Moving to Cyprus from the UK: documents and residence

There are two completely different articles hiding behind this question, and one date decides which one you are reading.

If you were already exercising free movement in Cyprus before the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020, you are a beneficiary of the Withdrawal Agreement. You keep the right of residence, employment and free movement, and you may carry on living here as before.

If you are moving now, none of that applies to you. The Migration Department puts it plainly: without Withdrawal Agreement rights you cannot continue to reside in the Republic on this basis, and you will need to obtain another residence permit — the same ones any third-country national uses.

Work out which side of that line you are on before reading anything else about British people in Cyprus, because most of what is written conflates the two.

If you were here before the deadline

Your rights come from Law 7(I)/2007 and Directive 2004/38/EC, preserved by the Withdrawal Agreement. In practice the important consequence is about paperwork, and it runs the opposite way to what people expect.

Cyprus chose the declaratory system, under Article 18(4) of the Withdrawal Agreement. That means eligible UK nationals and their UK-national family members keep their previous residence document as EU citizens — the yellow slip — and may use it as proof of the right to reside.

You are not required to exchange it. A new document has been available since 1 January 2021 if you would rather hold one, and there are good practical reasons to want a document that says what it is on the face of it. But it is a choice.

This is worth stating clearly because the opposite belief is widespread, and it has sent people to the Department for an appointment they never needed.

The trap inside the trap: your non-British family

Here the rule changes, and households get caught.

A third-country national who is a dependent family member of a Withdrawal Agreement beneficiary may use their existing MEU2 until it expires — but is then required to apply for the new residence document under the Withdrawal Agreement.

So in one house: the British spouse may keep the old yellow slip indefinitely, while the non-British spouse must eventually change theirs. Two people, one kitchen table, two different obligations. If you read only the rule that applies to you, you will miss the one that applies to your partner.

Who counts as family

Article 9 of the Withdrawal Agreement defines it, and it is wider than people assume:

• the spouse
• a registered partner, where the partnership is treated as equivalent to marriage under Cypriot law N184(I)/2015
• direct descendants under 21 or dependent — including the spouse's or partner's
• dependent direct relatives in the ascending line — again including the spouse's or partner's
• certain other people whose presence is required so that the UK national is not deprived of the right of residence

Applying for the new document

• UKW1 — UK nationals, and family members who are also UK nationals.
• UKW2 — third-country nationals who are dependants of a UK national.
• €30 per person.
• In person, by appointment, at the Civil Registry and Migration Department in Nicosia or a District Unit of the Aliens and Immigration Service of the Police.
• Biometrics: photograph, fingerprints and signature.

The Department also publishes an Authorisation of Representative form and a Declaration of Mailing Address alongside the application, which is the practical answer to a great deal of the running about — much of the process can be handed over, though biometrics cannot.

If you are arriving now

You are a third-country national. Nationality is no longer the question; where your money comes from is. The routes worth looking at:

• Employment-based permits, where a Cypriot employer is involved.
• Category F, for people with a secure annual income from abroad and no intention of working locally — often the right answer for retirees.
• The investment route to permanent residence, which is the €300,000 one.
• Long-term residence, after enough lawful years here.

Our guide to residence permits in Cyprus sets out which is which, and permanent residence compares the routes that end in a permanent status.

The things that follow residence

Whichever side of the date you are on, the same downstream jobs arrive:

• Healthcare. GESY eligibility is decided by the Health Insurance Organisation, not the Migration Department — see enrolling in GESY, and note that paying the contribution is not the same as being registered.
• Your driving licence. A UK licence is no longer an EU licence, which changes whether exchanging it is optional or obligatory — see exchanging a foreign driving licence.
• A tax number and social insurance, if you will work or be paid here.
• A bank account, where being newly arrived with no local income history is the usual sticking point — see opening a bank account.

Where it goes wrong

• Assuming the yellow slip must be exchanged. Under the declaratory system it need not be.
• Applying the British rule to a non-British spouse. Their MEU2 runs to expiry and then must be replaced.
• Assuming Withdrawal Agreement rights because you own a house here. Property is not residence. The test is whether you were exercising free movement before the transition ended.
• Reading pre-2021 advice. Almost everything written for Britons in Cyprus before that date now describes a status new arrivals cannot have.
• Losing the old document and assuming it does not matter. If it is what proves your right to reside, report the loss to the Police and have it reissued.

How we can help

The first thing we establish is which of the two articles above is yours, because everything after that answer is different — and for a mixed household it is often both at once. From there we prepare the file, whether that is UKW1, UKW2 or an ordinary residence permit for a new arrival, book the appointment, and act as your authorised representative for the parts that do not need you in the room. Biometrics you have to give in person; most of the rest you do not.