A few words about moving to Cyprus

Quite a lot of experts from the IT industry were thinking about moving, and we decided to tell about it here, on Habré.



We specifically publish this article in our personal blog and in the IT emigration hub in order to avoid criticism from those who are not interested in such content.

If you have more than once thought about the prospect of obtaining citizenship of one of the EU countries, the LAWBOOT Lawyers & Consultants team for this purpose recommends considering such a country as Cyprus as a priority. Recently it has become much easier to obtain Cypriot citizenship, however, subject to investment in the country's economy.
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Why to Cyprus?

Firstly , the citizenship of Cyprus, like any other EU country, enables you and your family members to live, study, work, conduct business in any EU country, as well as visa-free entry to more than 150 countries, access to medical care and education in Europe level

Secondly , the tax on the income of Cyprus companies is 12.5%, which is one of the lowest rates among the EU countries (only Bulgaria is lower - 10%).

Thirdly , this jurisdiction is no longer an offshore, and at the same time remains popular for tax planning. She is no longer new, onshore status, minimizes all possible problems when opening bank accounts and increases the respectability of your international business.

The Government of Cyprus revised the amount of investments made for citizenship and significantly reduced their minimum threshold (previously it was necessary to invest 5,000,000 EUR or 2,500,000 EUR for group investment).

What are the new conditions of the investment program?

Investment in the amount of 2,000,000 EUR without VAT in various objects:

- Residential Properties,
- commercial real estate,
- development,
- purchase of a share in a Cyprus company, {by the way, many IT companies are registered in Cyprus}
- registration of a Cyprus company,
- investment funds
- financial assets of Cyprus companies or organizations
- government bonds,
- or a combination of the above options;

The purchase of residential real estate for personal use in the amount of more than 500,000 EUR without VAT (when investing in residential real estate is taken into account only in the amount of 500,000 EUR).

Investment is required for a period of 3 years, after which all assets, except residential real estate specified in the previous paragraph, can be sold without losing the status of a citizen.

A very important requirement is the absence of a criminal record from an investor and his family members, as well as confirmation of the legal source of origin of capital.

The advantages of this program

- The term for consideration of documents is about 3 months - this is the fastest time for consideration among similar programs in Europe.
- The investor does not need to reside in Cyprus for 7 years, as is required for obtaining citizenship according to the standard procedure, and no test for knowledge of the history of Cyprus and the Greek language is required .

Citizenship can also be obtained by family members of the investor (spouse, financially dependent children up to 18 years of age, as well as the parents of the investor, provided that they own residential property in Cyprus worth from 500,000 EUR).

Cyprus law allows dual citizenship, i.e. You do not need to refuse the first passport. Guaranteed acquisition of Cyprus citizenship by future generations of investor.

What other programs exist?

If you are interested in the issue of moving, then the best option is to design permanent residence in Cyprus through the acquisition of real estate.

Conditions of receipt

- The presence of property acquired in Cyprus property in the amount of at least 300,000 EUR without VAT (both residential and commercial);
- The presence of a permanent annual income of 30,000 EUR from a source of origin outside Cyprus, which is regularly credited to an account in a Cyprus bank;
- Availability of a deposit in the amount of 30,000 EUR for a period of 3 years in one of the banks of Cyprus.

Permanent residence is issued for an unlimited period and is also available for members of the applicant's family, but without the right of employment in Cyprus. Submission and consideration of the application is carried out within 2 months.

Is there another option to move to Cyprus?

There is, of course, another option for obtaining a work visa, but, as LAWBOOT Lawyers & Consultants practice shows, the majority of applicants (95%) are rejected because of the state employment policy in Cyprus: an essential condition for inviting a foreigner to work is the lack of suitable on all the requirements of the candidate among the citizens of Cyprus . Moreover, you cannot take your family with you on a work visa.

Thus, we considered the key points regarding the options for moving to Cyprus.

If you are interested in other EU countries and what programs they offer for citizenship, please write to us in the comments and we will be happy to publish basic information in the LAWBOOT blog Lawyers & Consultants.

For more detailed advice you simply write to us. Read our articles on Habré, we have a lot of interesting things!