Filenews 24 June 2023 - by Fanis Makrides
Cyprus was repeatedly used as a stepping stone for foreign workers and domestic workers to move to Portugal with the ultimate goal of acquiring European citizenship.
As revealed by "F" last Wednesday, the Police took emergency measures at the barricades, as there was an escalation of the phenomenon of third-country nationals escaping from Cyprus, after the latter obtained a residence permit on our island.
Our latest and secure information indicates that the deterioration of the situation is directly linked to the existing naturalization regime in Portugal. In particular, according to a policy of the current government of the Iberian country, a foreign person can apply for citizenship if he has completed five years in that state.
This is exactly what seems to have led mainly people of Asian origin to leave the areas controlled by the Republic of Cyprus by fraudulent means, a few months after obtaining a work permit on our island.
In fact, there is irrefutable evidence for this phenomenon. Specifically, at the Embassy of Cyprus in Portugal there was a rapid increase in requests from third country nationals to obtain certificates from the Republic of Cyprus.
These foreigners fled illegally from the occupied areas with a Cypriot residence permit and then ended up in Portugal. They addressed our embassy in Lisbon with various requests, such as obtaining a certificate of good conduct from the Cyprus Police. They wanted, in other words, to certify that they had no criminal record in their attempt to settle permanently in Portugal.
In the first five months of 2023, requests to the Cypriot embassy compared to the corresponding period of 2022, showed a fourfold increase. However, reports indicate that since the beginning of this month, measures have been taken by the diplomatic corps to deal with the phenomenon.
The services of the Republic had been duly informed about this whole situation. Besides, as we wrote in last Wednesday's report, the Cyprus Police came to an understanding with the Civil Registry and Migration Department to address the situation. The police force finally decided to block the residence permits of foreigners crossing into the occupied areas. On June 14, instructions were given to police officers performing duties at the barricades.
We remind you that foreign persons who crossed into the occupied areas through barricades never returned. In most cases, as soon as they passed through the barricades in the non-Republic-controlled areas, they went to the illegal airport of Tymbou and boarded flights to Istanbul airport. From there, they took a plane to European Union member states. Their effort was facilitated by the fact that they held a residence permit in the Republic of Cyprus.
The issue has many dimensions. This is because national employers had incurred large expenses for arranging the employment of these persons in Cyprus, but they were victims of fraud, resulting in relatively large financial expenditure, without any return. In fact, it has been stressed that the phenomenon placed a heavy burden on public services. There was talk, in particular, of administrative burdens shouldered by state services, but also by the Cyprus Police.
