Residence permits for non-EU citizens

In 2017, Cyprus granted a residence permit to 18,971 non-EU citizens, according to data published by Eurostat, the majority to citizens of India and Russia.

A residence permit is a permit issued by the competent authorities of a country, allowing non-EU citizens (also known as third-country nationals) to remain in the territory for at least 3 months.

According to the report, the main reasons for issuing permits are employment opportunities (1.01 million), family reunification (829.9 million) and educational opportunities (530 million), while “other reasons” (766.8 million .) covers stay without right to work or international protection.

The largest number of permits were issued to citizens of Ukraine (662 thousand); almost three times more than the number of Syrian citizens (223 thousand); the second largest number.

During 2017, Cyprus granted a residence permit to 18,291 non-EU citizens (also referred to as third-country nationals) from:

India - 4710 (24.8%)

Russia - 2883 (15.2%)

Nepal - 1,406 (7.4%)

Philippines - 1,317 (6.9%)

Sri Lanka - 1759 (5.5%)

Others - 15,330 (47.6%)