The economic crisis in Europe and the recent very favourable requirements for the acquisition of permanent residency and nationality introduced by the government of Cyprus and Greece attracted the attention of a lot of wealthy individuals mainly from China, Russia and US. Both Cyprus and Greece nowadays are offering excellent opportunities for investments in real estate and other sectors and at the same time they offer the best options for the acquisition of residency and nationality. Also the recent discovery of huge residues of oil and Gas in Cyprus triggered a lot of attention worldwide and already a lot of big international companies are investing in this sector.
What makes especially attractive these schemes is that the applicants are not required to renounce their own nationality or to physically move there. The beauty of these countries which are located in the Mediterranean – sea with excellent climate clean atmosphere, great history and beautiful crystal clear blue waters for swimming is the cherry on the top!
According to a report by the Hurun Research Institute, 64 percent of Chinese millionaires have emigrated or are preparing to do so. Most of them are looking for clean air, safe food, better welfare or a good education for the next generation.
China used to supply the world with destitute, toiling workers, but the trend now is changing, with more wealthy and well-educated Chinese buying tickets for departure. China’s booming economy has enriched many millionaires and made investment immigration more easily affordable. Analysts say the immigration boom will continue.
The new scheme that Cyprus Government introduced in spring this year for the acquisition of Nationality is by far more attractive and faster than any other Country that offers similar schemes. It takes only 2-3 months for the passport to be issued and the only requirements is clean criminal record, to own a house and an investment of 2.500.000 euros through collective investment fund with participation of at least 5 investors or 5.000.000 euro if the investment is done individually.
The investor is entitled to choose his investment and among the investments he can enter is the purchase of a freehold real estate with the title of the property on his name or the name of his company. The investor is even entitled to just deposit his money in the bank in fixed deposit account in which he is required to keep it for at least 3 years.
Mr Yiannos Georgiades managing partner of Georgiades & Associates Advocates & Legal Consultants attended the IntaxExpo event which took place in Grand Hyatt Hotel in Hong Kong on 24 & 25 November and had the opportunity to meet with a lot of professional speakers, exhibitors and participants from different countries including China, Hong Kong Singapore, Russia, Portugal, Netherlands, Luxemburg, India, Australia, Canada and Malta. Among them were financial and investment consultants, lawyers, bankers, accountants, investors and businessmen. More than 250 people attended the event from all over the world.
One of the main themes discussed during the event was the need of a lot of wealthy individuals from countries such as China, Russia, Ukrainian to invest in Europe especially in countries such as Cyprus and Greece which they give them as a bonus the opportunity of acquiring residency and Nationality enabling them in this way to travel to more than 158 countries without any visa requirements.
It has been acknowledged by most of the very reputable professionals attended the event that nowadays Greece and Cyprus are undoubtedly offering the most attractive schemes and they confirmed that they have a lot of their clients prefer Cyprus and Greece.
It seems that as an ancient Chinese proverb puts it “crisis is an opportunity”!
