CYPRUS RESIDENCY - Yellow paper slip
Many still have the yellow paper residency documentation. Please note that despite rumours to the contrary, these remain valid until AUGUST 2026.
By August 2026, you will be required to convert this document to a biometric residency card.
However, please note that if you intend to travel in Europe from 2025 onwards, if you do not have biometric residency you will be required to obtain an ETIAS [online, valid for 3 years or till expiry date of your passport whichever comes first] At time of writing, the fee for this will be around €7 per person, but FREE to those over the age of 70. The inception date of ETIAS keeps being deferred, so there is no actual firm start date for this to apply.
To convert your paper residency to biometric will incur a fee of around €30pp and your residency will then have a 10 year validity period. There are Government plans to transfer some of the Immigration work to the Citizens Advice Centre for those with established residency and further information will be provided in due course. This should ensure that the procedure is much simpler and less time-consuming than at present!
