Christopher ZeniosThe east Mediterranean island offers citizenship to high net worth individuals from around the world who meet particular requirements, including having the ability to invest €2.15 million in the country.
The applicants stand to get many benefits by acquiring this citizenship. And that includes:
- Access to the rest of the EU for travel, business, and investment
- Have the privilege of entering over 100 countries around the world without Visa
- Right to own property anywhere in the EU.
- Right to work anywhere within the EU
In return, Cyprus stands to benefit by having a significant amount of money get injected into its economy in the form of the investment the applicant has to commit as well as the application fees they pay to the state.
Pending passport applications
The citizenship by investment program has proven to be very popular with very wealthy individuals from the Middle East, Asia, and South America. And so far, Cyprus has raised over €6.5 billion from the program.
There had been calls to stop it especially following aggressive marketing, poor vetting process, and complaints from other EU members, and indeed the country did proceed to cancel some of the already issued passports.
But there is a change of heart, and the program seems to be getting back on track. A new law regulation is being put in place to fix the issues that befell the program, including imposing heavy penalties for those who provide misleading information.
Support banks and tourism
There are about 100 pending Cyprus investment program applications. And there is even a longer waiting list with over 700 names. By starting to process these applications and interests, Cyprus estimates to raise over €1 billion.
There is no time that Cyprus needs this money like now. It will go a long way in giving the economy a badly needed boost. The money will go into various sectors of the economy, and indeed banks will play a central role in the management of this new money coming into the country, and that will give a lifeline they need right now.
Aside from providing the needed capital that tourism needs, the program will bring in a new group of citizens who have the disposable income to spend visiting different parts of their new home country with their families.
Some concerns having seen Cyprus cancel some of the already-issued passports, potential applicants might not be very enthusiastic about putting in their applications. We will have to wait and see how successful the program turns out after the revamp of regulations.
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