Visitors visa

@kevinlewis2323

I think you are getting confused between citizenship and residency.

After five years, you qualify for permanent residency, which means you no longer need to apply for temporary visas. But citizenship is a different thing altogether. You need to have lived in Cyprus for 7 years before you can apply, and the application will take years if not decades!

Many thanks for your response

This is actually what I thought

The chap in immigration kept mentioning brexit etc and I came away feeling rather deflated!

But thanks for confirming

@kevinlewis2323  After five years of continuous residence in Cyprus, you can apply for a Permanent Residence Permit. However, while you are living in Cyprus with a temporary Cyprus residence permit, you cannot leave the country for longer than 3 months since your permit would be automatically cancelled.

The only anxiety for many is if they raise the income threshold requirements during this 5 year period as many of our friends here pre brexit rules could not be even meet the current income requirements

5 years legit residency you can apply for permanent residency

I doubt very much they can apply the higher thresholds as long as you keep renewing timeously ... Further once you have permanent residency  you will likely be required to renew every 10 years unless that has changed... Also as long a you stay within the "absence from Cyprus" rules .

I have PR and have had it since 2019.... I am not going to apply for the new biometric card as it is not mandatory and the current MEU3 I HOLD is still and most likely to be a perfectly legal residency  document going forward ..without an expiry date. I have this in black and white from immigration dept.. however I will say that it may cause problems at border crossings and may also disallow access to some gov services that may require biometric residency at some stage(s) in the future.

As for citizenship amnot so sure it has much value certainly not for me anyway... maybe better for younger and more mobile individuals and those who wish to travel more widely in Europe.

As others have said it can take years in the normal route ... It can be be done quicker if you speak good greek but can still.take 3-4 yrs.... And from what I have found out recently there is no great rush to issue citizenships to foreigners

@Toon We and other friends had temporary permits prior to the rule changes in May 22 and were asked to provide income proof and transfer to cyprus bank monthly but did not need to do the medical checks on renewal in Sep 22 and 23

Yes I know you still have to prove financials each year at renewal ..so are you saying you must meet the new levels 

@telf

I would agree that it's a possibility ..and would freely admit that if we had to apply now we would only just make the grade..... So we are lucky to have been able to do what we did when we did it without all the extra requirements

@Toon

Yes, it's €2400 per month transferred from the UK bank to the Cyprus bank account.

There is talk that the €28,800 could go up to €37,000 per year but also I've heard that France and Spain, and maybe others want to relax the 90-day rule.

Would be a worry for some having to find €37,000, who needs that to live off!!!

It baffles me how when on a temporary visa that we are required to have 2000+ euros per month going into a Cypriot bank account when most working are only earning around a 1000 if that.I only just managed to keep my visa this year but every penny that goes into my Hellenic Bank benefits Paphos businesses and I don't ask anyone for any help and there is no way I am transferring all my savings to Cyprus.Its a daunting future as even with all my pensions I will never meet their criteria

@Toon yes thats what we had show/provide at renewal - a friend who recently split from his wife and can no longer combine her pension is €3200 short of the €24,000, he has been refused renewal and is awaiting an appeal to Nicosia immigration to be decided

    @Toon
Yes, it's €2400 per month transferred from the UK bank to the Cyprus bank account.
There is talk that the €28,800 could go up to €37,000 per year but also I've heard that France and Spain, and maybe others want to relax the 90-day rule.
Would be a worry for some having to find €37,000, who needs that to live off!!!
   

    -@timhuntington

France has already relaxed the 90 day rule for Brits with a 2nd home in France.

@SimCityAT its still got to be ratified by the main assembly so until it is the devil will be in the detail

@Toon      your post mentions 'every year at renewal'.  I do not understand this; I understood that the meu was open ended.  And even the dependant one is good for 5 years. What am I missing?

Am talking about the pink slip. Proof of earnings each year at renewal as others have indicated.. as the pink slip expires each year unless you renew..

The old MEU1 and MEU3 are open ended as no expiry date.. neither of our original MEU1 (2014) and current MEU3 (2019) have expiry dates

@mbohills57

It common knowledge that Cyprus now only wants wealthy high net worth individuals...