European Statistical Office (Eurostat), a Directorate-General Office of the European Commission located in Luxembourg, has published information on the number of foreigners who were granted European citizenship in 2017. Approximately 825 000 people were granted citizenship by Member State of EU in 2017. In 2016 this number of people was approximately 995 000 and in 2015 – 841 000. Out of the overall number of people that obtained citizenship of one of the EU Member States in 2017, 17% were former citizens of another EU Member State, while the majority were non-EU citizens or people without citizenship.

The group that was granted the most number of citizenships by the EU Member States in 2017 were citizens of Morocco (67 900 people, 83% of them acquired citizenship of Italy, Spain or France), groups that had the most citizenships issued to were also citizens of: Albania (58 900, 97% acquired citizenship of Greece or Italy), India (31 600, over 53% acquired British citizenship), Turkey (29 900, over 50% acquired German citizenship), Romania (25 000, 32% acquired Italian citizenship), Pakistan (23 100, 45% acquired citizenship of the United Kingdom), Poland (22 000, 63% acquired citizenship of the United Kingdom or Germany), and Brazil (21 600, 74% acquired citizenship of Italy or Portugal). Most of the passports to foreigners were issued by Italy (146 600), United Kingdom (123 100), Germany (115 400) and France (114 200). In 2017, over 5.5 thousand people were granted Cyprus citizenship, of those 23.8% (1313 people) were citizens of Russian Federation, 9.1% (502 people) were citizens of United Kingdom, and 8.7% (479 people) were citizens of Ukrainian.

In February 2019, Parliament of Cyprus voted for a bill that would introduce more strict requirements for the issue of so-called ‘gold passports’ to investors. Similar to a residence permit these passports are granted in exchange for investments in the economy of the republic. This bill will take effect as of January 31, 2020. Read our blog to keep abreast of all interesting and actual news.