ARC number in Cyprus

ARC stands for Alien Registration Certificate. The ARC number is the registration number Cyprus assigns to a foreign national who registers with the immigration authorities, similar to a citizen's ID number. People call it the alien registration number or ARC ID, and the Migration Department calls the document the Alien Registration Card.

The number confirms your identity and your entry in the Aliens' Register. EU citizens need it once they stay longer than three months, and non-EU nationals receive it with their first residence permit. The ARC is not a permit itself, but it is issued with one.

The ARC number and card are not issued independently. They will be issued along with your:

• Registration certificate (the yellow slip), if you are an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen, or
• Residence permit for third-country nationals. The residence permit can be either temporary (e.g., for students) or permanent (e.g., for investors).

Why do you need an ARC number in Cyprus?

You need the ARC number because Cyprus authorities use it to identify you: it is your unique number in the Aliens' Register. GeSY and Social Insurance use it too, and if you registered with Social Insurance on your passport, you add the ARC number to that record.

An EU, EEA or Swiss citizen who stays longer than three months applies within four months of arrival for a registration certificate, the yellow slip, and the ARC number comes with it. The right to live and work here comes from EU free movement law. The certificate records it.

A non-EU national who wants to stay beyond their visa or visa-free period applies for a residence permit. The first application enters them in the Aliens' Register, and the ARC is issued at that point.

Who can obtain an alien card?

Any foreign national who applies to live in Cyprus, on a temporary or a permanent basis. A tourist on a short visit does not get one.

How to apply for an ARC number in Cyprus?

There is no separate application for the ARC. A non-EU national is entered in the Aliens' Register on submitting a first residence permit application, and for a visitor permit that first registration costs €70.

An EU citizen applies for the registration certificate.

The documents depend on the permit.

Typically, the documents will include:

• The application form (varies depending on the residence permit)
• Copy of a valid passport
• Clean criminal record certificate, for a first visitor permit
• Medical certificate from a specialist doctor in Cyprus, with blood tests and a chest X-ray, for a first visitor permit
• Marriage certificate and children's birth certificates, if relevant
• Employment contract, if relevant (for example, you don't need it if you are applying for permanent residence by investment)
• Sales or rent contract for residence
• Bank statement showing account movement
• Health insurance certificate

Translation and certification

Every supporting document must be in Greek or English, or come with an official translation into one of them. The translation comes from a sworn translator, or from a consular authority or government department of the issuing country.

Every document must be duly certified, and a copy is certified in the same way as an original.

A public document issued abroad, such as a marriage or birth certificate, must carry an apostille where the issuing country is party to the Hague Apostille Convention. From any other country it needs diplomatic certification. The issuing country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs certifies the document and a Cyprus embassy or consulate there certifies that signature, before the Cyprus Ministry of Foreign Affairs adds its own. Where Cyprus has no mission in that country, the chain runs through a third country.

Two exceptions apply:

• Documents issued by Russia or Serbia need no certification of any kind under bilateral agreements, provided they are properly signed and carry the official seal of the issuing authority.
• Public documents from another EU country, such as birth, marriage, divorce or criminal record certificates, need no apostille, and for some of them a multilingual EU form replaces the translation.

A non-EU applicant gives a photograph and fingerprints, and signs, on showing the application receipt and a valid travel document. A child under six gives a photograph only. An EU citizen applying for a registration certificate gives a photograph only.

Where to submit the application

Applications go to the Migration Department of the Deputy Ministry of Migration and International Protection. Which office takes yours depends on where you live and on the permit.

If you live in the Nicosia district, you apply at the department's headquarters. Most applications there need no appointment. Immigration Permits and long-term resident status are among the few services that do.

Elsewhere, you book an appointment by email with the Aliens and Immigration Unit of the Cyprus Police in your district: Limassol, Larnaca, Paphos or Famagusta. Book it at least one month before your permit or visa expires.

Some categories are handled at headquarters only, whatever your district:

• Immigration Permits
• Long-term resident status
• Entry permits through educational institutions
• Entry permits through research centres
• Staff of companies of foreign interests
• The EU Blue Card
• Staff of shipping companies
• Intra-corporate transfers
• The digital nomad visa
• The Startup Visa
• Visitor permits for monitoring a programme

Outside those categories, a resident of another district can use the headquarters only through an authorised representative whose professional office is in Nicosia.

The headquarters address is 90 Archbishop Makarios III Avenue, 1077 Nicosia.

Renewals filed online

Some permits are renewed online on gov.cy, with a verified CY Login account, when the permit holder stays with the same employer: remunerated employment, domestic work, staff of companies of foreign interests, family reunification for the families of long-term residents and of those staff, and long-term resident permits. From 1 January 2027 these renewals are filed online only, and the department's offices stop taking them in person.

The online window runs from 60 to 30 days before the permit expires for employment and domestic work, and from 90 to 30 days for the other categories. The service does not cover family members of Cypriot, EU, EEA or UK citizens.

Legal aspects of the Cyprus ARC number

The ARC confirms your identity and your registration in the Aliens' Register.

An ARC is not:

• A residence permit
• An employment permit
• Health coverage card
• Visa for entry and/or stay in the Republic

The ARC is issued with your first application for a temporary residency or permanent residence permit.

For an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen, the matching document is the registration certificate.

Where to find your ARC number

Your ARC number is printed on your residence document. A non-EU national finds it on the residence permit card.

Checking an application or a lost number

Cyprus has no public website for looking up an ARC number.

When your residence permit is approved, the Migration Department sends a notice to collect it. You collect it from the office where you submitted the application. If the department's SMS service tells you the permit is issued before the notice arrives, show the SMS at that office.

If you have lost the document, report the loss to the police, then apply to the Migration Department for the document to be reissued.