We are sharing for readers who are seeking the latest facts and information with the approval of the BRS, news recently provided by the British Residents’ Society to their members.
LATEST UPDATES – TRAVEL
CHANGES TO RoC ENTRY REGULATIONS – 1st OCTOBER
Following a meeting today with the British High Commissioner, BHC Consular and Political teams regarding changes to the status of UK citizens entering or leaving the RoC, we have been informed of the following.
The ‘Republic of Cyprus Immigration Regulations’ will change on 1st October and if you have not previously left the RoC within 90-days of your last ENTRY stamp, by that date AND do not have a legal EXIT stamp showing that you left prior to that date, then you could be viewed as ‘overstaying your visa’ and NOT BE ALLOWED to re-enter the RoC via Larnaca, Paphos or Limassol.
We have been told that after this date a ‘STOP‘ could be put on the travellers passport which would effectively mean that they COULD be refused entry into the RoC for a period of time
Currently there is no indication as to the length of this ‘ban’ but it is believed it would be for the duration of 180-days (as per the 90/180 rules).
We have also told that there will be NO central record which could be searched to see if your passport has a stop on it.
This will NOT affect those UK citizens who arrive in the RoC after the implementation date of any new regulations and are given a dated entry stamp, who intend to leave the same way WITHIN 90-days. It will not affect those persons who wish to enter the TRNC to visit friends or family.
For those members who live in the TRNC this effectively means that if after the 30th September you do not have a correct previous EXIT stamp in your passport you will not be able to enter the RoC via their air or seaports but will need to use Ercan via Turkey to travel. This is now possible due to TURKEY being moved to the UK’s AMBER list. (See Members/Travel on the website)
GREEN LINE REGULATIONS
As we have previously reported having crossed the Green Line your passport WILL BE ‘scanned’ and you will then have a 90-day ‘visa’ during which time you will be able cross the Green Line as many times as you wish until your 90-days has expired.
You MUST then wait another 90-days before you will be able to cross the Green Line into the RoC. You can then receive another 90-day ‘visa’ and so on.
There are FOUR exemptions to the ’90-day exclusion rule’ these are
- To work (requires RoC Work Permit)
- To receive Medical Treatment (requires documentation from an RoC Hospital/Clinic)
- Education (requires the relevant documentation from the school, College or University) and
- For humanitarian reasons (requires prior permission from the RoC administration)
We need to stress that both of the above regulations affecting travel through the Republic of Cyprus are dependant on the correct application of the days spent being accurately recorded. It is the travellers responsibility to maintain a record of the days ‘used’ particularly in relation to the Green Line crossings.
It MUST also be remembered that should your 90-days have expired, and you subsequently decide to enter the RoC by one of the SBA crossings (Pila or Black Knight) and you are stopped by RoC Police you can be prosecuted.
GREEN LINE CROSSINGS PCR TEST EXEMPTIONS
The TRNC Ministry of Health have announced, that at the meeting of the joint Social Health Technical Committee on September 23, it was agreed to implement level 2, that is orange level, according to the epidemiological data of both sides.
Therefore, Ministry of Health announced that from Monday, September 27, 2021, fully vaccinated people will not be asked for a COVID-19 test at the inter-island border crossings.
Non-vaccinated people will be able to transition by producing a negative PCR or Antigen test results in the last 72 hours.
HOWEVER, TO BE ABSOLUTELY CLEAR YOU MUST NOTE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION PROVIDED TO THE BRS BY THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH
This exemption is for people living in Cyprus or who were in Cyprus within the last 10 days. People coming from abroad are not included in this group and will still be required to produce a negative PCR test within 72 hours of arrival at the TRNC, and this MUST be accompanied with the AdaPass Passenger form, which will be monitored when you enter the TRNC at a border crossing point.
ADAPASS CLARIFICATION
Any person entering the TRNC, whether in possession of an AdaPass or not MUST complete the TRNC Passenger Form on the following link https://adapass.gov.ct.tr/
Full details can be found on the website under the menu section ADAPASS. You will also find a pictorial guide there to assist.
UPDATING PASSPORT DETAILS
The process for updating passport details has changed, and an appointment is now NOT necessary.
You simply need to go to the Enquiry Office (which was the old Residency waiting room) and the change will be made.
BritBOT
We continue to update the information that is on our website from which the BritBOT is driven. When you use this OR login to the website to check information you will see a notation on the right of each section which states when the information was last updated.
This is so far proving to be a very popular option for members to navigate to the popular areas of the website.
Just go to the website. login and click on the BritBOT image to help you find answers to your questions. Should you need more information then go to the main pages using the Menu. If you still do not see what you need please click on the ‘Contact Us’ box and if we can see that certain information requires more detail we will update it.
Editor’s Note: BRS have an excellent members’ Facebook page which gives information and allows members to ask questions however Facebook is excellent for sharing of information but it is no more than a stream of information and BRS found many questions were being asked time and time again so the BRS team developed BRITBOT on their website where members could retrieve information published on many past subjects.
Readers wishing to learn more of the British Residents’ Society or registration as a member which can be started online please visit their website – https://brstrnc.com or https://brstrnc.com/regform.asp
