Cyprus citizenship with Schengen entry
Published at: 10/02/2020 10:35 am
The citizenship by investment and the residency by investment programs of Cyprus just became more advantageous because Cyprus intends to join finally to the European Schengen zone.
The move is crucial because the barrier-free Schengen access is one of the most attractive issues of the European citizenships. The holders of a Schengen passport can not only stay in the other member states but can freely move there and work, settle or study.
The Schengen Area now compromise 26 European countries that officially abolished all passport and border control. It works as a single travel zone with a common visa policy. Interestingly only 22 of the 28 EU member states participate in the Schengen area. However there are four other states (from the EFTA - European Free Trade Association), which became members (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland). And we can't forget the three ministates which are not EU states but are located inside EU so they became part of the common travel area as well: Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican City.
Nikos Christodoulides, the Minister of Foreign Affairs told that the government officially applied to become a Schengen member state from early September 2019. According to him now it's up to the EU to start the evaluation process. The assessment of the personal data protection office was the first evaluation of the process which took place in last November. A few other areas will be tested this year, including border management, Schengen IT systems, police and judicial cooperation.
"The government has submitted the application for security reasons and we are now expecting the European Union to come and start its evaluation process which is divided into five parts," said the Cypriot Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The reason why Cyprus could not become a member until now is the territorial division of the country. It is obvious now that the Cypriot government's recent move to approve several stricter rules for the residency and citizenship by investment programmes happened to satisfy the EU's requirements following the official guidelines.
Do you want to become a Cypriot citizen or residence through investment? Discus Holdings is one of those expert agencies, which started to support the applications of candidates since the launch of several investor's immigration schemes in Cyprus. You can find here all the detailed information about the Cyprus Citizenship by Investment Program and the Cyprus Permanent Residency by Investment Program!