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 on 12th October 2022.
CHANGES IN RESIDENCY PERMIT CRITERIA
We have recently been made aware of some changes in the criteria for Residency Permits, which we fully recognise may be worrying and cause some members concern.
We are urgently seeking an official meeting and very much needed additional information and clarity surrounding these changes, such as the implementation date, so please bear with us while we have that underway.
We appreciate that there will be questions that you may well wish to ask, but until such time as that meeting has taken place or an official response to the much-needed information that has already been requested, is received it is highly likely that it will be difficult for us to respond immediately.
The key major changes as we see them just at this particular moment in time are as follows,
1) The regulations no longer appear to identify an entitlement to a Residency Permit for applicants who either rent or lease property.
2) Foreign passport holders who reached the age of 60 prior to the 23rd of October 2019 and have been living in the TRNC since that date, without a Residency Permit, now have a period of one year to apply for a Residency Permit.
3) Applications for Residency Permits must now be submitted within 30 days of arrival, even though an Entry Visa may have been granted for a longer period of time upon arrival.
4) A renewal of an existing Residency Permit should be commenced no earlier than 60 days and no later than 20 days of the expiry date.
5) Applications (documents) now submitted at regional police immigration station appointments may take up to 10 days to be forwarded to the Immigration department in Lefkosa, from the regional police immigration station where the appointment took place, as an “opinion” whether it is appropriate or not to grant a residency permit is now taken and then accompanies that documentation.
6) There now appears to be no exemption for applicants aged 60 years or over needing to submit “a clean medical report” within their application.
7) A clean medical report must now be delivered to the department within 30 days of the date of the application. It is believed that the department being referred to is the Immigration Department in Lefkosa. The method of delivery is unclear, and or whether this must be done by a prior online appointment being made.
Applications for Immovable Property Residency Permits for the first three years will now only be issued for a maximum period of one year at a time. Thereafter as from the 4th application 2-year residency permits can be issued, but only if the applicant is in possession of Title Deeds in their name.
There now appears to be no exemption for applicants aged 60 years or over, being granted a Residency Permit outside of the above criteria.
Also, it does not clarify what entitlement to a Residency Permit an applicant may have from the 4th year onwards, say for example an application for a PTP allowing for a transfer of a Title Deed is refused by the military.
The regulations also do not identify any length of entitlement to a Residency Permit for applicants who either rent or lease property.
9) VERY KEY IMPORTANT CHANGE
If an applicant for an Immovable Property Residency Permit holds Title Deeds in their own name, then they will need to submit evidence of monthly income, equivalent to three (3) times the TRNC National Minimum Wage, currently 10,000TL per month, x 3 = 30,000TL ( approx. equivalent to £1,462)
If an applicant has not yet completed the purchase of a property but must be able to submit a receipt showing that a minimum of one-third 1/3 of the total purchase price has been paid, then they will also be required to prove proof of sufficient funds to complete the purchase.
10) There is no longer any reference to Savings and or Deposit accounts being able to be used as an alternative to a Current Account monthly income-based account.
11) A new class of Residency Permit is now available for applicants who can demonstrate a monthly income figure equivalent to five times (5) times the TRNC National Minimum Wage, currently 10,000TL per month, x 5 = 50,000TL (approx. equivalent to £2,438) How this new class of Residency Permit interacts with property ownership is not stated.
Please find enclosed a 9-page extract of the relevant area within Residency Permit regulations, which covers the changes.
May we stress once again the BRS fully recognises that the above may be worrying and cause some members concern. Please bear with us, until such time as we can seek urgent clarification and the missing detailed information that we need.
We will share any information that we get just as soon as we get it.
Please click here for the full document
Regards
BRS News
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
Discover more from CyprusScene.com
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
