Immigration consultant's notes. And again about Cyprus passports.
In November 2019, the Government of Cyprus announced a decision to withdraw 26 passports received under the Cyprus Investment Program.
Prior to this, in October, Cypriot authorities announced that they would check all passports issued under the said program until 2018. The audit was to identify whether there were persons accused of crimes or under European sanctions among those who received Cypriot citizenship. The results showed that 26 people will be deprived of citizenship. Among them are citizens of Cambodia, Malaysia, Russia, China, Iran and Kenya. Citizenship will be deprived not only of the investors themselves, but also of their family members included in the same statement with the investor.
Recall that in 2018-2019, Cyprus introduced a number of restrictions aimed at reducing the risk of obtaining citizenship by unscrupulous investors (limit on the number of participants, increasing the time for consideration of documents, a more thorough check for reliability, etc.).
Since February 2019, investors who have previously been denied citizenship in any other EU member state cannot apply for a Cyprus passport.
In January of this year, we visited Cyprus to discuss with partners and representatives of the immigration authorities one very important question: in what cases is the revocation of passports possible?
The fact is that it is this aspect that concerns wealthy citizens who are ready to invest in Cyprus with the aim of acquiring a passport.
Regarding the process of revoking passports, it was once again confirmed that the 2002 Act on the Registration of Civil Status Acts (Law 141 (I) / 2002) is the fundamental legislation for this type of action. ), as amended (“Civil Registry Act”). In accordance with Section 113 (2) - (3) of the Law on the Registration of Acts of Civil Status, the following reasons may be used to cancel citizenship:
1. If deception, falsification or concealment of any events & facts were used in the naturalization process;
2. If a citizen expressed his opinion or acted illegally or with malicious intent in relation to the Republic of Cyprus;
3. If a citizen participated in any war conducted by the Republic of Cyprus, and at the same time illegally traded or maintained contact with the enemy or performed any actions that helped the enemy during the conduct of such a war;
4. If a citizen has been convicted in any country and imprisoned for a particularly serious crime within ten (10) years after naturalization; or if, when committing a crime, a citizen showed low moral qualities (provided that the crime entails a prison term, in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Cyprus).
In addition, the law in accordance with article 113 (5) provides that the Council of Ministers cannot deprive a person of the status of a citizen in accordance with this article, unless the Council of Ministers is convinced that if the person continues to remain a citizen, it does not serve the public interest of the Republic of Cyprus.
In addition to the above, the Council of Ministers, in accordance with Decree 86.879 of 02.13.19, decided that Cypriot citizenship through investments would not be granted to persons classified as “high risk”: in respect of whom investigation by international police organizations and who included in international sanctions lists.
The parties agreed to consider it legally impossible that the government can or will retrospectively apply any of the above criteria as a basis for re-examining already naturalized investors.
In order to avoid any such incidents (annulment of citizenship) in the future, the Government of Cyprus decided to strengthen the verification of new applicants and, to this end, appointed a number of independent firms providing relevant services to the government.
If (nevertheless) there are any cases when citizenship was granted to persons who met the criteria during naturalization, but who, after naturalization, faced criminal charges at the place of residence or were subjected to EU sanctions, the ministry may initiate the process of revoking citizenship. The decision to revoke citizenship will be taken by the cabinet on the recommendation of the Minister of the Interior. It is important to note that the revocation of passports (cancellation of citizenship) is in any case governed by the laws of Cyprus.
