Documents in Cyprus Checked: no change to the rule has been established since the check
In short
- Who it applies to
- Third-country nationals who want to live in Cyprus on income from abroad — a pension, rent, deposits, dividends — without working here. The regulation names three purposes: holidays, touring and looking into settling in the country. A spouse and minor children come with the applicant on dependent permits.
- What it costs
- €70 for the permit and €70 for entry in the Aliens' Register with an ARC card. You will also need a 10-year guarantee from a Cypriot bank — €550 for Russian and Ukrainian nationals — and health insurance that covers hospital care.
- How long it takes
- The department usually examines the application within four months if the documents are sufficient. Until the decision, the submission receipt shows that you are in Cyprus lawfully. The first permit is issued for a year.
- Where to apply
- Enter on a visa and, before it expires, file form MVIS8 — at the Migration Department's central offices in Nicosia or at the district branch of the police Aliens and Immigration Service. Photograph, fingerprints and signature are taken at submission.
- If your case differs
- A visitor's permit does not allow work: taking a job ends it at once, and running a business or practising a profession is a ground for revoking it. Remote work for a foreign employer has its own digital nomad scheme.
Your case
If you apply in your own right
Open an account with a Cypriot bank: income is proved by its statement showing transfers from abroad in your name — €2.000 a month or more, and for the first permit a single transfer of €10.000 or more will do. With form MVIS8 file a criminal record certificate from your country with a translation, blood tests stamped by a Cypriot doctor, the bank guarantee, insurance and a lease or purchase deed. The certificate and the tests are required for the first permit only.
If your spouse and children come with you
Each family member files their own application as a dependent visitor — the department has separate document lists for a spouse and for a child. Income is counted from your account: a spouse raises the threshold by 20% and each child by 15%. A family member's permit cannot run longer than yours. The marriage needs a certificate with a translation; children under 6 give only a photograph.
If you came to marry a Cypriot citizen
There is a separate three-month visitor's permit just for getting married. It requires a proven relationship of at least a year and entry on a visa; you may not have stayed more than three months after the visa expired.
Deadlines and conditions
- the visitor's permit costs €70The department's page on visitors, «Τέλη»: «Έκδοση ή ανανέωση άδειας διαμονής: €70»; the fee is in the Fifth Schedule of the 1972 Regulations as amended by ΚΔΠ 36/2013.
- entry in the Aliens' Register with an ARC card is another €70, onceThe same section: «Εγγραφή στο μητρώο αλλοδαπών (μόνο στις περιπτώσεις πρώτης εγγραφής): €70».
- at least €2.000 a month must arrive from abroad into your Cypriot accountThe department's list of documents for a visitor (Greek version of 05.02.2026): «τα εμβάσματα εξωτερικού επ’ ονόματι του αιτητή … δεν θα πρέπει να είναι λιγότερα από €2.000 μηνιαίως ή €24.000 ανά έτος για ένα άτομο», +20% for the spouse, +15% for each child.
- or €24.000 over a yearThe same list — the annual form of the same threshold.
- a spouse adds 20% to the sumThe same list: «Το ποσό αυτό αυξάνεται κατά 20% για τον/την σύζυγο και κατά 15% για κάθε τέκνο».
- each child adds 15%The same.
- for the first permit a single transfer or deposit of €10.000 or more is accepted instead of a transfer historyThe same list: «Κατά την πρώτη άδεια γίνεται δεκτό και έμβασμα ή κατάθεση μετρητών τουλάχιστον €10.000»; a cash deposit needs the customs cash declaration.
- the bank guarantee for Russian and Ukrainian nationals is €550The department's page “Bank guarantee”: a Cypriot bank guarantee valid for at least 10 years against repatriation costs; the amount depends on the country of origin, €550 for Russia, Ukraine, Serbia and Moldova.
Show all conditions (14)
- the guarantee runs for 10 yearsThe list of documents: «εγγυητική επιστολή τραπεζικού ιδρύματος δεκαετούς διάρκειας»; the “Bank guarantee” page — “valid for at least ten (10) years”.
- examination usually takes up to 4 monthsThe department's page on visitors: “Usually before the completion of four (4) months”, provided the documents suffice.
- the first permit is issued for 1 yearThe department's page on visitors: the first permit is for “one (1) year”.
- the passport must stay valid 3 months beyond the permitThe Greek list of documents: the passport «με διάρκεια ισχύος που να καλύπτει τουλάχιστον τρεις (3) μήνες πέραν της αιτούμενης διάρκειας διαμονής»; the department's page — the permit runs no later than 3 months before the passport expires.
- children under 6 give only a photographThe department's page on visitors: from those under six at the time of filing, only a photograph is taken.
- a Cypriot citizen's partner gets a 3-month permit to marryThe department's page on visitors: the partner of a Cypriot citizen gets a three-month permit to marry; the relationship must have lasted at least a year, entry on a visa.
Remote work for a foreign employer
The regulation bans work and business “in the Republic”, and the department says nothing specific about remote work for a foreign employer. There is a digital nomad scheme with its own income threshold for that — if you work, ask the department whether a visitor's permit fits you before filing.
Sources
- Aliens and Immigration Regulations 1972 (ΚΔΠ 242/72), Reg. 14www.cylaw.orgThe purposes of a visitor's permit, the ban on work and business, and the consequences: the permit ends on taking a job and may be revoked for business or a profession.
- Migration Department, “Visitors and family members”www.gov.cyVisitor categories, filing before the visa expires, the €70 and €70 fees, examination time, validity, the passport link, the permit for marrying a Cypriot citizen.
- Migration Department, supporting documents for a visitor permitwww.gov.cyAll the money requirements and the document list: what is needed for the first permit only and what every time.
- Migration Department, “Bank guarantee”www.gov.cyThe guarantee's validity and the amount by country of origin.
- Migration Department, FAQ on residence permits and documentswww.gov.cyWhile the application is pending, the submission receipt covers you at a police check.