Residency in Northern Cyprus

Anyone wishing to live in Northern Cyprus for more than three months at a time will require temporary residence status. Those who wish to retire to North Cyprus or live permanently on the island can apply for permanent residence status after five years.

To obtain residency in Northern Cyprus there are many steps to take, procedures to follow and forms to fill in and this is a guide to getting residency in Northern Cyprus based on our own experiences.

Depending on whom you speak to and who you know the procedure for getting residency can be more or less straightforward! We have heard of people who have endured great stress, people who have incurred large fines and others who have simply breezed through the whole process to come out the other side unscathed and with a year’s temporary residence visa well and truly stamped in their passport.

Basically the first step on the road to residency is applying for the visa as soon as you know you’re going to be in the country for more than three months. For every single day you reside in Northern Cyprus after your three month visitor’s visa is up you will incur a fine of around YTL 66 a day (which equates to about GBP 28 per day depending on the fluctuating Lira/Sterling exchange rate) – this fine will be incurred unless you have at least applied for your temporary residence visa.

This fine soon adds up and so if you know you will be in North Cyprus for more than three months apply for your temporary residency visa immediately. Those who know that they have come to live in Northern Cyprus for the rest of their days or for at least the foreseeable future cannot apply for permanent residency. They too have to apply and reapply for a temporary visa for up to five years before they can get permanent residency status.

Once you’ve decided to apply for residency in Northern Cyprus get about 6 or 8 passport photographs and a dozen stamps and then you will need to visit the local counsellor in the area of TRNC where you are residing – the counsellor or Muhtar (pronounced muk tar) will need to see proof of your residence in the form of a rental or purchase contract as well as bank statements showing that you have sufficient money available to sustain you – no one seems able to tell me how much ‘sufficient money’ is but at a guess you should be able to show at least GBP 1,000 per person applying for residency.

The Muhtar will provide you with a Resident’s Certificate after filling in a form with information about you, your parents, your place of residence in Northern Cyprus etc. Then you should go to one of a number of licensed clinics in Girne (Kyrenia), Gazimagusa or Lefkosia (Nicosia) for a blood test. The names of clinics accepted by the immigration authorities are available from the immigration offices in Girne and Lefkosia. A blood sample will be taken then it’s necessary to have a chest x-ray and check-up done in a licensed clinic and the fees for all of these tests comes to between GBP 100 and GBP 160 per person.

The clinics where the tests are done will provide the applicant with a receipt. With the receipt, Resident’s Certificate, proof of address and income, passport, more stamps, pictures and photocopies of all documents in hand the applicant should visit immigration and apply for residency. Most offices involved in the whole process are only open between 8.30am and 12 noon. A number will be written into the applicant’s passport by immigration officials and photocopies of all documents will be taken.

After about 2 weeks all the medical tests will have been completed and an applicant can pick up their results which will be in a sealed envelope – do not open the envelope or break the seal!!! The applicant should then hand deliver these results to immigration in Lefkosia and sit back and wait for all police checks to be completed and all medical results to be analysed. An applicant will have to regularly visit immigration in Lefkosia until checks and tests are finalised and a visa can be granted. The current fee for a temporary residence visa in Northern Cyprus is YTL 214 but there has been talk that this may be reduced to YTL 130.

If all this sounds like too much hassle and too big a headache there are various individuals and companies based in Northern Cyprus who can assist. We used the Residency Advisory Service after getting confused at the first hurdle and can personally recommend them. Contact Muhid on 0533 840 3182 (0090 533 840 3182 if dialling from outside TRNC) or Ian on 0533 842 0204 (0090 533 842 0204) or email and agree a fee with both of them for the entire procedure before enlisting their services so that you have an idea of all the costs involved and can budget for them accordingly. Ian and Muhid will walk you though all the personal visits you have to make and then take on all the leg work involved in getting the final stamp in your passport. They also have useful contacts who can usually help ease the whole process, help with getting work permits, driving licenses, business permits and also importing personal effects to the TRNC. Alternatively various runners can be sourced via the British Resident’s Society or at the Pegasos in Alsancak on a Friday morning.