Macedonia luring foreign investors with citizenship offer

SKOPJE, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Macedonian government is offering citizenship for all foreign citizens who come to invest in the country, Macedonian government's press office said Wednesday.

According to the press office, the council of ministers handled during Tuesday meeting the applications for citizenship made by several foreign nationals, mainly Turkish investors.

"These foreign nationals can benefit citizenship based on the law regarding scientific, economic, cultural or sports' personalities in the country," the government's press office noted.

Many foreign nationals have been granted Macedonian passports in recent years based on this law.

But, for each investor there's a set of criteria as to how much he or she should invest in the country.

Macedonia's government offers citizenship to anyone who invests at least 400,000 euros or 515,000 U.S. dollars and employs at least 10 people.

Referring to an initiative launched in 2012, anybody investing over 400,000 euros can have citizenship and a passport. In addition, foreigners who buy real estate worth over 40,000 euros are allowed the right to stay in the country for a year. According to the then Prime Minister, Nikola Gruevski, this move of Macedonian government was aimed to ease residency requirements for foreign investors who buy real estate in Macedonia or invest in country's economy.

However, such rules exclude investors in the hotel and trade sectors. Enditem