An amendment to the Cyprus Investment Programme has been recently made, as follows:
- The payment of the mandatory donations of at least €75.000 to (i) the Research and Innovation Foundation, and (ii) the Cyprus Land Development Corporation respectively will be made after the approval of the naturalization application by the Council of Ministers.
- In the context of the combination of investments, an applicant may invest in securities on the secondary market of the Cyprus Stock Exchange of total value of up to €200.000.
- Cypriot citizenship through the Cypriot Investment Programme will not be granted to persons who fall into any of the following categories:
- politically exposed persons holding a state office or who have held a state office in the last five years;
- persons subject to criminal investigation without an indictment having been made;
- persons subject to prosecution or defendants to criminal prosecution;
- persons sentenced to imprisonment for serious offences (e.g. bribery of a public person, tax evasion etc.) and whose sentence has been time-barred;
- persons who are connected to legal entities to which restrictive measures have been imposed by the European Union (EU);
- persons who were connected to legal entities to which restrictive measures have been imposed by the EU but are no longer connected to such entities. The application for citizenship will be rejected even if the person had resigned at the time of the imposition of the restrictive measures. Only persons who resigned before the imposition of restrictive measures are excluded from this restriction;
- persons subject to sanctions by third countries (e.g. the United States, Ukraine, Russia);
- persons associated with legal entities to which sanctions have been imposed by third countries;
- persons investigated/charged for criminal offences and who are wanted in the EU by EUROPOL or internationally by INTERPOL;
- persons investigated/charged for criminal offences and who were wanted in the EU by EUROPOL or internationally by INTERPOL but are no longer wanted; and
- persons subject to sanctions by the United Nations Security Council.
