You cannot buy a Cypriot passport. The scheme that once allowed it stopped accepting applications on 1 November 2020, and in December 2025 parliament went further and repealed the legal power it ran on, so there is no longer any provision under which a Cypriot government could grant citizenship in return for an investment. What survives is residency by investment, which is a genuinely different product with different rules and a much smaller prize. Anyone quoting you a price for a Cyprus passport in 2026 is selling something that does not exist.
What the scheme was
Citizenship for investors was granted under section 111A(2) of the Civil Registry Law, Law 141(I)/2002, which allowed the Council of Ministers to naturalise a foreign national "by exception", outside the ordinary residence rules. A formal programme built on that power ran from 2013 and was renamed the Cyprus Investment Programme in 2018.
Under the final criteria, adopted in 2019, an applicant had to invest at least €2 million in Cyprus businesses, property or approved instruments, own a home in Cyprus worth at least €500,000 excluding VAT, and make two donations of €75,000, one to the Research and Innovation Foundation and one to the Cyprus Land Development Corporation. The passport followed in a matter of months and covered the investor's spouse and children. There was no language test, no seven-year wait and, in practice, no obligation to live on the island.
Why it closed
Undercover footage broadcast in August 2020 showed officials and intermediaries willing to help a fictitious investor who was described as having a criminal conviction. On 13 October 2020 the Council of Ministers voted to terminate the programme with effect from 1 November. Days later the European Commission opened infringement proceedings against Cyprus and Malta, arguing that granting nationality, and with it EU citizenship, in exchange for a payment and without a genuine link to the country breaches the duty of sincere cooperation in Article 4(3) of the Treaty on European Union and undermines the status of EU citizenship under Article 20 TFEU. A reasoned opinion followed in June 2021.
Then came the audit. An inquiry led by former Supreme Court judge Myron Nikolatos examined the files and counted 6,779 citizenships granted between 2007 and August 2020. It concluded that slightly more than half of them had been issued without the criteria being met, in many cases relatives added to an investor's application who never qualified in their own right.
The 2025 repeal changed the legal position, not just the policy
Termination in 2020 was a cabinet decision, and cabinet decisions can be reversed. Section 111A(2) stayed on the statute book for five more years, which meant a future government could switch the scheme back on without troubling parliament. On 4 December 2025 the House of Representatives voted to repeal it, with effect from 12 December. The Council of Ministers no longer has discretion to naturalise investors or their families, and the same repeal removed its power to award honorary citizenship. Naturalisation now runs solely through the ordinary residence-based route.
Two things followed. The European Commission closed its infringement file against Cyprus on 11 March 2026, saying the concerns had been addressed. And the door is now shut across the EU as well as locally: in Commission v Malta (Case C-181/23), decided on 29 April 2025, the Court of Justice held that a naturalisation scheme amounting to a transaction, where nationality is granted in exchange for predetermined payments, is incompatible with EU law. Any member state thinking about reviving such a programme has that judgment to contend with.
What happened to the passports already issued
This is the part that still generates litigation. Acting on the Nikolatos findings, successive cabinets have moved to strip citizenship from investors and relatives whose files did not stand up. By September 2025 revocation had been approved in respect of 360 people, made up of 101 investors and 259 family members, with 112 of those cases fully completed and the passports cancelled. The process is administrative, and it is slow.
It is also contestable. In April 2026 the Administrative Court annulled one revocation, finding it disproportionate because the investor had renounced his previous nationality on becoming Cypriot and would have been left stateless, and because the committee had not properly weighed the fact that the criminal proceedings relied on began after citizenship was granted. Anyone facing a deprivation notice should treat it as a case to be answered rather than a fait accompli, and should take advice from an immigration lawyer quickly, since the time limits for challenging an administrative decision are short.
What investors can actually get today
The current investment route buys residence. Under Regulation 6(2) of the Aliens and Immigration Regulations, an investment of €300,000 plus VAT in new residential property, other real estate, share capital of a Cyprus company with real substance, or units in a regulated Cyprus fund, combined with proof of €50,000 a year of secured income from abroad, gets you an indefinite permanent residence permit for you, your spouse and your minor children. The income requirement rises by €15,000 for a spouse and €10,000 for each child. The permit does not expire, and the only continuing condition is that you visit Cyprus once every two years.
That is the whole of it. It is a right to live here, not a nationality, no EU passport, no vote, and no automatic right to take a job in the local labour market. Our golden visa guide sets out the qualifying investments and the income test in detail, and the permanent residency guide covers the slower Category F alternative for people living on a modest overseas income.
The property side deserves its own scrutiny. A €300,000 purchase made in a hurry to satisfy an immigration threshold is exactly the kind of transaction that ends up in a dispute over title, so run the same checks you would on any Cyprus purchase, starting with the due diligence checklist.
If a passport is the goal
The only route left is naturalisation, and it runs on time rather than money. The standard requirement is seven years of lawful residence within the preceding ten, plus a continuous twelve months immediately before you apply, Greek at B1 level, and a check on character and civic knowledge. Skilled employees in qualifying sectors can apply after four years with A2 Greek or three years with B1. The naturalisation guide walks through the forms and the counting.
Permanent residency under Regulation 6(2) can be the first step on that path, because the years spent holding it count towards the residence total. But they only count if you are genuinely living here. A permit used as a visa-free foothold, with two visits a decade, will never mature into a passport no matter how long you hold it.
Beware anyone still marketing it
The scheme was profitable enough that a marketing industry grew around it, and some of that material is still online. Treat these as warning signs: a fixed price quoted for a Cypriot passport, a promise of citizenship "in six months", talk of a programme being "relaunched" or "reopened", or an offer to process an application that was pending when the scheme closed. Applications lodged before termination were dealt with under transitional arrangements years ago, and nothing has been accepted since.
The honest summary is that Cyprus spent a decade selling citizenship, was caught doing it badly, and has now dismantled both the programme and the power behind it. What is left for investors is a good permanent residence permit and a long walk to a passport.
Weighing up a Cyprus investment route, or facing a revocation? Browse the directory for an immigration and residency lawyer who can tell you what the current rules allow before you commit money. The figures here reflect the published position in August 2026; confirm them with the Civil Registry and Migration Department or your adviser before you act.