Filenews 10 April 2025 - by Vasos Vasiliou
The number of third-country nationals whose residence permit has expired and continue to reside in Cyprus is unknown. Literally chaos prevails.
The fact that there is no electronic connection of all the services involved, as well as the fact that various services are involved in the whole process, create the image of an ungoverned state on this issue.
The reference of the Assistant Chief of Police for border protection to the Audit Service is characteristic: "... The migration issue is impossible to map and depict accurately, on the basis of the variability and the parameters that affect it, and cannot be predicted or weighted in such a way that there are clear, measurable and objective indicators that give the complete and real picture. With regard to the total number of third-country nationals (T.T.S.) illegally residing in the territory of the Republic, the methodology used for the calculation (approximately 13,000) is closer to reality, despite the fact that this number is subjective in the sense that there is no clear picture and no way of accurately identifying."
The issue of the number of third-country nationals illegally residing in Cyprus was of great concern to the public on the occasion of a relevant report by the Audit Service, which indicated that approximately 290,000 third-country nationals (non-European) have entered the Republic of Cyprus legally but do not seem to have left.
How did the Audit Service conclude that there may be up to 290,000 third-country nationals in Cyprus who did not leave Cyprus when their residence permit expired?
As can be seen from a relevant excerpt of the report, the Audit Service requested information from the Police as to the number of persons who initially entered the Republic of Cyprus through the legal entry/exit points and then violated the conditions of their residence permit.
The Audit Service requested data on arrivals for the period 1.1.2014-31.12.2023 who do not appear to have departed from Cyprus. It had also made it clear that the search should not include EU Member States.
According to the search carried out by the Informatics Department of the Police Headquarters, in the database of the Central Police Information System (CPCS), the total number of TCNs, whose arrival in the RC remained "open", amounted to 289,599.
As stated in the report, from further investigation, in cooperation with Police officers as well as with a Senior Officer of the Migration Department, it emerged that the result of 289,599 "open" arrivals does not represent all illegally residing TCNs in the Republic of Cyprus, as it may include persons who:
(i) Departed from the Republic of Cyprus (CC) by presenting a different travel document during passport control than the corresponding one they presented upon arrival (e.g. they were nationals with dual citizenship, use of passport and identity card, use of Laissez – passer or Travel Document).
(ii) During their legal stay in the RC, they have taken steps to renew their residence permit.
(iii) After their arrival in the Republic of Cyprus, they submitted a request for international protection which was either approved or is still being examined.
(iv) During their legal stay in the Republic of Cyprus they married a European citizen.
(v) They arrived in the Republic of Cyprus with a third country passport and subsequently naturalized as Cypriot citizens.
(vi) During their normal stay in the RC, they died.
In order to identify individuals who may fall into the above cases, the Audit Service has proceeded to further investigation/search for data in the databases of other state Services.
For this purpose, the Audit Service requested the Police to provide them with the corresponding numbers of travel documents, as well as their country of issue, for the total of 289,599 cases.
From the processing of the above data, by specialized personnel of the TYP, in the database of the information system of the Department of Migration (ARS), the following results emerged:
♦ A total of 288,802 security document numbers were identified in conjunction with their country of issue. Of these, entries in the ARS system were identified for 70,524 cases (24%), of which:
♦ 39,081 cases concerned requests for the issuance of a residence permit or an entry permit to the Republic of Cyprus, which were either approved or were in the process of being examined.
♦ 3,835 cases concerned approved naturalizations of foreigners or naturalization requests that were in the process of being examined.
In other words, the above 42,916 cases concern either persons whose applications were approved, or persons whose applications were pending for examination.
Of the remaining 27,974 cases, 5,622 persons have applied for international protection, of which 5,126 (91%) relate to final rejection decisions. These remain illegally in the Republic of Cyprus.
27,478 third-country nationals illegally residing in the Republic
As it emerges (from data from the Audit Service) from the total of 27,974 cases (as shown above), only 496 are justified in staying in the CC, while the remaining 27,478 cases concern third-country nationals residing illegally.
For the remaining 218,278 third-country nationals (out of a total of 289,599 who had previously entered the Republic legally) it was found that:
The 181,648 (83%) cases of third-country nationals show Great Britain (74,947), Russia (63,802), Israel (16,429), the USA (9,727), Ukraine (6,830) and Australia (5,250) as the country of issue of their travel document.
Among them, a significant number of cases were identified, with countries issuing a travel document, India, the Philippines, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Vietnam, Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Somalia and Afghanistan, for which tourist permits to enter the Republic of Cyprus were issued to the TCNs.
Of course, the fact that the majority of the above come from Britain, Russia, Israel, the USA and so on, does not differentiate the fact that they are citizens of third countries, nor the fact that they appear not to have left Cyprus, regardless of the fact that many of us consider citizens of third countries mainly Africans and Asians.
So what happened to the above? The Audit Service selected a sample of 250 nationals from Australia, Israel, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, and 60 cases of nationals of Asian and African countries and requested information on the reason for their arrival in Cyprus, as they themselves stated.
From data provided by the Police, it emerged that, out of a total of 250 cases, 198 cases (79%) of the sample, concern people who entered the Republic as visitors (tourist visa) and although its duration has passed, they do not seem to have left the Republic and their stay is not justified by the reasons cited by the Police as a reason (e.g. departure with a different travel document, passage through barricades, British Bases personnel).
Of the 60 cases of nationals of Asian and African countries that were selected, the Police informed the Audit Service that for 27 the reason for staying in Cyprus is holders of Cypriot citizenship, staff of the British Bases and their dependents, seafarers in correspondence, holders of more than one passport, while for another 21 cases the Police reported that they acquired an ARC.
