Update from the British High Commission - 25 March 2020.
Due to the
current circumstances and the restriction of movement, kindly be informed of
the following:
The police are
actively fining individuals who are leaving their home for non-essential
movement.
Under the
current restrictions, movement should not be undertaken for any of the
following since none of the below reasons fall under the category of
necessary movement, such as defined by the Cyprus government here.
- Residency Applications.
UK
nationals should not leave their homes in order to submit residency
applications for MEU1 or MEU3 documents at any of the district immigration
offices or at the central Civil Registry and Migration offices in Nicosia.
We have
the assurance of the Civil Registry that UK nationals will be able to continue
to apply for their residency documents when there is no longer a restriction to
movement. UK nationals in Cyprus need not be concerned that the current pause
in the submission of residency applications will impact their residency status
in any way.
All UK
nationals who are resident in Cyprus and fall within the scope of the
Withdrawal Agreement will retain their residency rights irrespective of the
fact that their residency applications will be submitted at a later date.
- Passports.
There
are currently no international flights coming in to Cyprus and therefore there
is no postal service for renewed passports to come to Cyprus from the UK. UK
nationals in Cyprus who have applied for a renewed passport will have to await
the lifting of these measures in order to obtain their UK passport.
Passport
applications are completed on-line. Here is
the link
Applicants
should complete all the on-line steps to apply for their passport and then
await its arrival when international postal flights begin again.
- Should a UK national have to leave his/her
home for necessary movement, such as defined by the Cyprus government here
and their passport has expired, then the expired passport and a copy of
the application for a renewed passport will suffice to show to the Cyprus
police if they are stopped and their identification documents checked.
- Driving Licenses
The process of exchanging a UK driving
license for a Cyprus driving license is currently not deemed an essential
service so as to justify movement.
UK
nationals are advised not to undertake unnecessary movement for their
protection. This
includes optician and doctor appointments for the purpose of driving license
exchange or renewal. Visiting the Road Transport Authority or making any
non-vital appointments for health and eye-sight checks for the purpose of
driving licenses should be left for a later stage when the restrictions of
movement have been lifted.
