. For each dependent parent a separate application for permanent residence is to be submitted.
In case of death of the main applicant, the spouse and financially dependent children can apply for permanent residence instead of the main applicant, not investing in additional real estate.
Individuals which obtained the permanent residence without making a personal investment in real estate or depositing money into a bank account in Cyprus (€ 30.000)don’t have the right to include in their permanent residence application their spouse, children or parents.
Additional information on investment opportunities
It is possible to obtain permanent residence on Cyprus by investing the minimally required amount of funds in:
- 2 residential real estate objects (apartment or house)
- residential real estate plus store (warehouse) up to 100 sq.m.in area.
- residential property plus office unitsup to 250 sq.m.in area.
In this case, the total value of both real estate objects must be at least € 300.000.
Both the real estate objects must belong to one developer.
It is not necessary that these real estate objects were situated close to each other.
