December 6th, 2023
With the aim of promoting the Republic of Cyprus as a technological and financial hub, the House of Representatives on November 30th updated and enhanced the conditions applying for the naturalization of foreigners in the Republic of Cyprus by approving the following amendments to the existing Civil Registry Law:
- An individual having completed presence in the Republic for a minimum of 7 years of within the last 11 years preceding the application can apply for naturalization.
- The applicant must possess a minimum knowledge of the island’s political and social system as well as history and must hold at least the Level B1 certificate of basic knowledge of the Greek language.
- The applicants must be financially self-sufficient and considered of good character, with clean criminal record.
- The applicant’s intention must be to remain in the Republic.
Highly qualified foreign nationals working for foreign companies will benefit from special provisions to be determined by the Council of Ministers as follows: Employees who have completed a presence of at least 5 years in the Republic within a period of 11 years preceding the application are allowed to apply for naturalization, if they hold a Level A2 certificate of knowledge of the Greek language, and the time span can be reduced to 4 years if the applicant has a B1 certificate.
An application under the same conditions is available for spouses and Civil partners of the applicant, including children that reach the age of 18 within the application period.
Upon payment of the relevant fee, the applications will be examined under a fast-track procedure within 8 months under the authority of the Minister of Interior.
In all cases mentioned above, the applicant must have been living in the Republic for the last 12 months preceding the application, however, periods of absence of up to 90 days per year are not deducted from the total period of stay.