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.

More to follow...