Enticing businesses and talent was the focal point of the roundtable discussion held on 5 November at the Presidential Palace. The purpose of the event was the presentation of the Government’s new ‘Strategy for attracting Businesses and Talent’, divided in nine policy areas, which include:

• The Business Facilitation Unit which will act as a one-stop shop for information relevant to operating in Cyprus, services for setting up a business as well as speeding up the process for residence and employment issuance and renewal. Central to this policy is the digitalisation of such procedures, with greater efficiency as the main target.
• A revised policy for the employment of third country highly skilled nationals, with a focus on the shipping, high-tech, innovative, pharmaceutical and biotech industries.
• The Digital Nomad Visa, aimed at remote workers employed by companies operating out of Cyprus as well as their families.
• Broader tax incentives for salaried staff new to Cyprus and investments in innovative companies, along with increased tax deductions in R&D spending.

The strategy also touches on changes regarding naturalisation criteria, family reunification of third-country nationals, social insurance, simplification and streamlining of the granting process for long term resident status and a promotion campaign to attract talent to the island.

The event was attended by established foreign investors such as Hamza Afifi, PR Director of BrainRocket, an IT software development company based in Limassol with over 500 employees, Alexey Gubarev, co-founder of Palta, a health and wellness technology company with offices in Limassol, Arthur Mamedov, COO of TheSoul Publishing, an online content creator with over a billion subscribers across multiple platforms and channels, Prabhat Jha, Group Managing Director and CEO of MSC Shipmanagement, and Petr Valov, CEO of Exness, a financial markets service provider.

Strategy Presentation - Ministry of Finance (PDF)