Cyprus citizenship by investment in 2026: closed since 2020, and the eight-year route that replaced it

Cyprus sold passports until 2020, and the search for "Cyprus citizenship by investment" outlived the programme by six years. The answer is now written in the law itself: the subsection that allowed it has been deleted, and the only applications it still governs are those filed by 30 October 2020. Anyone offering a Cypriot passport for an investment today is offering something the Republic no longer issues.

Everything below is read from the consolidated Civil Registry Law, Law 141(I)/2002, on cylaw.org on 26 October 2026 — articles 111A, 111B and 113 — and from our Cyprus verification file of 22 October 2026. cylaw.org is the Cyprus Bar Association's database, a reproduction of the official texts.

Cyprus citizenship by investment: closed to applications since 30 October 2020

The Cyprus Investment Programme stood on article 111A(2) of Law 141(I)/2002, which let the Council of Ministers naturalise an investor without the residence conditions. The consolidated text now reads simply "(2) [Deleted]". The law records that it was deleted by the Civil Registry (Amending) (No. 2) Law of 2025, and that where a court orders a past naturalisation decision to be re-examined, subsection (2) applies "only to applications submitted up to 30.10.2020". The regulations made under it survive only for honorary naturalisations and for applications already filed under the programme.

So there is no Cypriot citizenship by investment to apply for, at any price, and none since the end of October 2020.

What replaced the Cyprus investment programme: honorary naturalisation, not for sale

Article 111A(1) remains. The Council of Ministers may, "in very exceptional cases of the provision of services of the highest level to the Republic", allow a foreigner to be naturalised on grounds of public interest without the residence and language conditions. Parliament must be informed in advance (article 111A(3)), and the terms are set in regulations.

This is an honour for services already rendered, decided case by case. It has no price, no investment threshold and no application route an adviser can sell.

Cyprus golden passports revoked: what article 113 says about the money and the family

Article 113 lets the Council of Ministers deprive a naturalised citizen of citizenship on the grounds it lists. Two provisos were written with the investment programme in mind:

• where a person loses citizenship acquired under article 111A or the deleted subsection (2), no investment, contribution or donation made to the Republic, or that was the reason for the grant, is returned;
• where a person loses citizenship acquired that way, family members who acquired it as members of that person's family may lose it too.

A passport bought under the old programme is therefore not a closed matter, and the money behind it is not recoverable if it is withdrawn.

Cyprus citizenship by naturalisation: twelve months plus seven years, Greek at B1

The ordinary route is article 111B(1). An applicant must, cumulatively:

• have lived in Cyprus lawfully and continuously for the twelve months immediately before applying, with absences totalling up to 90 days allowed;
• have lived there lawfully for at least seven years in total in the ten years before those twelve months;
• hold a certificate of Greek at level B1, by written and oral examination, and know the basics of contemporary political and social life in Cyprus;
• meet the remaining conditions of the article, including sufficient resources and accommodation.

Residence means physical presence. Periods as a student or as an applicant for international protection do not count, which is in our Cyprus verification file.

Fast-track Cyprus citizenship for highly skilled employees: three or four years

Article 111B(2) shortens the clock for a person living in Cyprus for highly skilled employment in companies designated by decision of the Council of Ministers under the scheme for attracting companies and talent: a total of four years with Greek at A2, or three years with Greek at B1, again by certified examination. Family members may apply at the same time if they meet the residence conditions themselves (article 111B(3)).

This is a route for employees. The investor's permanent residence under Regulation 6(2) does not allow work in Cyprus, so it does not lead into the fast track.

From the Cyprus golden visa to a Cypriot passport: about eight years

The investor's route is two steps with nothing joining them except time. The golden visa — €300,000 invested and €50,000 a year in income from abroad — gives permanent residence, set out in the Cyprus golden visa guide. It does not count towards citizenship unless the holder actually lives in Cyprus, and then the ordinary twelve-months-plus-seven-years rule applies. An investor who keeps the permit and lives elsewhere is not counting towards a passport at all. How the Cypriot clock compares with the others is in the naturalisation clock.

Cyprus compared with the countries that sold or sell citizenship

The Argentine programme is in Argentina citizenship by investment, the Portuguese case in Portugal citizenship by investment, and the rest in golden passport: what a golden visa actually leads to.

Frequently asked questions

Where this sits in the rest of the site

The permanent residence route and its true cost are in the Cyprus golden visa guide. Living in Cyprus without investing is in retiring in Cyprus and the Cyprus digital nomad visa, and the tax side in Cyprus tax for individuals. Every instrument named here is on the sources page.

If a Cypriot passport is the actual goal

We do not give legal advice. What we do is put a person who knows what they are asking in front of a licensed adviser in Cyprus. The questions that decide this are rarely the investment. They are whether you will actually live in Cyprus for eight years, whether your work could fall under the fast track, and when to start the Greek. Send them through the enquiry form. We take no part in the fee.

Sources: where each figure comes from

• The deleted investment subsection, the 30 October 2020 cut-off and honorary naturalisation: Law 141(I)/2002, article 111A, consolidated text on cylaw.org, read 26 October 2026.
• Deprivation, the investment not returned and family members: Law 141(I)/2002, article 113, provisos to subsection (1), same text.
• Naturalisation and the fast track: Law 141(I)/2002, article 111B(1)–(3), consolidated to Law 224(I)/2025, same text; the periods that do not count, as recorded in our Cyprus verification file.
• The golden visa: Migration Department criteria, fourth revision in force from 2 May 2023, as recorded in our Cyprus verification file.
• Not published here: the amount the old programme required; how many passports have been revoked; and the list of companies designated for the fast track.