Gov’t amends conditions to grant nationality, permanent residency to investors

AMMAN — The Cabinet on Monday amended conditions set in February this year to grant investors Jordanian nationality or residency, a Cabinet statement said. 

The new rules entailed changes to several previous instructions, allowing, for example, investors who have been present in the country to apply and obtain the same privileges as new peers. 

Investors are offered a list of scenarios, each of which makes them eligible for citizenship, including a zero-interest, five-year $1.5 million deposit at the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ), or buying Treasury bonds valued at the same amount with an interest rate to be decided by CBJ and for a period no less than 10 years.

The third option for the investor is to buy securities, also at $1.5 million, from an active investment portfolio, while he/she can invest $1 million in SMEs for three years (instead of five years previously) at least to become a Jordanian national. The stakes will be locked against sale for the said period. 

The fifth scenario is a $2 million investment in any location in the country, or $1.5 million if the project is registered in any governorate other than Amman, provided such a project creates at least 20 job opportunities and remains operational for at least three years. Successful applicants will be given a temporary passport valid for three years and will be treated as full citizens minus political rights and the status will be changed into full citizenship with full rights after the three-year active operation of the project. 

In the other set of conditions, permanent residency has been replaced with a five-year residency. Eligibility is achieved when a non-Jordanian buys a property worth no less than JD200,000, provided that the Department of Land and Survey confirms the value.

Based on the two points above, any investor who obtains any of the said two statuses will have the right to obtain a similar status for his wife, unmarried, widowed or divorced daughter, son who is below 18 years old and parent if the investor was their sole supporter.

The criteria will be applied to 500 cases annually after a security clearance and checking on financial adequacy, and in case of violations to any of the conditions, the citizenship will be revoked and residency cancelled.

As for investors already residing in Jordan, the amendments stipulated other conditions allowing them to obtain residency and citizenship, in the case they owned shares in projects or venture partnerships with Jordanian investors.

To be eligible for citizenship under this criteria, each shareholder in the partnership — based in Amman — must hold no less than $2 million in stakes, while overall providing at least 20 job opportunities as entailed in previous amendments.

In other governorates, the minimum stake must not be less than $1.5 million per partner.