Cyprus golden visa in 2026: permanent residency for €300,000 plus VAT, and what it really costs

Cyprus and Malta are the two countries in this site's set where an investor's residence permit is permanent from the start. In Cyprus there is no temporary stage and no renewal to win every few years: the Migration Department issues an immigration permit under Regulation 6(2), and the right of residence it gives has no expiry. That is the selling point. The costs and the conditions that keep the permit alive are what the selling pages leave out.

Everything below is taken from the Migration Department's criteria, "Immigration Permits for Investors", fourth revision in force from 2 May 2023, page posted 29 December 2025 and read again on 26 October 2026; the VAT, transfer fee and stamp duty laws; the Civil Registry law on naturalisation; and our Cyprus verification file of 22 October 2026.

Cyprus golden visa requirements: €300,000 in one of four investments

Paragraph 2.1 of the criteria asks for an investment of at least €300,000 in one of four categories:

For a home, the €300,000 is before VAT, the full €300,000 must already be paid when the application is filed, and the contract must be lodged with the Land Department. A property under construction qualifies once the €300,000 is paid. Up to two homes can be combined to reach the figure, from different developers if need be. A resale home does not qualify, except under contracts lodged before 7 May 2013.

The money must come from abroad, from the applicant's or the spouse's account or from a company they wholly own, and may not be a Cypriot loan.

Cyprus permanent residency income requirement: €50,000 a year from abroad

The applicant must show "a personal secure annual income of at least €50,000", increased by €15,000 for a spouse and €10,000 for each minor child. For an investment in a home, category A, the income must come from abroad, proved by the tax return of the country where the applicant is tax resident or by a certificate from an independent certified accountant.

The applicant and spouse also need clean criminal records, from the country of origin and of residence, and health insurance. Neither may work in Cyprus, except as a director of the company in which the investment was made.

Cyprus golden visa cost: about €61,000 on top of a €300,000 home

So the true entry price for a single applicant buying at the threshold is €357,000 plus about €3,600. If the buyer actually moves to Cyprus and the home qualifies as his main residence, VAT drops to 5% on the qualifying part and the total above the price falls to about €19,000 — but the route does not require that move, and most investors do not make it. What the route costs against the other countries' is in the cost calculator.

How long the Cyprus golden visa takes, and how long it lasts

The criteria give "approximately two (2) months" from a complete file. The right of residence has no expiry; the card is valid for ten years and is then replaced. Children's permits run to the age of eighteen.

What keeps the Cyprus permanent residence permit alive

The permit is permanent, but not unconditional. The criteria set duties after it is issued:

• every year, proof that the investment is still held and that health insurance is in force where the holder is not covered by the national health system;
• every three years, fresh criminal record certificates;
• selling the investment without immediately replacing it with one of equal or greater value revokes the permit.

The annual proof of income was dropped in the 2023 revision. And the permit lapses if the family does not settle in Cyprus within a year of approval while living abroad, if they obtain permanent residence in another country, or if they are absent from Cyprus for two years.

Cyprus citizenship after the golden visa: about eight years, Greek at B1

There has been no Cypriot citizenship by investment since 2020: the last applications were those filed by 30 October 2020, as set out in Cyprus citizenship by investment. Naturalisation by residence under article 111B of the Civil Registry Law 141(I)/2002, as consolidated to Law 224(I)/2025, requires:

• twelve months of lawful and continuous residence immediately before applying, with absences of up to 90 days allowed;
• plus at least seven years of lawful residence in the ten years before those twelve months;
• Greek at B1, by examination, and basic knowledge of Cypriot political and social life.

Residence means physical presence. An investor who holds the permit and lives elsewhere is not counting towards citizenship. How the Cypriot clock compares with the others is in the naturalisation clock.

The Cyprus golden visa tightening announced in 2026

Two things are announced and not law. In April 2026 a bill to move the route from administrative criteria into statute went to the plenary of the outgoing parliament, with no reported outcome; the route continues under the criteria. On 24 September 2026 the Deputy Minister for Migration told the House audit committee that the route will be tightened before Cyprus joins Schengen and that permits issued since 2013 are being reviewed. No thresholds, dates or text have been published. Cyprus is not yet in Schengen; the decision requires unanimity in the Council and has not been taken.

Until a text exists, the fourth revision of 2023 is what an application is decided against, and a file submitted now is decided under it.

Cyprus golden visa or another Cyprus residence route

For a retiree the visitor's permit asks for no investment at all; it is covered in retiring in Cyprus. For remote workers, the Cyprus digital nomad visa. The golden visa is for someone who wants the permit to be permanent and the house to be his anyway.

Frequently asked questions

Where this sits in the rest of the site

Buying property in Cyprus, VAT and transfer fees in detail, are on the Cyprus property page. Retiring in Cyprus is in retiring in Cyprus, and remote work in the Cyprus digital nomad visa. How Cyprus taxes a non-domiciled resident is in non-dom regimes in Europe. Every figure here is traced on the sources page.

If Cyprus is where you plan to invest

We do not give legal or tax 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 route are rarely the €300,000. They are whether the home is a genuine first sale with the contract lodged, whether your income proof will be accepted, and whether your file can be complete before the announced tightening takes a form. Send them through the enquiry form. We take no part in the fee.

Sources: where each figure comes from

• The four categories, €300,000, first sale, two homes, money from abroad, €50,000 / €15,000 / €10,000, no work, €500 and €70, two months, the duties after issue, the lapse rules and the ten-year card: Migration Department, "Immigration Permits for Investors", fourth revision in force from 2 May 2023, page posted 29 December 2025, read 26 October 2026.
• VAT 19% and 5%, transfer fees nil where VAT is paid, stamp duty abolished from 1 January 2026: Law 95(I)/2000, Cap. 219 and Law 239(I)/2025, as recorded in our Cyprus verification file of 22 October 2026.
• Naturalisation: Law 141(I)/2002, article 111B, consolidated to Law 224(I)/2025.
• The announced tightening and the Schengen position: press reports of the House audit committee session of 24 September 2026; not a published text.
• Not published here: the fee to replace the card after ten years; and the content of any tightening.