Colonial-era policies The island of Cyprus was conquered by the
Ottoman Empire in 1570. Accordingly, Ottoman nationality law applied to the island. Cyprus was governed by the Ottomans for three centuries until it was leased to the
British Empire in 1878. While the island remained under nominal Ottoman sovereignty, no authority on Cyprus existed to enforce Ottoman laws. Cypriot residents ostensibly remained Ottoman subjects but travelled using documents that labeled them as "natives of Cyprus" instead of Ottoman passports. Britain fully annexed the island at the start of the
First World War in 1914 after Ottoman entry into the war in support of the
Central Powers and
British nationality law became applicable to the island, as was the case elsewhere in the British Empire. Cypriots and all other imperial citizens were
British subjects; any person born in Cyprus, the
United Kingdom, or anywhere else within
Crown dominions was a natural-born British subject. Turkey formally relinquished all claims to Cyprus in the 1923
Treaty of Lausanne and the island became a
Crown colony in 1925. Ottoman/Turkish subjects who were ordinarily resident in Cyprus on 5 November 1914 automatically became British subjects on that date. However, any such person had the right to choose Turkish nationality within two years of the treaty's enforcement, provided that they permanently departed Cyprus for Turkey within 12 months of that choice. While about 9,000 Turkish Cypriots elected to become Turkish nationals, most either did not leave or subsequently returned to Cyprus due to poor economic conditions in Anatolia. Colonial officials adhered to a policy of
divide and rule, pitting the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities against each other to weaken opposition to their own authority. Beginning in 1926, further Turkish migration to Anatolia was restricted by the colonial government seeking to curb high levels of Muslim population outflow. To help retain a sizable Turkish community, the colonial government enacted a law in 1930 that allowed Cypriots who opted for Turkish nationality under Lausanne but had not left the island to regain British nationality. They further claimed that the Cypriots who had chosen Turkish nationality and had already departed for Turkey still remained British subjects (unless they otherwise naturalised) because the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne had not been implemented in domestic law. Imperial nationality law was comprehensively reformed in 1948. The
British Nationality Act 1948 redefined British subject to mean any citizen of the United Kingdom, its colonies, or other Commonwealth countries.
Commonwealth citizen was first defined in this Act to have the same meaning. While previously all subjects of the Empire held a common status through allegiance to the Crown, each Commonwealth country under the reformed system became responsible for legislating their own nationality laws and would maintain a common status by voluntary agreement among all the member states. British subjects under the previous meaning who held that status on 1 January 1949, because of a connection with the United Kingdom or a remaining colony (including Cyprus), became Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies (CUKC).
Independence and a tenuous republic Greek Cypriots wanted
enosis (union with
Greece) while Turkish Cypriots vehemently opposed this and favoured
taksim (partition of the island). Each of these communities held a strong affinity to Greece or Turkey but no particular attachment to the idea of a Cyprus detached from either culture. Greek dissatisfaction with British rule led to open revolt in the 1950s during the
Cyprus Emergency, which ultimately resulted in the 1959
London and Zürich Agreements and a multilateral accord between the UK, Greece, and Turkey on Cypriot independence in the following year. Cyprus became an independent republic on 16 August 1960, although Britain retained control of two military bases in
Akrotiri and Dhekelia. The
Constitution of Cyprus specified that the requirements for holding Cypriot citizenship after independence would be determined by Annex D of the Treaty of Establishment. Any CUKC born in Cyprus automatically acquired Cypriot citizenship on that date if they were ordinarily resident in the country at any time within the five years immediately preceding independence, as well as any person born overseas to a father who also became a citizen. CUKCs of Cypriot origin who had not resided in Cyprus during the five years before independence did not become Cypriot citizens and retained CUKC status. Former Ottoman subjects of Cypriot origin who had not become British subjects in 1914 were entitled to Cypriot citizenship on application, as well as widowed or divorced women who otherwise would have been married to Cypriot citizens.
European integration Cyprus joined the European Union as part of the EU's
2004 enlargement. Cypriot citizens have since been able to live and work in other EU/EFTA countries under free movement rights established by the 1992
Maastricht Treaty and participated in their first
European Parliament elections in 2004. The scope of these rights includes the entire
European Economic Area (EEA), encompassing all EU and EFTA member states other than
Switzerland, which concluded a separate free movement agreement with the EU that came into force in 2002.
Liechtenstein exceptionally maintains immigration controls on EEA/Swiss citizens despite its EEA membership due to the country's small geographic and population size. Before the UK's
withdrawal from the EU in 2020, Cypriot citizens held a particularly favoured status there. While non-EU Commonwealth citizens continued to need a residence visa to live in the UK, Cypriot citizens were able to settle there and immediately hold full rights to political participation due to their status as both Commonwealth and EU citizens. Cypriot citizens (along with Irish and Maltese citizens) domiciled in the UK were able to vote in the
2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum while all other non-British EU citizens were not.
Citizenship by investment In 2013, a citizenship by investment pathway was created to attract foreign investment into the country. Through the Cyprus Investment Programme, a foreigner could acquire Cypriot citizenship after investing €2 million in real estate, infrastructure projects, local businesses, or domestic financial assets and maintaining that sum within the Republic for at least five years. Candidates needed to have a clean criminal record, must not have been denied naturalisation in any other EU member state, and were required to purchase a residence in the country valued at least €500,000 that must be retained permanently. A further donation of €150,000 became required in 2019, half of which would go to a scientific research fund and the other half dedicated towards financing affordable housing on the island. Investors who successfully naturalised are subject to periodic checks that verify their continued ownership of real estate in Cyprus and are liable to have their citizenship revoked if discovered to have divested themselves of that property without a replacement residence. This stipulation was made in violation of Article 63 of the
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which prohibits restrictions on the movement of capital. The
European Commission repeatedly condemned this citizenship pathway for its high risks in aiding money laundering, tax evasion, and corruption. A 2019
Reuters publication which reported that eight relatives and associates of Cambodian prime minister
Hun Sen had acquired Cypriot citizenship by investment triggered a government investigation into the circumstances under which their citizenship was obtained. Following the release of a video recording showing Cypriot legislators offering to facilitate naturalisation for a fictional convicted investor, the programme was indefinitely suspended on 1 November 2020. In July 2022, the former president of the Cyprus Parliament and three others were charged with corruption for their part in the scandal. == Acquisition and loss of citizenship ==