A European passport in exchange for a significant investment in real estate on the island. This is in summary what the "Golden Visa" formula put in place by Cyprus for several years proposed. The formula was successful: it brought in 7 billion euros in Cyprus.
But of concern other European countries have launched similar offers.
But, Tuesday, October 13, The Small Island of Cyprus announced the abolition of its program of "Golden visas", also called "golden passports". The cause ? Of "Longstanding loopholes, abuse and exploitation of the provisions of the investment program", explained the government which announced that it would "Review its policy on the means of attracting investment". The European Union welcomed this decision.
Applicant customers have been granted European passports from Cyprus which allow them to travel freely to 174 countries around the world. However, according to European rules, these people should not have obtained the travel document.
Applications for Cypriot nationality came from all over the world with more than 70 countries in total. The countries with the highest number of applications were Russia (1), followed by China (000) and then Ukraine (500).
In addition, several people from the United Kingdom and the United States, Mali, Morocco, Israel, Palestine, South Africa, South Korea and Saudi Arabia are among the applicants for the Cypriot nationality.
