Does Cyprus have a golden visa program? Residence yes, passport no

Does Cyprus have a golden visa program: the one that exists

The expedited procedure under Regulation 6(2) of the Aliens and Immigration Regulations. At least EUR 300,000 into one of four categories:

• A new-build home from a developer, first sale, at EUR 300,000 plus VAT. Up to two units allowed.
• Other real estate, including resale: offices, shops, hotels.
• EUR 300,000 of share capital in a Cyprus company with real presence here and at least five employees.
• Units in a Cyprus alternative investment fund.

Alongside it, the condition people miss: a secured annual income of at least EUR 50,000, plus EUR 15,000 for a spouse and EUR 10,000 per minor child. On the new-build route that income must come from abroad and is proved by the tax return of your country of tax residence.

State fees are EUR 500 to apply and EUR 70 per person for the registration card. The permit is granted for life with the card renewed every ten years.

The programme that does not

Cyprus ran a citizenship-by-investment scheme and terminated it in 2020. It has not been reinstated. What replaced it in the market is the residence programme above, sold under the same nickname.

So if an agent today offers you a Cyprus passport for an investment, at any price, on any timeline, the honest version of that conversation is permanent residence in about two months for EUR 300,000 plus an income test, and silence about citizenship.

What the permit does and does not carry

It does not let you work, except as a director of the company you invested in. It is not a Schengen document, because Cyprus was still outside the Schengen area in October 2026. And it does not make you a Cyprus tax resident; that comes from the 183-day rule or the 60-day rule, neither of which asks about your permit.

How it is lost

If the family does not take up residence within a year of approval. If they are absent from Cyprus for two years. If the holder gains permanent residence in another country. Or if the investment is sold without an equivalent replacement.

Those four are worth reading before the purchase rather than after, because a EUR 300,000 property bought as a pure financial investment, never lived in, fails the first one.

The criteria are on the Migration Department's investors page.