Cyprus: your route to a Cypriot passport

Cyprus is in the EU, it has the sun, and for years its tax system has drawn German entrepreneurs to the island. Many stay, and after a few years the passport comes into view. For the big picture of countries and routes, see Naturalisation abroad. For Cyprus itself, three questions matter: what does the island ask for today, how long does it take, and how do you use the wait wisely?

Cypriot citizenship: the routes open today

The Cypriot Ministry of Interior has four doors to the passport. For Germans living on the island the first matters most, and for some the second or third as well.

• Naturalisation through residence (form M127): the standard route for anyone who has lived legally in Cyprus long enough.
• The skilled-professional route: a shorter version for highly qualified employees of certain companies.
• Marriage or registered partnership with a Cypriot (form M125): after three years of marriage.
• Cypriot origin: separate procedures for people of Cypriot descent, for children born abroad and for registering minor children of Cypriot citizens.

If you have Cypriot ancestors, look at the route through origin first. How descent works in other countries is explained in Citizenship by descent.

Buying a Cypriot passport: what became of the investment programme

For a long time Cyprus was one of the few EU countries that granted its passport in return for an investment. Those days are over. Cyprus abolished its programme and has accepted no new applications since 1 November 2020. That is how the European Commission records it in its infringement procedure.

The Commission opened proceedings against Cyprus and Malta in October 2020. Its reasoning: a state that grants nationality for a set payment or investment, without any genuine link to the country, is also handing out EU citizenship, and the Commission considers that incompatible with the EU Treaties. For Cyprus this means the passport now comes through time spent in the country, through origin or through marriage.

If you read somewhere today that the Cypriot passport can still be bought, that is simply out of date. What exists instead are investment passports outside the EU that give you a second passport in months rather than years. Why no EU programme is left and which route remains is set out in Buying an EU passport. How to combine investment and naturalisation is shown in CBI and naturalisation.

Cyprus citizenship requirements: what naturalisation demands

The Civil Registry (Amendment) Law of 2023 has applied since 19 December 2023. Since then, adults seeking naturalisation must meet seven requirements at the same time. Miss one and the application fails.

Eight years of legal residence

The time rule has two parts. First, you must have lived in Cyprus legally and without interruption for the twelve months immediately before the application. Absences totalling no more than 90 days do not break these twelve months. Second, in the ten years before those twelve months you need at least seven years of legal residence, which do not have to be consecutive.

Together that makes eight years on the island. The authorities want evidence: copies of your passport pages with entry and exit stamps, and an exact record of every arrival and departure. So keep that list from day one. How authorities count days and how to document them properly is explained in Proving your years of residence.

Greek at B1 and the civics test

You must prove sufficient Greek at level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference. Two certificates are accepted: that of the Greek Language Centre of the Hellenic Republic, whose exams are run by the examinations service of the Cypriot Ministry of Education, or one from the School of Modern Greek at the University of Cyprus. You are exempt if you hold a diploma from a recognised Greek-language secondary school or a Greek-language university degree.

On top of that comes a test on the basics of present-day political and social life in Cyprus. You pass with at least 60 percent. This exam, too, is run by the Ministry of Education's examinations service. How other countries handle language, tests and the commitment to the new state is compared in Language, test, oath of allegiance.

Housing, income, good character and the intention to stay

The remaining requirements sound soft, but they are checked:

• Good character: you submit a Cypriot criminal record certificate no older than six months.
• Suitable accommodation: a title deed or purchase contract with proof of payment, or a tenancy agreement with rent receipts, plus utility bills.
• Stable and regular means: enough to support you and your family, shown through payslips, an employment contract, social insurance records, income tax returns or bank statements.
• The intention to live in the Republic: Cyprus naturalises people who mean to stay.

Germans in Cyprus: when your years start to count

For Germans, getting started is easy. As an EU citizen you can stay in Cyprus for up to three months with nothing more than a valid ID card or passport. You may stay longer if you work there, are self-employed, or have sufficient means and comprehensive health insurance in Cyprus.

If you stay longer than three months, you apply for the Registration Certificate, form MEU1, within four months of arrival. The fee is 20 euros, the Migration Department decides within one month at the latest once your file is complete, and the certificate does not expire. Skip the registration and you risk a fine of up to 2,500 euros. For your naturalisation this paper is more than a formality: it proves that you live on the island legally.

Taxes, non-dom status and everyday life on the island are a subject of their own. You will find the details in the German-language country profile Cyprus at Wohnsitz Ausland. Moving with children? The German-language guide Moving to Cyprus with children will help.

The skilled-professional route: a Cypriot passport in four to five years

Cyprus wants to bring international companies to the island and rewards their skilled staff with a shorter road to the passport. The legal basis is Article 111B(2) of the Civil Registry Law together with Council of Ministers Decision No. 92.018 of 15 October 2021, the strategy for attracting businesses to Cyprus.

Employees of these companies qualify:

• companies with foreign shareholding that run their own office in suitable premises in Cyprus, separate from any private home
• Cypriot shipping companies
• Cypriot high-tech and innovation companies, for example in aviation, IT, communications, pharmaceuticals or medical technology
• Cypriot pharmaceutical, biotech and genetic engineering companies
• companies already listed in the Migration Department's register of foreign companies
• accredited international universities

You count as highly qualified if you hold a temporary residence permit as a Director, Specialist or Key Personnel for a company with foreign shareholding, or if you earn at least 2,500 euros gross a month and have a university degree or two years of experience in a comparable position. Before applying you must have worked for such a company for at least two years, and you must still work there both on the day you apply and on the day your application is examined.

The time rule is much shorter: again twelve months in a row before the application, but before that only four years with Greek at A2, or three years with Greek at B1, within ten years. Absences of up to 90 days a year do not count as absence. For a fee of 5,000 euros the authority fast-tracks your application and decides within eight months at most. Your spouse or registered partner can apply together with you or after you, provided they meet the residence and language requirements.

Cypriot passport through marriage or registered partnership

If you are married to a Cypriot or live in a registered partnership with one, the route via form M125 opens up. The condition is three years of marriage or partnership before the application. On top of that comes one of two cases: either the couple lives in Cyprus, for at least six months a year and for at least two of the last three years in total, or the couple lives permanently abroad.

The second case is the real advantage: it opens the route to couples living in Germany too. The application fee is 300 euros plus two revenue stamps of 8.54 euros each. You file the application in duplicate and sign it before a registry officer or a Cypriot consular officer. It comes with a declaration by your Cypriot spouse that you live together in harmony, signed before a competent officer. How other countries naturalise spouses, and where it is fastest, is compared in Naturalisation through marriage.

Costs and procedure: from form M127 to the certificate

The application itself is manageable, but the paperwork needs care. Every document must be properly certified and translated.

Step by step

1. Gather the documents: original birth certificate, Cypriot criminal record certificate, residence document, marriage certificate where applicable, valid passport or ID card, passport copies with stamps, a record of all trips, language certificate, test certificate, proof of housing and income, two passport photos.
2. Make the application public: you announce your naturalisation application in two consecutive issues of a daily newspaper and enclose copies.
3. Submit the application: at the District Administration where you live, signed in the presence of a registry officer.
4. Pay the fees: 500 euros on submission plus two revenue stamps.
5. Receive the certificate: once approved, you pay another 500 euros for the naturalisation certificate.

What the Cypriot passport costs you in fees

So the government fees are low. The real price of the Cypriot passport is time: eight years on the island, Greek lessons and the daily life you build around Cyprus to get there. What a passport through investment costs is compared on the Costs page.

Dual citizenship: Cyprus and Germany

The good news for Germans: you do not have to choose. The Act to Modernise Nationality Law (Gesetz zur Modernisierung des Staatsangehörigkeitsrechts) repealed section 25 of the Nationality Act (Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz, StAG), which used to cost you your German citizenship automatically when you acquired a foreign one. Since the act came into force on 27 June 2024, you keep your German passport when you become Cypriot.

Nothing stands in your way on the Cypriot side either: the official list of documents for the naturalisation application asks for no proof that you give up your existing citizenship. In the end you hold two EU passports, each with all the rights of EU citizenship. What else dual nationals in Germany should keep in mind is summed up in Dual citizenship for Germans.

Eight years is a long time: why you should plan in parallel

A passport is a right, not a permission. A residence certificate, a visa, a registration: a state can refuse, change or withdraw any of them. Not so with citizenship. That is exactly why the Cypriot passport is worth aiming for, and exactly why you should not spend the eight years until then unprotected.

Naturalisation is the cheaper route and often the better one in the end, but it takes years and genuine residence. A passport through investment buys you that time. Dominica, for example, grants citizenship from a contribution of 200,000 USD to the Economic Diversification Fund and, according to its Citizenship by Investment Unit, requires no residence either before or after naturalisation. The details are on the Dominica page, and every programme side by side in the comparison.

In practice the combination looks like this: you move to Cyprus, register, learn Greek and build up your years. In parallel you secure an investment passport that protects you and your family in case something unexpected happens during those years. Still torn between Cyprus and Malta? Take a look at naturalisation in Malta. The bridge between the two worlds is described in CBI and naturalisation.

Frequently asked questions