I just read on another website that the Cyprus government has changed the rules for the program and real estate developers are no longer able to promote the citizenship by investment program. What has actually changed in this regard?
Answers
No changes have been made to the Citizenship by Investment Program itself. The Cyprus Government has been vigilant in maintaining the credibility of the CIP program in terms of highest quality due diligence, insight and transparency. Hence the Cabinet has recently introduced a number of measures which in summary are as follows: All applications for the Cyprus CIP must be submitted by a Registered Service Provider. Service providers must abide by the Code of Practice and all applicants must submit a signed, legalized Declaration by which they will confirm that their service provider abides by the Code, that they have received full advice and that they are aware of the consequences of not adhering to the provisions of the Cy CIP. More specifically: Under the terms of the Code of Practice, the promotion of the CIP cannot be made in public places, the media or the internet unless such advertisements are approved by the Committee. Such advertisements must under no circumstances include photos of the Cyprus Passport.
Please be informed that there have been some suggestions to the Ministries in order for the scheme to be regulated, however, no official response has been published from the Ministry of Interior, the regulatory Ministry.
The changes do not reflect any of the qualification criteria. In summary, the below are the updates: It has been decided that a formal list of approved service providers will be established, all of whom will have to be bound by a set code of professional and ethical conduct. There will be an oversight board which will be responsible for the continuous oversight of the adherence of both service providers and investors with the relevant CBI criteria and rules. They will also be responsible for receiving and examining complains from investors and other interested parties. Further to the above, it has been decided that advertising of the program will be prohibited which is important as many were promoting the program aggressively and often misleading.
Until today nothing has changed. We had some news stating possible changes regarding the marketing of the Cyprus Passport Investment Scheme but we have no written announcement with details.
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