Cyprus · Passive income
Immigration Permit Category F (self-sufficient persons of independent means)
Open
Last verified July 2026Unconfirmed
The historic 'slow track' permanent residence route for people of independent means. Formally open and very cheap, but functionally throttled by a severe administrative backlog.
Category F is the honest answer to 'is there a cheap way into Cyprus?' — yes, and it costs a fraction of Regulation 6(2). It is also close to useless for anyone with a timetable: reporting indicates the authorities were working through 2020 filings during 2026, implying a five-to-seven-year queue. Regulation 6(2) exists precisely because Category F does not function.
Qualifying routes
€9.6k
Secured annual income from abroad
minimum for a single applicant; increased by EUR 4,613 for each dependant
The facts
- Qualifying figure
- €9.6k
- Total landed cost
- Minimal by design — application fees, a Cyprus bank deposit typically in the EUR 15,000–20,000 range, and legal fees. Property purchase is not strictly mandatory but applications resting on a rental are markedly less likely to succeed; around EUR 100,000 in property is the practical norm.
- Timeline
- 60–84 months — the binding constraint — see watchOuts; not a typo
- Physical presence
- No permanent presence required; the holder must not be absent from Cyprus for more than two years
- Family
- spousedependent children
- Permanent residency
- The permit is itself permanent residence once granted
- Citizenship
- Ordinary naturalisation only, requiring genuine residence and Greek
- Language test
- Greek — for ordinary naturalisation
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- secured annual income from abroad of at least EUR 9,568, plus EUR 4,613 per dependantincome must be from sources outside Cyprus — pensions, dividends, rents, interestno employment in Cyprusclean criminal record and health insurancedeposit in a Cyprus bank accountnot absent from Cyprus for more than two years
What can go wrong
- The backlog is the programme. Reported processing is running five to seven years, with 2026 caseworkers reportedly still handling 2020 applications. Do not present this as a live option to a client who needs a status this decade.
- The income threshold is low but the discretion is wide — Category F is granted at the Civil Registry and Migration Department's discretion and refusals are common on thin files.
- In practice a property purchase is expected even though the rules do not mandate one.
- No Schengen access, same as Regulation 6(2).
- The EUR 9,568 and EUR 4,613 figures and the backlog estimates in this entry come from Cypriot law firms and immigration practitioners rather than a current published government schedule; confirm before relying on them.