Cyprus work permit for non-EU staff: what the employer files

A Cyprus company registered as a company of foreign interests can hire third-country nationals without proving that no local candidate was available. This page is written for the employer doing the hiring: what goes in the file, what it costs, how long the department takes, and what happens at renewal.

Registration of the company itself is a separate step and comes first. It runs through the Business Support Center, and our page on the Cyprus Business Facilitation Unit covers the eligibility categories, the €200,000 and the ten-day decision.

Key takeaways

For a company on the register of companies of foreign interests, these points decide most files.

• The BFU route removes the labour market test for a company's highly paid non-EU staff: at least €2,500 a month gross and a contract of at least two years. A relevant degree or two years of relevant experience is needed too.
• The Migration Department's target for a duly completed application is one month. The legal limit is four months.
• The permit follows the employment contract and can run up to three consecutive years. A highly paid employee may stay without a time limit for as long as the permit is valid.
• First applications go in at the department's headquarters in Nicosia. Renewals with the same employer can be filed online, and from 1 January 2027 only online.
• The rules come from the Aliens and Immigration Law, Cap. 105, and the Council of Ministers' strategy for attracting companies, in force since 2 January 2022.

The labour market test, and when it does not apply

Outside this route, and for this route's support staff paid under €2,500, a permit to employ a third-country national depends on the Department of Labour finding that no Cypriot or EU citizen is available for the post. The application goes first to the District Labour Office, which checks the criteria, and the employer publishes the vacancy in the daily newspapers through the office's employment services.

Only where no Cypriot or EU citizen is available and able to fill the post does the employer file the application to employ a foreign worker. The Department of Labour's headquarters decides. With a positive recommendation letter, the employer takes the employment contracts, approved and sealed by the Department of Labour, to the Migration Department, which issues the permit.

A company of foreign interests skips all of that for its highly paid staff. Support staff do not skip it.

The 30% commitment

The strategy that lifts the test cancels quotas for foreign staff, and in return every company commits to having Cypriot or EU citizens make up 30% of its total staff over five years.

After 2 January 2027 the ratio for new hires is checked. A company that does not keep to 70:30 has its case assessed on its own merits and put to the department's management for an administrative decision.

Who you can hire on this route

The employee has to meet four conditions:

• A gross monthly salary of at least €2,500. Employees who already hold a Key Personnel permit on at least €2,000 a month can renew with the same employer on that salary until 31 December 2026.
• Relevant academic qualifications, or at least two years of experience relevant to the position being filled. One of the two is enough, and the department accepts either.
• An employment contract running at least two years, duly signed. A permit for one year still needs a contract of two.
• Where the contract covers a regulated profession, documents showing that the conditions Cypriot law sets for practising it are met.

Anyone paid below €2,500 a month is support staff. The labour market test, the sealed contract from the Department of Labour and the general restrictions on employing third-country nationals all apply to them, and entry is allowed only with an entry permit.

The old Director, Key Personnel and Specialist labels survive for the department's records. They no longer decide who qualifies, because the salary does.

The documents, before and after arrival

The Migration Department publishes one checklist for this route, split by what the employee is applying for. Its forms page carries the application, form BCS, whose file is named MBCS4, and these documents:

• the supporting documents checklist;
• the employer's declaration on honour to cover the cost of returning the employee;
• the authorisation of representative, for a file submitted through a representative;
• the declaration of mailing address;
• the company checklist.

Every document goes in in Greek or English, or with a certified translation into one of the two.

Public documents issued abroad need ratification. Where the issuing country has signed the 1961 Hague Convention, that means an apostille. Where it has not, the document needs diplomatic certification, which starts with that country's foreign ministry and runs through the Cyprus embassy or consulate there to the Cyprus Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Documents issued in Russia or Serbia need no apostille or other certification under bilateral agreements, provided they are properly signed and carry the official seal of the authority that issued them.

Before the employee arrives

For an entry permit, which the employer applies for:

• A copy of a valid passport or other travel document. It must stay valid at least six months beyond the permit applied for, and twelve months in any case.
• A short CV, with copies of academic qualifications or evidence of at least two years of relevant professional experience.
• A copy of the employment contract, of at least two years' duration, duly signed.
• A declaration by the employer covering the cost of returning the employee to their country.
• An original criminal record certificate from the country of origin, or from the country of residence where the applicant lives elsewhere. It needs ratification, except where a bilateral agreement provides otherwise.
• Original medical test results showing the employee is free of HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B and C, and tuberculosis by chest x-ray. Ratification applies here too.

After the employee arrives

For registration in the Aliens' Register and the first temporary residence and employment permit:

• The original entry permit, form M70, where the employee entered on one.
• A copy of the passport page showing the latest arrival in the Republic. The original passport is presented at submission for verification.
• The original employment contract, of at least two years, duly signed, plus two copies.
• Original results of medical tests performed in Cyprus and certified by a specialised doctor here.
• A title deed or rental agreement for the employee's house or apartment.
• A valid health insurance certificate for inpatient and outpatient care and the transport of remains, on Plan A and automatically renewable, or a registration certificate in GESY with private cover.
• Employer's liability insurance with automatic renewal.

The same checklist has separate lists for an employee already in Cyprus who changes status from visitor, which needs a letter explaining why, for renewal, and for renewal after a change of employer, which needs the previous employer's letter ending the employment. Both renewal lists ask for the employee's statement of insurable earnings from the Social Insurance Services and the tax return pages for the previous year.

How the application runs

A highly paid employee may enter Cyprus on a visa from the consular authorities of the Republic abroad, or on an entry permit issued by the Migration Department on the employer's application. The employer applies for it on the same form BCS, and the permit issued is known as form M70. Support staff enter only on an entry permit.

Biometric data, meaning a photograph and fingerprints, and the employee's signature are given in person with the payment receipt and a valid travel document. Where the employee is already in Cyprus, form BCS asks for them to be present when the application is submitted. The department's procedure page allows biometrics to be given at submission or shortly after, at the District Immigration Unit of the Cyprus Police for the district where the employee lives. Renewal needs biometrics again.

Approval brings a notice to collect the permit. A refusal comes as a letter setting out the reasons.

Renewals move online

A renewal with the same employer can be filed online on gov.cy from 90 to 30 days before the permit expires, by the employee or the employer, with a verified CY Login account. An authorised representative such as a law firm can file it too.

From 1 January 2027 these renewals go in only online, and the department's service points stop taking them in person.

The online service does not cover first applications or a renewal after a change of employer. Biometrics and the signature are still given in person.

Leaving Cyprus and re-entry

An employee who leaves Cyprus with an application still pending can re-enter on the payment receipt for the fees, which carries the Migration Department's stamp allowing re-entry.

A lost receipt means asking the department for a re-entry permit before leaving, which as a rule is granted only for serious reasons, such as medical ones. With a valid permit in hand, re-entry needs the permit and a valid passport, provided the absence has not run past three months.

Fees

Two of the Migration Department's fees on this route are lower than on general employment, and first registration costs the same.

• Entry permit and residence permit valid one to three years: €70.
• Issue or renewal of a residence permit valid one to three years: €80.
• First registration in the Aliens' Register: €70.
• Stamp duty: none on an employment contract or a rental agreement signed on or after 1 January 2026. For a document signed before 2026, the duty due under the old rules is paid to the Tax Department before the file goes in.

How long the permit lasts

The permit follows the length of the employment contract and can run up to three consecutive years. It is renewable.

A highly paid employee of a company of foreign interests may reside in Cyprus without a time limit, as long as they hold a valid temporary residence and employment permit. Support staff fall under the general restrictions on third-country nationals instead.

After five years of lawful residence an employee can look at long-term resident status, which does not depend on the employer.

Changing employer

A highly paid employee may move to another company of foreign interests at any point, whatever the length of stay, provided the new job starts within one month of the previous one ending and the new employer is itself on the register.

Moving to an employer that is not a company of foreign interests is possible too, but only before the maximum duration of stay for the category the employee is moving into has been reached, and only where the conditions of that category are met.

Family and dependants

The employee sponsors the family's application to the Migration Department. The spouse and minor children can join, including adopted children and children of either partner where that parent has sole custody and the child depends on them.

The marriage must have taken place at least one year before the application goes in, and the spouse must be 21 or over. Family reunification normally asks the sponsor to have lived in Cyprus legally for two years, and the department's director may waive that where the sponsor works for a company approved to employ foreign staff.

The sponsor still needs suitable housing and stable, regular resources. Sickness insurance has to cover the whole family.

The spouse's access to work

The spouse or civil partner of a highly paid employee gets free access to paid employment, with no sealed contract from the Department of Labour, where the conditions for a single employment permit are met. That access covers employment by a Cypriot company. It does not extend to self-employment.

The route to Cyprus citizenship

Employment at a qualifying company shortens naturalisation. The ordinary route asks for eight years of residence. On this one the employee can apply after four years in total holding a B1 certificate in Greek, or five years in total with A2, counting twelve continuous months of residence immediately before the application.

Two more conditions sit alongside the language certificate: at least two years of employment at a qualifying company, and a pass in the state examination on the political and social reality of Cyprus. The periods and the paperwork are on our page about how to get Cyprus citizenship.

Tax relief for staff

Highly paid staff moving to Cyprus may qualify for a 50% income tax exemption on their pay. It applies to a person who was not resident in Cyprus for at least 15 consecutive years before taking up a first employment here on or after 1 January 2022.

A first employment means the first paid work in Cyprus after at least 15 consecutive tax years without any.

The exemption runs for up to 17 tax years and turns on pay above €55,000 a year. Our guide to the Cyprus tax system and rates in 2026 sets out the full conditions and the company's own reliefs.

When this route does not fit

A company that is not on the register goes through general employment.

The Department of Labour first checks the labour market, as set out above, and approves and seals the employment contract. A registered company's support staff, paid under €2,500, go through the same test and need a sealed contract, and the general limits on length of stay apply to them.

The general employment procedure

On general employment a third-country national entering Cyprus for work needs an entry permit, whatever the employer and the job, apart from groups such as athletes and priests, who can enter on a visa.

The application goes in at the Migration Department in Nicosia. The fees are €120 for an entry permit with a residence and work permit and €130 for the issue or renewal of a residence and work permit. First registration in the Aliens' Register costs €70.

The department completes the examination of a complete application within four months. A permit runs up to three consecutive years, and the total stay for employment is capped at four years, with exceptions such as athletes and coaches and farming and agricultural workers. The rules on notice, pay and leave under the contract are in our note on employment and labour law in Cyprus.

EU staff and the EU Blue Card

Staff who are EU nationals use none of this and register on a yellow slip.

For highly qualified non-EU staff at a company that is not on the register, the EU Blue Card is the alternative, for jobs in information and communication technology or pharmaceutical research at a gross salary of at least €43,632 a year. Shipping jobs qualify too, other than captains and crew.