Patience is, we believe, one of the virtues of our firm and we prefer the friendly approach in “siga-siga” country, as opposed to heavy handling of matters. In this article we will refer to two occasions that we seem to have lost our patience with respect to the following.

Secret Instructions
The policy of allowing single housing development within agricultural areas has changed 3 months ago overnight. There was no prior announcement, no deliberations between interested parties and local authorities and by word of mouth and through some press reports we have found out that permission in such cases will be granted only based on “planning and social parameters”. These parameters (we repeat by word of mouth) means that in order for an application to be successful, the applicant must live in the parish that the plot is, he must have no other house/property there, the distance of the plot from the village must not exceed 1½ kms, the plot must have an access or a right of way etc. Other than the last two requirements which are understandable, the “social and planning” parameters are unknown. We have kicked a fuss in the Greek press and the radio/TV channels got hold of it and members of the House of Parliament informed us that they will introduce the matter for discussion. In addition, we have written a letter to the Minister of Interior warning her, as well as the Director of Planning, of taking legal action against them if by the 30.9.2012 we have no clear information what the “social and planning” parameters are.

The situation is very serious we are afraid, since plot values will become personal ones (if one is or not allowed to build), the value of the personal assets will be reduced at least to 1/3rd and the Banks/Co-Ops securities will be reduced drastically in terms of security value.

It is with regret that one decision is taken without clarity and publicity and without an exchange of views.

We have written to Mrs Mavrou (the Minister of Interior) asking for an appointment, after she offered to meet anyone who has a say on this subject through the press – We will see.

Permanent Residency Visa
We have been battling on this subject on the clarity issue again since 8 months ago. Based on the local press report this month we understand that the following have been decided:

The immigration laws regarding permanent residency visa is becoming more and more easy as time passes. In a nutshell:

• A foreign person (non E.U. nationals) in order to secure a permanent residency visa must buy a home (house/apartment) or any other building for not less than €300.000.

• He can live here together with his dependents (children under 18 years old and wife) provided he can prove that he has an annual income of at least €30.000 (coming from abroad and/or from deposits accounts in Cyprus, which came from abroad) for himself, plus €5.000 p.a. for each and every dependent.

• He must deposit €30.000 with a local bank for a period of 3 years (bearing interest) approximately 4%-4½% p.a.

• He can borrow in Cyprus for the purchase, but €200.000 of the purchase price must come from abroad. Lending in Cyprus now is difficult and it is better for a purchaser to have all the money.

• He must provide a clean criminal record from the police of his country.

• The applicant must visit Cyprus at least once every 2 years (no duration limit).

• Permanent residents under this category cannot work in Cyprus other than through an offshore Co status.

• Applications can be submitted directly to the Ministry of the Interior or through a local representative.

• Replies will be given within 1-2 months (more like 2-4 months to be on the safe side) from the date of the application.

There is another procedure where one can claim a local Cypriot/E.U. passport, but in addition to the house purchase the applicant needs to have an investment here (in real estate, bank deposits etc) in total of €10 mil. at least.

Because we could not get this decision from the Council of Ministers, we wrote to the secretary of the Council who informed us most politely that, again, that the Ministry of Interior will publish the new parameters which it did 2 days after.

What is interesting is that based on the press reports, permanent residency visa holders can travel in any E.U. country. We found this as being odd and having discussed that with people in the Ministry of the Interior, we were told that this is correct, but doing the same with the Ministry of Exterior the officials there were not sure, adding that it is not up to Cyprus to issue visas for other countries.

We will wait for answers on these issues up to the 30.9.2012 and although we will give some benefit of this inaction due to the summer holidays, we will not wait for ever. We are getting all sorts of enquiries on the subject, especially now that Spain, Malta and Canada have put a hold on this (visa) procedure and Cyprus is becoming a favorite place (yet, we cannot give clear and reliable information).

Are we correct feeling annoyed dear readers?

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