An employee’s rights under Cypriot law: work permits for foreigners, the minimum wage, the contract and probation, annual leave, sick and maternity leave, dismissal.
Where to start and what comes next
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Permission to work
EU citizens need none. Everyone else needs a residence and employment permit whose route the employer decides, and a visitor’s permit allows no work at all. Domestic and farm workers usually come through an agency — and pay nothing for it.
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Pay
Pay may not fall below the minimum wage, but it has a lower starting rate and occupations it does not cover.
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Contract and working time
What the employer must give you in writing in the first days, how long probation may last and how much you may work in a week.
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Annual leave
How many days you get, when to take them and who pays for them — the employer or the fund you have to claim from.
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Illness and a new child
Sickness benefit, maternity, paternity and parental leave: what Social Insurance pays, from which day and what the law protects you from.
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When the job ends
Notice of dismissal, compensation, redundancy pay and unemployment benefit — and the deadlines after which you can no longer get them.
How it works
Employees’ rights in Cyprus rest on several laws at once, and most of them need not be asked for: the minimum wage, written terms, annual leave and notice of dismissal belong to everyone in paid employment — Cypriot, EU or third-country nationals alike.
A non-EU foreigner first needs a residence and employment permit, and it is the employer, not the profession, that decides which: an ordinary Cypriot company, a company of foreign interests or the EU Blue Card. The route decides when you may change jobs and how your family can join you.
Some of the money is paid not by the employer but by state funds: sickness and maternity benefit by Social Insurance, holiday pay often by the Holiday Fund, redundancy pay by the Redundancy Fund. Almost always you have to claim it yourself, on time.
What is most often misunderstood
- The employer, not your profession, decides the route — and the route decides when you can change jobsWorking in Cyprus as a non-EU national: ordinary hiring, a foreign-interest company or the EU Blue Card
- €979 is not a “beginner's rate” but six months with each new employerMinimum wage in Cyprus in 2026: how much, who is covered and what may be deducted
- Probation is capped at 6 months, although the old dismissal law still says 104 weeksEmployment terms in Cyprus: what your employer must give you in writing, probation and working time
- Leave pay often comes not from the employer but from a fund — and only if you applyAnnual leave in Cyprus: how many days you get and who pays for them
- Nobody pays the first 3 days of illness unless your contract says soSick leave, maternity and paternity leave in Cyprus: who pays and for how many weeks
- Redundancy pay comes from the fund, not the employer — and only if you claim it yourself within 3 monthsDismissal in Cyprus: notice, compensation, redundancy pay and unemployment benefit
- Under Cypriot law the worker pays nothing to get the job: the “price of the permit” is the employer's costComing to work in Cyprus through an agency: what you pay, what you are owed, how to check your permit
Common situations
- You want to change jobs on a work permit: on ordinary employment it is not allowed at once, and only in the same occupationWorking in Cyprus as a non-EU national: ordinary hiring, a foreign-interest company or the EU Blue Card
- You work remotely for a company abroad: what you need is not a work permit but the digital nomad permitThe Cyprus digital nomad permit: the income you need, what happens with tax and who can come with you
- A recruiter asks you to pay for a work visa: under Cypriot law the employer pays the ticket and the fees, not youComing to work in Cyprus through an agency: what you pay, what you are owed, how to check your permit
- You are paid the lower rate: that is lawful only at the start of work with this employerMinimum wage in Cyprus in 2026: how much, who is covered and what may be deducted
- The contract sets a longer probation than the law allows: the excess does not applyEmployment terms in Cyprus: what your employer must give you in writing, probation and working time
- Holiday pay has not arrived: if the employer pays into the Holiday Fund, you claim it from the fundAnnual leave in Cyprus: how many days you get and who pays for them
- You fall ill: nobody pays for the first days of sickness unless your contract says soSick leave, maternity and paternity leave in Cyprus: who pays and for how many weeks
- You were made redundant: the Redundancy Fund pays, and you file the claim yourselfDismissal in Cyprus: notice, compensation, redundancy pay and unemployment benefit