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Program profile · Edition 1 research

Cyprus - Permanent Residency, Regulation 6(2)

Permanent from day one at EUR 300,000 - and near-zero presence: one visit every two years is enough to keep it. But the advertised threshold understates the real cost: VAT on a qualifying new-build adds close to 19% on top, while stamp duty was abolished outright from January 2026. Verified against the Cyprus Migration Department's own policy text; every claim below carries its source, access date and status.

The threshold

One figure, two routes. EUR 300,000 (about USD 342,600 at the researched exchange rate, EUR 1 = USD 1.1419) qualifies under the property limb of Regulation 6(2), split in two: (A) a house or apartment must be a first sale from a development company, priced at EUR 300,000 plus VAT - resales qualify only if the sale contract was filed with the Department of Lands and Surveys before 07/05/2013; or (B) other real estate such as offices, shops or hotels, at EUR 300,000 total, where resale is allowed. Up to two housing units may be combined toward route A. Two non-property routes also exist at the same EUR 300,000 line - Cyprus company share capital employing at least 5 people, or Cyprus AIF/AIFLNP/RAIF fund units - logged here for context but outside this profile's scope. Confirmed - Cyprus Migration Department, 4th Revision policy text, reposted on gov.cy 29 December 2025 (accessed 2026-07-15).

Funds must be proven to originate from abroad, not domestic borrowing, paid from the applicant's or spouse's account into the seller's account at a Cyprus financial institution. An official clarification also permits transfer from a company account where the applicant and/or spouse are the sole shareholders, provided that shareholder is included in the application. An adult-children multiplier applies for financially independent dependants filed on the same investment: EUR 600,000 for one, EUR 900,000 for two, and so on, with 66% of market value paid at application. Confirmed (gov.cy policy text, accessed 2026-07-17).

What it costs

The advertised EUR 300,000 is not the true cost of the new-build route. VAT at the standard 19% rate applies to the qualifying first-sale unit, adding roughly EUR 57,000 (USD ~65,100) at the threshold - close to a 19% premium on top of the headline figure. A reduced 5% rate is possible but capped and conditional: the first 130 sqm of buildable area of a primary residence, valued up to EUR 350,000, total transaction value at or below EUR 475,000, total buildable area at or below 190 sqm, and a 10-year primary-residence use condition. Confirmed (secondary) - PwC Cyprus tax summaries, accessed 2026-07-17; the "plus VAT" pricing itself is confirmed directly in the policy text.

Working the other way, two cost lines moved in the buyer's favor. Land transfer fees do not apply where VAT is charged on a first sale; where VAT does not apply, a 50% statutory reduction applies to the ordinary 3% / 5% / 8% banded fee. And stamp duty was abolished outright from 1 January 2026 (Law N.239(I)/2025, the 2026 tax reform) - zero on contracts executed on or after that date; the old banded rates apply only where a party signed on or before 31 December 2025. Confirmed (secondary) - KPMG and Harneys, accessed 2026-07-17.

Fixed government fees are small and confirmed directly: an application fee of EUR 500, plus EUR 70 per person for the Alien Registration Certificate where not already held. Health insurance covering inpatient and outpatient care is required for all family members until covered by the national scheme (GESY). Annual compliance filings (translations, certificates) carry a minor recurring cost that is not quantified in the source. Confirmed - gov.cy policy text, accessed 2026-07-17.

Time to permit

The policy text is explicit: approximately two months from submission of a complete application. Confirmed - gov.cy policy text. Whether that advertised figure holds in practice is less clear. A Cyprus Mail report from 3 April 2025 cited roughly 3,000 permanent-residence applications placed on hold "due to the upcoming change in legislation" - described by the auditor-general as a deliberate hold, not a staffing shortfall, and covering "foreign nationals who do not work in Cyprus and who earn an income from overseas." That description is not confirmed to be the 6(2) fast-track queue specifically; it may include, or mainly be, the separate ordinary Category F-type route. Reported - Cyprus Mail, accessed 2026-07-17. Practitioner guides through 2025 continued to quote roughly two months for clean files, with no dated evidence found of systematic multi-year 6(2) delays. The gap between the advertised two months and the April 2025 backlog report is unresolved in the primary record.

Family

As of the 4th Revision, effective 2 May 2023, the permit covers the applicant, spouse and children under 18 only. Confirmed - policy text: "The Immigration Permit is issued to the applicant and it covers his/her spouse and their children under the age of 18." Unmarried children aged 18-25 who are students abroad and financially dependent may file their own linked application, requiring an extra EUR 10,000 annual income per child; once granted, that permit survives past age 25, marriage, and the end of studies, but the child's own future spouse or children can never be added to it.

Parents and parents-in-law were removed as includable dependants on 2 May 2023 - previously they could be added without extra investment. A parent can now qualify only by making an independent EUR 300,000 investment of their own. Confirmed (removal reflected by omission in the current policy text), corroborated by law-firm reporting (Michael Kyprianou & Co and Chambers & Co, both accessed 2026-07-15). The base income requirement scales with family size: EUR 50,000 plus EUR 15,000 for a spouse and EUR 10,000 per minor child, proven from abroad via tax return or certified accountant.

Presence

Among the lightest presence conditions the Index has measured: the permit lapses only if the holder acquires permanent residence abroad or is absent from Cyprus for two consecutive years. In practice that reads as one visit every two years to preserve the status. Holders and dependants must additionally take up first residence in Cyprus within one year of approval, if residing abroad at the time. Confirmed - gov.cy policy text, sections "Loss of the permanent residence right" and "Required action after approval," accessed 2026-07-17.

Term: permanent from day one, with ongoing conditions

The residence right itself is of unlimited validity - permanent from the day it is granted. The physical card must nonetheless be replaced every 10 years (age 18 for a child's card). Confirmed - policy text. The investment must be held for the life of the permit: divesting without immediately replacing it at equal or greater value cancels the status.

A lifetime compliance regime was added in the same May 2023 revision, then partially softened by an undated official clarification. As it currently stands: annual proof of the maintained investment and a health-insurance certificate (unless in GESY) remain due every year; criminal record certificates for the applicant and all adult family members, from both origin and residence country, are required every three years - softened from annual; and the annual income re-proof requirement was abolished entirely by that clarification. Confirmed - gov.cy policy text. Many 2025 law-firm guides still describe annual income proof; they have not caught up with the clarification, which the primary text supersedes. Failure to comply cancels the permit for the whole family. The applicant and spouse may not take employment in Cyprus, though an unpaid director role in the invested company, with dividend income, is permitted. A path to citizenship exists only through genuine physical residence under standard naturalization law - this permit does not accrue it on its own. Reported (standard naturalization law, not re-verified this pass).

Rule stability: one big revision, then a live legislative watch item

The headline number has held since 2013 while the conditions around it moved substantially. The 2 May 2023 4th Revision raised the annual income requirement from EUR 30,000 to EUR 50,000 (spouse increment EUR 5,000 to EUR 15,000; per-child EUR 5,000 to EUR 10,000), removed parents and parents-in-law as dependants, restricted adult children 18-25 to unmarried dependent students, and introduced the lifetime monitoring regime described above. Confirmed (new values; before-values reported via Chambers & Co, accessed 2026-07-15). An undated post-2023 clarification then softened two of the new obligations, as detailed above. On 29 December 2025 the 4th Revision text, with clarifications folded in, was reposted on the new gov.cy portal as the still-operative policy - no 5th Revision has been found. 1 January 2026 brought the stamp duty abolition described above.

Watch A live legislative risk opened in April 2026: the opposition party AKEL tabled a bill to move the Regulation 6(2) route from administrative practice onto statutory footing. Thresholds would not change, but the bill requires the government to issue implementing regulations within three months of the law entering into force - if that deadline is missed, the fast-track route terminates automatically (existing permits already granted are unaffected). The bill reached the House Interior Committee, which sent it to a final plenary vote scheduled for 23 April 2026 - the same day parliament dissolved for the May 2026 elections. The plenary outcome is unverified as of 2026-07-17; if the three-month clock is running, it would expire around late July 2026. No source found reports the route currently suspended, and mid-2026 practitioner guides continue to treat it as operational, but this is named here as an open, re-checkable item rather than a settled one. Reported - IMI Daily, 16 April 2026; Cyprus Mail, 14 April 2026, both accessed 2026-07-17.

Nationality access

No published nationality restrictions: the 4th Revision policy text contains no nationality exclusions. Dated press from 15 January 2026 reports Russian applicants remain eligible - "Russians are not excluded... authorities do not disclose the nationality of applicants, but it can be assumed that Russians make up a significant proportion or even majority." Confirmed by absence (primary policy text) + Reported (EU Perspectives, accessed 2026-07-15). This directly contradicts a common industry assumption of an explicit Cyprus ban on Russian or Belarusian applicants - no such written ban was found in the primary record.

A practical caveat still applies, and it is structural rather than a written eligibility rule: funds must be proven to arrive from abroad through a Cyprus financial institution, and EU sanctions on Russian banks make compliant transfers difficult for Russia-based applicants. Reported. Separately, Cyprus stopped accepting visa applications at its visa centers in Russia in June 2026, shifting operations to consulates - a consular logistics change affecting entry visas for Russia-based applicants, not a change to 6(2) eligibility itself. Reported - The Moscow Times, accessed 2026-07-17. EU-level pressure has existed since a March 2022 European Commission recommendation to suspend investor schemes for Russian and Belarusian nationals, and Cyprus did revoke citizenships and passports of sanctioned individuals under its now-closed citizenship scheme - but Cyprus has not published a nationality ban under Regulation 6(2) itself.