Filenews 26 August 2023
The Ministries of Labor and Interior are launching strikes against illegal employment, launching a two-month targeted campaign.
In a joint statement, they say that the aim is to combat the illegal employment of people from third countries, which also facilitates illegal immigration. The checks start next Monday, while already in inspections in specific areas of work during the quarter of May – July 2023, 1,525 checks have been carried out and 83 cases of illegal employment of third-country nationals have been detected.
The checks will be carried out in coordination with both the Civil Registry and Migration Department and the Asylum Service of the Ministry of Interior, as well as with other involved services, such as the Aliens and Immigration Service of the Cyprus Police. The launch of this campaign, based on the instructions of the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, was decided at a meeting between the Ministers of Interior and Labour and Social Insurance, Constantinos Ioannou and Yiannis Panagiotou, held in the presence of executives and officials of the Ministries.
During the meeting, it was agreed to strengthen the coordination of the two Ministries, as well as to improve the process of exchanging information in order to carry out more effective and direct controls and on the other hand the procedure for imposing criminal and administrative sanctions on employers and third-country nationals, where cases of illegal employment are detected, while it was also decided that the results of the inspections will be announced every month.
The Ministries recall that according to the provisions of the legislation on Aliens and Immigration, the employment of a foreigner without the required by law or the employment in violation of the terms of the employment permit or the employment in violation of any other law or regulation, constitutes an offense punishable by imprisonment of up to 5 years and/or a fine of up to €20,000.
In addition, the legislation provides for the imposition of an administrative fine of up to €1,500 (which reaches up to €3,000 in case of any subsequent violation), as well as the deprivation of the right to employ a third-country national to employers who violate the law.
Also, according to the Refugee Law, an employer who employs an applicant for international protection in violation of the law, commits a criminal offense and is subject to imprisonment of up to 3 years and/or a fine of up to €8,000. Infringing third-country nationals will be subject to the provisions laid down in the aforementioned legislation, with sanctions including, inter alia, imprisonment and/or a fine.
