Family of 4 looking to emigrate from the UK to Cyprus

@MutchAdo good luck and welcome to the forum...ask your specific questions as there is a lot of good people here who have  lots of experience.

@MutchAdo  What age are your children?  Younger ones can learn greek and fit into local school easily.  Older teens might prefer an English Speaking School.  There are a number of fee paying English schools in the Paphos area. 

Do either of you have an EU passport?  Much easier to navigate the immigration process if you do.

If you live permantly in Cyprus you pay tax here.  The exception is tax on rental from UK property is paid in the UK.

Good idea to rent first so you can decide what area is best for your family to live.  (Could even home school children for a period eg. Oak National Academy is excellent.  ( I was a teacher in the UK)

House rental prices in the Paphos area was around € 500- 600  some years ago and the same houses are now advertised at € 1500.  Some landlords and agents have been greedy but then they find it difficult to find tenants.  Some people we know who found their rent increased too much and found properties a little futher away for much less.  However, house prices have been fairly stagnant.  We have owned ours for nearly 20 years and is worth a little more than what we paid when it was build.  Again house prices are all over the place at the moment.  There are lots of new builds around Tala where we live and another option is find land for sale.

The process for doing all the paperwork changes often but you can check on this site how the latest advice.

@lshill thanks for the reply, very helpful.

Our children are currently 10 and 12 (nearly 13), we are worried about them fitting in and adjusting, and whether it will negatively impact their schooling as they are both currently doing well, however we do feel that it would put them in a much better position in the long run, hopefully becoming fluent in Greek.

I'm not sure if we would be cut out for Home schooling, we didn't fare very well during lockdown, but it would certainly be worth investigating as an option.

Unfortunately neither of us have an EU passport, so we can't benefit from that.

I have been trying to get to grips with the dual tax system/agreement, however it doesn't seem very straightforward. I am guessing that if we were to become permanent residents, which would be our goal, that I would need to write to HMRC each year regarding the tax on my income. I'll keep on digging, whilst hoping that someone is in the same position and can guide/advise further.

I had seen that prices for rental seem to have increased over the last few years, it  would seemingly be cheaper to get a house loan (mortgage)  and buy, again that would be the long term goal in any case.

Thanks again for your input, back to trawling the forums

Mortgages to TCNs I believe are are not so easy and would need a hefty deposit 30%+ .. but good luck

@MutchAdo

Plenty of private schools here and I know several families with children at these. They all say exceptional schools and a great mix of nationality's. There are lots of ExPats with kids so I expect integration will be really good to broaden their horizons.

If you are remote working for a non EU company tax is simple. None in the UK and very small amounts here.  Getting a work visa here will be a challenge if you are expecting to work in Cyprus. You need to complete a P85 on the HMRC web site when you exit the UK. Then only UK income for property rental, IHT capital gains is paid in the UK. I am guessing you are not of retirement age but if you are then get the S1 from NHS you can then apply for GESY the Cypriot NHS.

Engage a Cypriot professional to deal with the immigration and tax affairs as it makes life easier. Ask  questions here but bear in mind things change and all the time lol

Check out some of the previous posts for more info but remember it might have changed.

Hello everyone,

Welcome @MutchAdo !

Please note that this new thread has been created on the Cyprus forum from your posts for better interaction.

All the best

Bhavna

@MutchAdo

welcome..which visas have you researched so far? Temp Res which is the favourite will not allow your wife to work in Cyprus. All income must be generated from outside of cyprus. Income Required will be €36000 for a family of 4.  Until you have permanent residency it is almost impossible to get a mortgage.

@MutchAdo

Hi, we moved here 3 months ago.

As a family of 4 you have to earn €36k, per year and this has to be outside of Cyprus.

Our children go to state school, they get moved back a year or 2 in order to accommodate for the language issues.

Private primary schools are about €5k per annum per child and increase year on year until end of education.

From my understanding once children leave school they go onto their own visa and the earning requirements increase. Or they can stay on yours as a dependent, however as they are now an adult its no longer €4k per child, it goes to an adult contribution.

I'm not sure how easy it is to get a mortgage out here, I have been led to believe we have to be cash buyers.

With the tax issues, it is 0% dividend tax out here, so may be worth having a discussion with your accountant and employer to see if that can get creative.

With rents we used a facebook group called Only Peyia Properties on Facebook, I messaged a couple of landlords and within a week we secured the property.

Best,

Tom

@MutchAdo

I think Paphos, Limassol, and Larnaca are all family-friendly locations with the Mediterranean nearby. Each city has nearby villages where the school/work commute might not be outrageous. We lived in Limassol, and it was fab!

However, I reckon location/tax, and job/property hunting are very much a secondary issues. The key concern for non-EU citizens is how to qualify for residence, and I suggest you research this first. Most EU countries have options for employment (with a formal job offer), self-employment, or some kind of remote worker/digital nomad. I think these are probably the most relevant for you, and you could check the requirements to see how easily you could meet them. You only need one of you to be able to qualify (e.g. you as a remote worker) and then spouse/children can come in via Family Reunification (by a legal resident).

Good luck!