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 24th October 2022.
Immigration update 24th October 2022
Please see the following update from our legal representatives concerning clarification on the financial requirements for residency.
“Further to our meeting, we are writing you this email to clarify the matter with regard to the format of the bank statements (either issued by local or foreign banks) required for residence permit applications.
Recently, the TRNC Immigration Department at the Ministry of Interior introduced sudden and unannounced requirements regarding the bank statement that would satisfy the requirement to obtain a residence permit in the TRNC.
Mostly, the changes to the bank statement requirements concern the residence permit based on high income. The residence permit on high income can be granted to those foreigners who do not own an immovable property in TRNC but can prove that they have a sufficient amount of money.
Thus, everyone who can show the rental agreement and the bank statement which matches or exceeds the required amount is entitled to obtain a residence permit.
However, it was brought to the attention of the Immigration Department, that some foreigners have been providing the Immigration Department with the bank statement as the proof of funds and once the residence permit was obtained, the funds would disappear from their bank accounts.
Therefore, in order to discourage such a behaviour and ensure that the required amount was not recently transferred to the applicant’s bank account by a third party for the purpose of obtaining a residence permit only, the Immigration Department decided to reject the applications with bank statements that only state the current balance.
In this respect, when applying for a residence permit (especially for the residence permit based on high income), the following should be demonstrated to the authorities:
If the applicant has savings, a copy of the bank statement for at least the last 3 months showing the existence of the funds in the applicant’s account should be provided;
If the applicant receives the pension, salary or any other steady flow of income that matches the required amount, the bank statement should be provided for the last 3-6 months.
It has to be shown that the applicant’s bank account is active and the applicant uses the bank account often;
Financial transactions have to appear in the bank statement.
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
