New criteria in relation to the fast track grant procedure concerning the grant of Permanent Residence Permits to applicants from third countries investing in Cyprus. The new criteria have been adopted on the 17th of February 2016 and in a nutshell, the following changes will now apply to the current regime:
1. PR cards will now be available and more specifically: (a) For clients that have already obtained their PR permit: there will be a fee of €50 per person for the issue of a card. (b) For clients that have their PR applications pending: there will be a fee of €10 per person for the issue of a card and a complementary form to be submitted by April 2016. (c) For clients that will submit an application at a later stage: A new form is available and will need to be filled and signed by the client. There will be no extra fee for these clients’ cards issue.
2. Applicants’ parents may now also apply: There is no age limit for the parents to apply. Both the parents of the applicant AND the parents of the spouse of the applicant can apply for PR. It must be stressed that only the parents who are dependent on their child can apply. Therefore, it could be said that this new regulation is mostly targeted to retired people. The main applicant must, as in every other case, provide additional annual income for the parents. The parents will need to visit Cyprus every 2 years to maintain the PR. This requirement is the same as the main applicant and his family.
Notes: a) All clients will need to visit Cyprus for their biometric features to be taken (fingerprints, photo, etc.) before the issue of the card by the Migration Department. b) The €70 fee per applicant for the issuance of his Alien Registration Card (which used to be paid after the PR was approved) will be paid to the Migration Department upon submission of the PR application along with the €500 fee.