Ammon News -
The Cabinet, in a session held Sunday, approved amendments to the basis of granting investors the Jordanian citizenship and residency to prop up an attractive environment for foreign investments.
According to the new amendments, Jordanian citizenship is granted to an investor after he/she deposits one million US dollars without interest at the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) for a period of three years and without making any withdrawals during this period. An investor must also purchase one million US dollars-worth of treasury bonds for a period of six years, with an interest determined by the CBJ.
An investor must be residing in the Kingdom for a period of no less than a month before signing the final recommendation to grant the Jordanian citizenship, the amendments stipulated.
The Jordanian citizenship will be granted to an investor after the purchase of shares and/or stocks in Jordanian companies for an amount of no less than one and a half million US dollars, provided that the shares are not disposed of for a period of no less than three years and that the Companies Control Department and /or the Jordan Securities Commission place a seizure sign on them.
An investor will be granted a 3-year temporary Jordanian passport after the establishment and registration of an investment project in any productive economic sector, with a total paid-up capital of no less than one million US dollars for Amman-based projects provided that 20 job opportunities for Jordanians are created, and a total paid-up capital of no less than 750,000 US dollars for projects based in other governorates provided that 10 job opportunities for Jordanians are created upon the operation of the projects and in accordance with the statements of the Social Security Corporation. In this case, the investor is given an additional period of four months to round up the required number of Jordanian employees after the project begins operations to be granted later on the Jordanian citizenship after ensuring that he/she abides by the above requirements for a period of three years.
The new amendments also state that an investor or a non-investor will be granted a five-year residency, regardless of the previous period of residence in the Kingdom, upon the purchase of one or more properties with a total value of no less than 200,000 Jordanian dinars, according to an assessment made by the Department of Lands and Survey. The individual must maintain ownership of the property for a period of no less than five years without disposing of it or mortgaging it. In this case, residency is issued by a decision of the Minister of Interior based on the recommendation of a special committee for investors.
An investor’s wife, along with his single, widowed and/ or divorced daughters who live with him, his children under the age of 18 at the time of submitting the application and his parents (whom he takes care of) are also granted the Jordanian citizenship provided that he fulfills the conditions.
If an investment made is worth more than three million US dollars, the sons of the investor under the age of thirty at the time of submitting the application, and their wives and children will also be granted the Jordanian citizenship, the new amendments indicate.
If an investor is a partner or an owner of an existing project or projects, he will be granted Jordanian citizenship according to the following:
- For projects based in Amman, the average share of an investor in the total value of fixed assets, non-current and intangible assets must be no less than one million US dollars. This amount can be calculated for an existing project or projects according to certified annual budgets for the last three years. An investor must also provide no less than 20 job opportunities for Jordanians within three years, in accordance with the statements of the Social Security Corporation and taking into account the ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, so that half of the required number of employees is approved for said year, in addition to rounding up the number of employees for two separate projects in the capital and any other governorate for the purpose of calculating the numbers of workers on the basis of each governorate.
- As for investments outside Amman, the average share of an investor in the total value of fixed assets, non-current and intangible assets must be no less than 500,000 US dollars. This amount can be calculated for an existing project or projects according to certified annual budgets for the last three years. An investor must also provide no less than 10 job opportunities for Jordanians within three years, in accordance with the statements of the Social Security Corporation.
If a new partner joins the company or if the company was relinquished to a first-degree relative, the Jordanian citizenship is then granted to the new partner/owner, according to the above-mentioned conditions, provided that the share of the investor wishing to obtain citizenship will not be disposed of for a period of three years and that a seizure sign is duly placed.
The new amendments also stipulate that the Jordanian citizenship will not be granted to any investor who newly owned the shares of an investor who had obtained Jordanian citizenship based on those same shares.
Additionally, the new amendments will be applied to only 500 investors annually upon implementing the necessary measures and verifying financial solvency and in accordance with the priority of the application. If any of the conditions are breached, the citizenship will be withdrawn and the residency will be cancelled.
The basis of granting the Jordanian citizenship are not applied post-facto, and will be reviewed and evaluated once every six months.
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