The Council of Ministers revoked the citizenship of six investors and 22 of their family members under the investment programme

On Thursday, the Council of Ministers of Cyprus decided to revoke the citizenship of six foreign investors and 22 of their family members who had obtained citizenship through the Cyprus Investment Programme.

Last week, the government had already revoked the citizenship of 26 people — seven investors and 19 of their family members. Since March 2023, the Council has issued 41 revocation decisions, affecting a total of 150 people: 41 investors and 109 family members.

During the same period, the citizenship revocation process was completed for five investors and 10 of their family members — they were issued deprivation orders and their documents were annulled. The revocation decisions followed reports and evidence of non-compliance with legal requirements, including imposed sanctions, being wanted by authorities or other legal reasons.

The Council also decided to issue deprivation orders for another 69 people (17 investors and 52 of their family members), for whom initial decisions had been made in 2021–2023. Since 2021, revocation decisions under the programme have been issued for 360 people — 101 investors and 259 family members; in 112 cases (33 investors and 79 family members) the process was completed with orders and annulment of documents.

According to legal procedure, individuals are sent a written notification explaining their right to appeal before the Independent Committee for Examination of Citizenship Deprivation. The Cyprus Investment Programme was suspended in 2020 following corruption scandals; previously, under the programme, investors were granted citizenship in exchange for investments in real estate.