What people call the Cyprus golden visa is the fast-track permanent residency granted under Regulation 6(2) of the Aliens and Immigration Regulations. You put at least €300,000 into Cyprus property or another qualifying asset, show a secure yearly income from outside Cyprus, and in return the Civil Registry and Migration Department issues an indefinite residence permit for you and your immediate family, usually within a few months. It buys the right to live in Cyprus. It is not a passport, and that difference is where most of the confusion starts.
What "golden visa" actually means in Cyprus
Cyprus has no scheme officially named a golden visa. The label is marketing shorthand for one specific thing: the accelerated permanent residency route under Regulation 6(2). It sits alongside the slower Category F permanent permit and the various temporary permits, and it is the one investors reach for because the paperwork moves quickly and the physical-presence demands are light.
It is not, and cannot be, a route to a Cypriot passport by investment. Cyprus terminated its citizenship-by-investment programme in November 2020, and nothing has replaced it. If someone quotes you a price for a Cyprus passport, they are selling a product the government abolished. Permanent residency is a genuine, current programme; citizenship by cheque is not. We set out the same distinction in the permanent residency guide, which covers the Category F alternative in more detail.
The €300,000 investment
The threshold is €300,000, and you can meet it in one of four categories:
- 1New residential property bought first-hand from a developer — a house or apartment (you can combine two units to reach the figure). This is by far the most common choice.
- 2Other real estate, including offices, shops or hotels. Resale properties are allowed in this category, unlike the residential one.
- 3Share capital of €300,000 in a Cyprus company that has real physical presence on the island and employs at least five people.
- 4Units worth €300,000 in a Cyprus-regulated collective investment fund (an AIF, AIFLNP or RAIF).
The €300,000 is the price before VAT. On new residential property the standard VAT rate is 19%, though a buyer using the home as their main and permanent residence can apply for the reduced 5% rate on the qualifying part, subject to value and size caps that were tightened in 2023. Most people buying purely as an investment pay the 19%. Because the residential option turns on buying from a developer, the developer's own standing matters as much as the building — check the title position and any bank charges over the land before you commit, using a property due diligence checklist and a property lawyer.
The income test
Money in the asset is only half of it. You also have to prove a secure annual income arriving from outside Cyprus. Since a policy update on 2 May 2023, the figures are:
- €50,000 a year for the main applicant, and
- €15,000 more for a spouse, and
- €10,000 more for each minor child.
So a couple with two young children needs to show €50,000 + €15,000 + €10,000 + €10,000, or €85,000 a year. The May 2023 change raised the base from €30,000 and, at the same time, narrowed who the permit can cover. Acceptable income includes salaries, pensions, rental income, dividends and business profits from abroad. Where you invest in residential property, the whole income has to originate outside Cyprus; with the commercial, company or fund options, part of it may come from activity inside Cyprus.
Who counts as family
The main application covers your spouse and your children under 18. It does not stretch as far as it used to.
Adult children between 18 and 25 who are unmarried and in tertiary education can be included, but each files a separate application, and you have to show an extra €10,000 of annual income for every such child. Once they finish studying they remain covered only while that additional income is demonstrated. An adult child who wants residency in their own right, rather than as a student dependant, needs their own €300,000 investment and their own €50,000 income.
The 2023 update also dropped the applicant's and spouse's parents from the scheme. Under the current rules you cannot bring your parents or in-laws in on your permit, which was possible under the older policy.
How long it takes, and what you get
The government's stated processing time is two to three months from a complete file. In practice, six months is a more realistic planning figure once you allow for gathering apostilled documents, translations and the odd request for more information. Applying with a full, correctly assembled file is the single biggest thing within your control.
The permit itself does not expire. There is no annual renewal to chase, which is part of the appeal compared with the temporary pink slip. The one ongoing condition is that you visit Cyprus at least once every two years; miss that and the permit can be cancelled.
Two limits are worth stating plainly. First, permanent residency gives the right to reside, not an automatic right to work in the local labour market — taking a job in Cyprus generally needs separate authorisation, and the scheme is designed around people living on income from elsewhere. Second, it is residency, full stop. Spending enough time on the island can make you Cyprus tax resident, which brings the non-dom regime into play, but tax residency is a separate test with its own day-counting rules and does not follow automatically from holding the permit.
From residency to citizenship
If a passport is the real goal, the route is naturalisation, not investment. That means living in Cyprus lawfully for a long qualifying period — commonly cited as seven years, with the final year continuous — and meeting Greek-language and integration requirements that have been introduced and tightened in recent years. The golden visa can be the first step on that path, because the years you spend as a permanent resident count towards it, but the two are different processes with different tests. Confirm the current naturalisation criteria before you rely on any particular number of years.
Weighing up the €300,000 route? An immigration and residency lawyer from the directory can confirm the current income thresholds, check the developer and title before you invest, and file the application so it clears first time rather than bouncing back for missing documents.