Russians dominate by state in terms of holding residence permits for third-country nationals in Cyprus, reaching 40,735 out of a total of 175,677 third-country nationals legally living in Cyprus. The numbers cover the period up to and including September 30, 2025.
The Russians are followed by the citizens of the United Kingdom with 16.279, Nepal with 15.607, India with 14.237, Syria with 12.868, China with 9.407, Sri Lanka with 8.895, the Philippines with 8.807, Ukraine with 6.172, Egypt with 4.860 while there are another 37.810 who come from other countries.
In addition to the above numbers given by the Deputy Minister of Migration, Mr. Nikolas Ioannidis, presenting the budget of his ministry, more than 16,000 asylum applications are pending as well as 16,153 applications of holders of international protection status. It is noted that 70% of applications are rejected.
Based on these data, about 200,000 third-country nationals reside legally in Cyprus.
Another 6,500 cases are pending in the courts and of course there are those who live in Cyprus illegally.
According to the Deputy Minister, a total of 4.007 Syrians have left Cyprus since the day of the regime change in Syria.
In addition, 4,379 requests have been submitted by Syrians for the withdrawal of asylum applications.
As the Deputy Minister mentioned, 65% of the budget concerns regular expenses and 35% to development.
An amount of €7.11 million. development expenditure is related to the assumption of the responsibility of the unaccompanied minors. An amount of €17.3 million of development expenditure is related to the construction of infrastructure. An amount of €8 million of regular expenditure strengthens reimbursement policies.
Among the actions promoted by the Deputy Ministry are:
a. Commencement of digitization of procedures of the Immigration Department
b. Completion of a study for the determination of operational needs and announcement of a tender for the development of an integrated information system for the management of TCNs (RECAMAS) – tender evaluation stage.
c. Award of a tender and start of project implementation for the issuance of security documents (residence permits, passports, identity cards), in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior. The project includes upgraded biometric capture systems, public key infrastructure, a new generation of documents with enhanced security standards.
d. Launch of a European Blue Card, which gives the right to highly qualified Third Country Nationals (TCNs) to work and reside in the Republic.
e. Commencement of the implementation of the Visitor Scheme, which allows TCNs to reside in the Republic for the purpose of attending approved training programs in Maritime Training Schools and Aviation Training Organizations.
