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The Quickest Way to EU Access, the Cyprus Citizenship by Investment Program

Cyprus is a small island strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa, with a population of around 1.17 million. It offers one of the most attractive Citizenship by Investment program worldwide with numerous benefits to you and your family in the short and long term.

We compiled a list of things you should know about the Cyprus Citizenship by Investment Program that will assist your decision making.

What makes Cyprus a Great Investment?

Visa-Free Travel

Cyprus offers Visa-free travel to over 174 countries and territories including the Schengen countries, Canada, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Hong Kong.

The Passport Index ranks the Cypriot passport as 16th in terms of travel freedom across the globe.

Tax Management

Cypriot citizens do not have to pay foreign income tax or inheritance tax and are not liable to any withholding tax on interest rates. The jurisdiction also offers the lowest taxation rates in Europe for residents. Cyprus has also signed double taxation treaties with over 60 countries which can help investors to optimize their wealth by tax-saving

Family and Future Security

Cyprus is ranked as the safest country in the world amongst small countries and 5th safest country worldwide. The state also offers investor’s children access to education at some of the world’s most renowned universities. It also provides scholarships, free education programs, and other benefits that would be inaccessible without the Cypriot citizenship. It has the 4th highest government spending rate as a percentage of GDP out of the 28 EU members. The healthcare system of the country is very efficient, ranking at 26th out of 195 countries in healthcare access with a quality index higher than that of the USA and Israel.

Assessing the Business Environment in Cyprus

Cyprus has a modern, free-market, service-based economy giving international investors and domestic businesses confidence to invest, grow and prosper. To analyze the business environment in Cyprus, we have considered economic parameters, financial framework and regulatory environment. These parameters are used to decide the attractiveness of a region for your business.

Economic Parameters

The economic development of a country is shown through its economic environment. It indicates whether the country is underdeveloped, developing, or developed.

We have considered factors like economic freedom, GDP per capita and capital expenditure as a percentage of GDP to assess the environment.

– Cyprus’s economy is the 37th freest in the world in 2020, according to the Economic Freedom Index. The indexing is done based on factors like regulatory efficiency, market openness, government size and business freedom. Cyprus‘s overall score is in line with the European average and significantly above the world average.

– GDP per capita in Cyprus is USD 28,159.302, which categorizes it as a high-income country.

– Cyprus’s capital expenditure as a percentage of GDP is at 19.13%. High capital expenditure reflects high future production.

Financial Framework

Financial parameters take into account FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) inflows, inflation rates, and lending and borrowing rates in the country. These factors are vital in today’s business.

– Inflation rate in Cyprus is only 1.4% depicting the business-friendly environment of the country.

– According to the World Bank, FDI inflows in Cyprus were at USD 23,840.78 in 2019, making a 300% increase from 2018.

 Regulatory Framework

The Regulatory Framework Index shows the judicial environment and its strength. It is vital for the business environment in terms of laws, policies, and conflict resolution. It shows how stringent the laws are and whether the policies are business favorable.

-The Competitiveness Index tells how well a nation is braced for change and the adaptability and agility of all stakeholders, including government. This index includes factors like infrastructure, macroeconomic stability, health, skills, labor market and more. Cyprus is the most-improved country according to the IMD World Competitiveness Centre 2020 report, rising 11 places from 2019.The improvement of 11 places is the largest of the countries in the survey.

-Cyprus ranks 54th among 190 countries on the Ease of Doing Business Index. Cyprus has made starting a business more affordable by reducing the cost of business registration and got an overall score of 73.4 points (out of 100) in 2020 with 94.5 for time, 97.2 for cost and 100.0 for pain-in minimum capital.

-It takes only six days to open a company in Cyprus and have an enterprise-friendly administration.

-Cyprus offers one of the lowest business set-up and operating costs in the EU.

The Route to Cyprus Citizenship

Cyprus offers multiple investment options to obtain citizenship which all require a minimum investment of EUR 2 million. You can choose one of the following options:

  1. Investment in real estate or development and infrastructure projects.
  2. Investment in Cypriot Companies, i.e. the purchase and establishment of or participation in a Cypriot business.
  3. Investment in Alternative Investment Funds or financial assets of Cypriot enterprises or Cypriot organizations licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission
  4. A combination of any of the above options provided that the total investment amounts to EUR 2 million.

The processing time to obtain the Cypriot passport is from 3 to 6 months

For more details about these investment options, book a FREE no-obligation consultation with our team.