In July 2020, the French edition of Le Monde published an article highlighting the growing demand for Cypriot passports due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

In particular, wealthy people thinking about second citizenship are giving preference to Cyprus passports out of all possible options. Surprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact.
The island has a low incidence of coronavirus, with around 1500 cases per 1.2 million people by the end of August 2020, with at least 30% of cases being imported.

In particular, wealthy people thinking about second citizenship prefer Cypriot passports because of the low coronavirus rate, many countries have placed Cyprus in the “A” category and travellers arriving from Cyprus do not need to sit in quarantine or undergo any additional screening procedures.

The island States of Vanuatu and Santa Lucia, which also had a low infection rate, were also in company with Cyprus. However, the advantages of the Cyprus passport are disproportionately greater – for example, membership in the EU with all the resulting benefits (freedom of residence, work, study and travel in the 27 EU member states), visa-free travel to 174 countries, and a number of others.
A representative of one of the largest companies providing citizenship services to investors told Le Monde in an interview that the demand for Cyprus passports had increased during the lockdown and that the company’s Cypriot partners had used their smartphones with video call functionality to show the property to potential buyers. Some of them processed the transactions remotely and flew to Cyprus to apply for private aircraft immediately after the lockdown on the island.

But that’s not all. The unprecedented situation with the COVID-19 pandemic has affected seemingly unshakable things – such as the global passport rating. Previously, the U.S. passport was considered one of the most in demand in the world in terms of the number of visa-free countries open to visit, as well as the simple and fast procedure for obtaining visas in those countries that require a visa.

As of the end of summer 2020, almost all countries in the world are closed to US citizens.
Conversely, an Australian passport, which was somewhere in the middle of the ranking, has now become one of the most “convenient”.
The position of Cyprus in this new rating, dictated by the extraordinary circumstances in which the world now lives, has also significantly strengthened.