New, stricter, passport criteria have been in effect for Cyprus’ Citizenship by Investment scheme since 15 May 2019. As a result, the Cyprus Land Registry has released data reporting a dramatic increase in property sales during the month of May.
Title deed transfers in May reached 476, compared to 306 in the previous month. In January, only 250 transfers were recorded.
The largest increases in applications were seen in Limassol, with 189 sales recorded, while Paphos has 160 applications submitted.
Mr. George Mouskides, Chairman of the Cyprus Property Owners Association (KSIA), admitted that this increase is directly related to the new Cyprus Investor Citizenship Programme criteria.
The criteria changes are the following:
The number of citizenships granted per year is limited to 700
The minimum investment has been increased from € 2 million to € 2.5 million
An extra € 150,000 in fees for procedures has been added to the application fee, depending on the type of investment chosen.
Applicants will need to undergo background checks by a specialised foreign firm
It should be noted that, sales documents submitted by citizens from non-EU countries make up 33.4% of all property sales recorded in May.
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