Cyprus Category F Visa

The Cyprus Category F visa is a permanent residence permit for a third-country national who can live in Cyprus on a secured annual income from abroad of at least €9,568 without working here. No investment is required, and a rental agreement satisfies the accommodation document.

• Secured annual income from abroad of at least €9,568, raised by at least €4,613 for each dependent.
• Income from pensions, dividends on shares, interest on fixed deposits, rents and similar sources.
• No property purchase. A rental agreement is accepted in place of a title of ownership.
• A government fee of €500 for everyone named in the application, plus €70 for each person entering the Aliens' Registry for the first time.
• The residence right has unlimited validity. The card carrying it is replaced after ten years.
• The holder cannot work in Cyprus.

This page covers Category F on its own. For the other routes to a permanent residence permit, including the fast-track investment permit, read our guide to Cyprus permanent residency.

The Migration Department does not publish a target examination time for a Category F application. The nine-month rule quoted elsewhere belongs to a different set of applications, those made in the scope of family reunification, and it does not apply to Immigration Permits. Applications are filed as usual, and the criteria are unchanged.

A pending application gives no right to stay in the Republic. Anyone waiting for a decision needs a valid visa or a temporary residence permit.

Cyprus Category F visa requirements

To qualify, the applicant must have at their disposal a secure annual income of at least €9,568, from abroad, increased by at least €4,613 for each dependent. The income can come from pensions, dividends on shares, interest on fixed deposits, rents and similar sources. Buying property in Cyprus is not part of the test; a rented home is sufficient.

The application requires a rental agreement for a property in Cyprus or a home the applicant owns, and a Cyprus bank account.

The applicant cannot work in Cyprus.

The income floor is not a living budget. Prices here run well above €9,568 a year for one person, and our figures on the true cost of retiring in Cyprus set out what a month actually costs.

Dependent persons

The Category F permanent residence can cover a spouse and children under 18 years old. The secured annual income is increased by €4,613 for each of them.

Only the spouse and children are covered as dependents. The applicant's parents are not.

Category F and retirement in Cyprus

Cyprus has no dedicated retirement visa. Category F is the permit that retired people use, because a foreign pension counts as secured annual income in exactly the way the Regulations describe, and the bar on working in Cyprus costs a pensioner nothing.

A couple living on pensions needs €14,181 a year between them, which is €9,568 for the applicant and €4,613 for the spouse. How that pension is taxed once you move is a separate question, and it turns on Cyprus tax residency rather than on the permit.

The temporary alternative is the Pink Slip, renewed yearly, which suits anyone who wants to test the island before committing. Our guides to retiring to Cyprus and the pros and cons of retiring here cover the rest of the move.

What a Category F permit does not give you

Category F answers one question, which is where you are allowed to live. It leaves four others open.

• No right to work. Taking a job or running a business in Cyprus needs a different permit, and the Cyprus work permit is the usual route.
• No visa-free travel inside the EU. Cyprus is outside the Schengen area, so the permit does not open the border the way a Schengen residence card does. The country-by-country position is on our page about travel with a Cyprus residence permit.
• No citizenship. Naturalisation runs on its own timetable and its own conditions, set out in our guide on how to get Cyprus citizenship.
• No automatic change of tax position. Immigration status and Cyprus tax residency are decided separately, by days spent here rather than by the permit in your passport.

How long the permit lasts

The residence right granted under Category F has unlimited validity.

The card that carries it expires ten years after issue and is replaced then.

For underage dependents, the permit is valid until they reach the age of 18.

What Category F costs

The government charges €500 for the application, covering every person named in it.

A further €70 is charged for each person in the application who is not yet entered in the Aliens' Registry. It is a one-off registration fee, paid the first time a person applies for any Cyprus residence permit, and it produces the Aliens Registration Certificate with its ARC number.

Anyone who already holds an Aliens Registration Certificate from an earlier permit pays nothing further for it. The €70 is not charged again when the residence permit card is replaced after ten years.

Take a family of four, two parents and two children under 18, none of whom has held a Cyprus permit before. They pay €500 plus four times €70, so €780 in government fees at submission.

Two other amounts belong in the budget. Adding a family member to an approved permit later costs €50 for that person, plus €70 where they are entering the Aliens' Registry for the first time. And from 1 September 2026, the medical documents described below, along with their certification and translation, will be paid for by the applicant.

What documentation is required to apply?

The list comprises the following documents:

• Application form MIP2, taken from the Migration Department forms page (the current version is a Word file dated 9 March 2026);
• Copy of a valid passport of the applicant and their family members;
• Copy of a valid temporary residence permit (if the applicant is already resident in Cyprus);
• A brief CV;
• Original bank account statements from the Republic;
• Declaration of secured annual income: original documents and affidavit (sworn statement);
• Title of ownership or rental agreement, in original form or true copy;
• Where a property has been bought, and the title deed is not out yet, the deed of sale with proof of payment;
• Original criminal record certificate for the applicant and their spouse, duly certified and officially translated. An applicant living abroad has to obtain it from their country of residence;
• A marriage certificate (officially validated translation), original or authentic copy, and
• Children's birth certificate (officially validated translation), original or authentic copy.

A link to the documents required and other details can be found here: Immigration Permits - Migration Department - gov.cy.

From 1 September 2026, the Migration Department asks for medical documents with every Category A to F application. These are original blood test results taken abroad showing that the applicant and each dependent is free of hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV and syphilis, and an original chest X-ray for tuberculosis screening issued in the country of origin or the last country of lawful residence.

The medical documents must be certified or legalised, except where a bilateral agreement between Cyprus and the issuing state removes that requirement. An applicant who already holds a Cyprus temporary residence permit and filed the same tests for it, with the results still on file, does not need to repeat them.

The documents should be in Greek or English. If they are in another language, a certified translation must accompany the originals.

All foreign documents must have the Apostille stamp.

Documents from countries that are not members of the Apostille Convention require certification by an embassy or consulate.

Apostille Convention means the Apostille Hague Convention of 5 October 1961. The members or signatories recognise the validity of documents bearing the Apostille verification.

To check whether your country has joined the Apostille Convention, see the status table published by the Hague Conference on Private International Law at hcch.net.

Submission and examination procedure

The application goes to the Migration Department headquarters in Nicosia. Immigration Permit applications are examined only there. The applicant files in person or through a legal or other authorised representative appointed by proxy.

An applicant living outside the Nicosia district is served at headquarters only through a representative whose professional office is in Nicosia. Anyone else arranges an appointment with the district unit of the Aliens and Immigration Service in their own district.

Every required document has to accompany the application. One that arrives without them all is not considered. Any change to the applicant's details during the examination must be reported to the Department immediately.

Biometric data (photograph and fingerprints) and a signature are taken on presentation of the application submission receipt and a valid travel document. This can happen at submission, or at any point afterwards, including after the file has been examined.

Two places take them: the Migration Department offices in Nicosia and the district unit of the Aliens and Immigration Service of the Police for the district where the applicant lives. For a person who has not reached the age of six at the time of submission, only the photograph is taken.

The Immigration Control Committee examines the file and makes a recommendation. The Deputy Minister of Migration and International Protection decides whether to grant the permit. Approval or rejection comes by letter, and a rejection letter gives the reasons.

Visa conditions and cancellation

There are further requirements concerning the Category F Cyprus permanent residence permit, as follows:

• The applicant and their family must have a clean criminal record.
• The only family members covered by the permit are spouses and children under 18.
• An applicant residing outside Cyprus, with their dependents, must obtain residence in Cyprus within one year of the application being approved.
• The permit will only be handed to the applicant or their legal or authorised representatives.

An Immigration Permit ceases to be valid if the holder is absent from Cyprus for two years or acquires permanent residence in another country. The same follows where the holder was residing outside Cyprus and did not acquire residence here within one year of the approval.

What happens after approval

The decision arrives by letter. Where biometric data has not yet been captured, the applicant and their family members provide it before the permit and the Aliens Registration Certificate are issued.

The certificate carries the ARC number, which Cyprus uses as the identifier for a foreign resident in dealings with banks, the tax authorities, the health system and the Migration Department itself. Our page on the ARC number in Cyprus explains where it appears and what it is used for.

The permit itself does not expire. The card is replaced ten years after issue, and the €70 registration fee does not come round again with it.

A spouse or child can be added to an approved permit later. That runs on form MIP2 with the dependent's passport copy, the holder's declaration of secured annual income, the spouse's criminal record certificate, and the marriage and birth certificates, at €50 for that person, plus €70 if they are entering the Aliens' Registry for the first time.

Our Cyprus immigration lawyers prepare and file Category F applications, appear at the Migration Department by proxy, handle the certification and translation of foreign documents, and add family members to a permit once it is granted. The first consultation is free.