$1.07 USD
General News
Meropi Kyriacou Honored as TNH Educator of the Year
NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.
ATHENS – With one of the few remaining Golden Visa programs in the European Union, Greece is continuing to draw investors seeking residency permits and passports, and a revitalized scheme in Cyprus is drawing interest too – now from those in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries.
While the EU has warned that the programs could be open to money laundering and criminal activity, Greece’s New Democracy government has doubled down on trying to lure the rich, and Cyprus is trying to get them back.
The Leptos Estates property development company on Cyprus said it’s seen a surge in sales company has experienced a surge in sales and inquiries for homes in Greece as well as Cyprus from MENA purchasers, reported SchengenVisaInfo.com
Cyprus’ previous residency program ended in disgrace amid revelations it was being used by criminals and wasn’t vetted property to sort out those who shouldn’t have been eligible.
The Ministry of Interior made changes and brought a new program this year and the island is proving still popular for foreign investors although it wasn’t said what safeguards were in place to prevent a recurrence of criminal use.
The schemes offer the rich foreigners not just residency but valuable EU passports that allow visa-free travel in the bloc at the same time that those in the Diaspora of Greece and Cyprus have to wait for residency and citizenship.
Leptos Estates said that in the in the last 12 months, the company has completed more than 7 million euros ($7.46 million) worth of sales to buyers from Middle Eastern countries eager to gain residency in the EU.
The company’s Co-President Pantelis Leptos, said that, “We have seen a growing interest from the MENA region over the past 10-15 years and this is increasing with the quality of homes on offer, the opening of the Dubai Port in Limassol, and the expansion to the Residency Program in Cyprus, and Golden Visa initiative in Greece,” said Business Report.
Cyprus’ residency and citizenship programs have contributed significantly to the country’s economic sector, even though these schemes are often involved in illegal affairs, said SchengenVisaInfo.
The site, said that Kathimerini reported that Greece has brought in 1.57 billion euros ($1.67 billion) in the past year and is going full-speed ahead with it although the threshold is going to be doubled to 500,000 euros ($532,665) in investments.
The Department of Immigration Policy said during that period that 6,064 requests for new permits were submitted and 2,072 residence permits issued while more than 3,900 are pending.
