Cyprus Mail 3 March 2025 - by Tom Cleaver
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| Societal reasons rather than economic incentives are the main causes of Cypriots abroad not coming back |
While Christodoulides may offer tax breaks, Cypriots abroad want to see societal change before moving back home
‘A brain gain rather than a brain drain’ was what President Nikos Christodoulides promised last week when announcing plans to visit London in May with the aim of persuading Cypriots based in the United Kingdom to return to the island.
In what may be a no-holds-barred effort to turn the tide of young Cypriots fleeing the nest and building lives abroad, he said he would present in London an “attractive package for their return to Cyprus”.
Further details were few and far between, and no one from the Cypriot government could be reached by the Cyprus Mail to elaborate on Christodoulides’ announcement, but previous comments about his plans for the year may provide some insight into what is coming.
In an interview with newspaper Fileleftheros at the end of last year, he said he was working on a plan to go abroad and woo Cypriots back to the island, “following the example set by Greece” in recent years.
In saying this, he was likely referring to his long-time ally Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ sizeable tax offering for Greeks returning to the country from abroad.
Mitsotakis had in 2020 announced that Greeks abroad who return to Greece for work would only pay 50 per cent of their income tax for their first seven years, saying at the time he had offered the tax break “to attract human capital, which we need, to our homeland”.
Four and a half years later, last November, he declared victory, telling a European People’s Party conference that 300,000 Greeks abroad have returned to the country since the tax break was introduced.
If true, it could mean that as much as one in 15 working-age people in Greece right now was persuaded back to the country by Mitsotakis’ tax plans.
In Cyprus, things are not yet so clear thus far. The Cypriot high commission in London told the Cyprus Mail that while the date is now in the diary, details of what will be offered and how are yet to be disclosed.
However, Cypriots in the UK who spoke to the Cyprus Mail suggested that it will take more than just a tax break for them to be persuaded back to the island, with many citing societal issues as reasons for their leaving and their lack of desire to return.
One man in his 20s, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said, “most of the reason I wanted to get out is because of being gay”.
“That’s the main reason for coming to the UK because my sister was in uni in 2013 in London and I went to visit her and it’s the first time I kind of felt free to express myself,” he added.
He now lives in Sheffield, having initially travelled there for university and stayed after graduating.
“It was the most affordable and most liberal place out of my choices. It was lovely, the community here is great. It’s a relatively small city so it kind of felt like home from the second year onwards,” he said.
There were also economic reasons behind the man’s wish to remain in Yorkshire over Cyprus.
“Aside from being gay and the whole freedom of expression aspect, I think the UK is a lot more prosperous for employment. Wages in Cyprus are f*cked, rents are extortionate, and I don’t want to be in a society where I don’t feel free to be who I am and express myself the way I want to,” he said.
He also criticised Cypriot nepotism, saying, “the easiest way to get a job in Cyprus is basically just pulling the strings and calling every family member you have to get you a job at whatever ministry, and I didn’t want do that”.
Marina Ioannou, an English language graduate who lives in Lancaster, similarly stressed the cultural rather than the economical reasons behind her decision to live in the UK.
“After I graduated, I chose to live and work here because I enjoy being free and independent in a place that is not as judgemental as Cyprus,” she said.
She also referenced the fact that she too is now in a relationship with an English person, but said her main reason behind choosing the UK over Cyprus was that “I always wanted to at least attempt to start my own life in the UK after university”.
Despite this aversion to coming home, however, she, too, emphasised that she had found in her current place of residence some of the characteristics of Cyprus she likes.
“Lancaster sometimes reminds me of the homey feeling of Cyprus but probably because it’s also a small, quiet and not overcrowded city, just with better vibes,” she said.
Asked what, if anything, would persuade her to return to the island, she said, there is nothing in particular which could, and once again stressed cultural rather than economic factors.
“I just don’t like the way a lot of people act there, how far behind we are and how closed-minded people can be. I have a fair amount of bad experiences there that hold me back from returning,” she said.
Singer Marilena Stefanou was the most likely of those to whom the Cyprus Mail spoke to consider returning, but even she said it would be unlikely now, in the spring of her career.
“Maybe one day in the future I will come back, but in these few years, I want to be in England to see more things. I would think about it, maybe in five, seven, or 10 years … well, I don’t think five, but later on down the line, if I wanted to settle and have a family, I would actually think about coming back,” she said.
She had said she had moved to Leeds as creative fields are “neglected” in Cyprus, which “did not have the requisite facilities for me to be able to develop in the field in which I wanted to study, in music”.
Asked what could persuade her to come back sooner, she said, “it’s not just the money”.
“It’s a combination of some different things: money, a creative community, the job market, opportunities, and growth.”
However, despite the reluctance to return, employers’ and industrialists’ federation (Oev) chairman Michalis Antoniou urged against extravagant overtures to lure them back.
“The package which is already on offer for Cypriots living abroad to persuade them to return is already very attractive. They already get some tax breaks, they are returning to a very good and strong economy, and this is a good place to live,” he said.
He pointed out that Cyprus has no form of inheritance tax, with the expansion of inheritance tax for landowners in the UK having caused a series of protests in London last year.
“I do not think there is a need for something new to be offered when [Christodoulides] goes to London in May. The offer which exists is already very attractive, already attractive enough. If someone is thinking about coming back, they will not just come to pay less tax.”
