Moving to Cyprus from the UK after Brexit

This guide is for UK citizens moving to Cyprus after Brexit: which visa or residence permit fits, how to buy property, when you can work and who can join you. It covers moving a business from the UK, healthcare, driving, pensions and voting too.

Can a UK citizen move to Cyprus?

UK nationals can still move to Cyprus, but since 1 January 2021 they do it as non-EU nationals and need a residence permit to stay longer than 90 days. Residence permits can be temporary, like a Pink Slip, or give permanent residence, like the investment permit or a Category F permit.

If you lived in Cyprus legally before 1 January 2021, you keep your rights under the Withdrawal Agreement. You can exchange your old MEU residence document for the biometric MUKW residence card. If you never registered, you can still apply, with evidence that you lived here at the time.

British citizens no longer have freedom of movement in the EU. You need no visa to visit Cyprus and can stay up to 90 days in any 180-day period, without the right to work. Days in Cyprus do not count toward the 90 days allowed in the Schengen area, and days in Schengen do not count here.

A British citizen who holds an Irish passport, or the passport of another EU country, moves as an EU citizen and registers for a yellow slip instead.

Residence permits in Cyprus

There are several "visas" or residence permits available to UK citizens in Cyprus, some permanent:

• The Cyprus Pink Slip is a visitor permit for people with a stable income from abroad of at least €24,000 a year who will not work in Cyprus. The income needed rises by 20% for a spouse and 15% for each child, and each family member files their own application. The permit runs for one year and is renewed every year. After five years of lawful residence you can apply for long-term resident status.
• The Cyprus investor visa, formally the investment permit, needs an investment of at least €300,000 in a new home, other real estate, shares in a Cyprus company or units in a Cyprus investment fund, and a gross annual income of at least €50,000, plus €15,000 for a spouse and €10,000 for each dependent child.
• The Category F permanent residence permit needs a secured income from abroad of at least €9,568 a year, plus €4,613 for each dependant, which comes to €14,181 for a couple. A Category F holder cannot work in Cyprus.

Category F is popular with pensioners and retirees. Both the investor visa and the Category F permit are permanent. Our guide to moving to Cyprus compares every residence permit.

Staying longer than 90 days without working: apply for a visitor permit on form MVIS8. The same form serves digital nomads, and family members of employees at companies of foreign interests who stay as dependent visitors. Download the current version from the Migration Department's forms page.

Other categories:

Other routes have forms of their own. A Cyprus employer, such as a company of foreign interests, applies for its employees' permits. The spouse of a Cypriot citizen applies on form MCYE or MCYV, and the non-EU spouse of an EU citizen living in Cyprus applies for a residence card on form MEU2.

Can a UK citizen buy property in Cyprus after Brexit?

Since Brexit, UK nationals buy property in Cyprus as non-EU buyers and need permission. The Acquisition of Immovable Property (Aliens) Law, Cap. 109, gives that power to the Council of Ministers, and in practice the District Administration of the district where the property sits deals with the application, filed after you sign the contract.

No fee is charged, and the Ministry of Interior puts the processing time at two to three weeks. The permission covers one plot of up to 4,014 m² for a home, or up to two units. Owning property does not give you the right to live in Cyprus. Our guide on buying property in Cyprus as a foreigner covers the steps.

The application is filed on form COMM 145 (PDF, EN): Form Comm. 145.

How long can you stay in Cyprus if you own property?

Owning property does not extend the visa-free stay. A British citizen who owns a home in Cyprus can stay up to 90 days in any 180-day period, like any other British visitor, and needs no visa for it.

To stay longer, you need a residence permit. A purchase of €300,000 or more can count toward the investment permit described above.

Can I work in Cyprus after Brexit?

Yes, there are circumstances under which you can get a permit to work in Cyprus after Brexit.

Temporary residence and employment permit: your employer applies for it. An ordinary employer must first pass a labour market test, publishing the vacancy through the District Labour Office and showing that no suitable local candidate came forward.

A company of foreign interests registered with the Business Support Center skips that test for staff earning at least €2,500 gross a month. To register, the company must fall into one of nine eligibility categories and have invested at least €200,000 in Cyprus in the six months before it applies.

Category C permanent residence permit: for self-employment in a trade or profession. You need the relevant licence and capital of about €260,000 fully and freely at your disposal.

Cyprus startup visa: you apply first to the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, which scores your business plan. Once it approves, a self-employed founder shows the Migration Department at least €10,000 a year for living expenses. The scheme is capped at 150 visas and runs to December 2026.

Can I bring family members to Cyprus with me after Brexit?

Yes, depending on the type of residence permit you have.

Every permanent residence permit covers your spouse and children under 18: the investment permit and Categories A to F alike.

A director or highly paid employee of a company of foreign interests, earning at least €2,500 gross a month, can bring a spouse and children under 18 through family reunification. Startup visa founders and senior executives have the same right. The marriage must have taken place at least a year before the application, and the spouse must be 21 or over.

With a Pink Slip, each family member applies for a visitor permit of their own, at the same time as you.

Relocating your business from the UK to Cyprus

To relocate your business from the UK to Cyprus, you can set up a new company or register a branch of your UK company. Both are registered with the Registrar of Companies in Cyprus.

Note that the rules on residence permits mentioned above apply.

A significant benefit of relocating a business to Cyprus is that it is a common-law country and a member of the EU.

This means that:

• Common law and equity are sources of Cyprus law, as they are in England, and,
• The Cyprus company law (Cap 113) is based on the British Companies Act.

Two Cyprus government sites set out the steps:

• The Business Support Center (BSC) - gov.cy and,
• The Registrar of Companies' Point of single contact: Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry.

To incorporate a company, you first have the Registrar approve its name, then file the memorandum and articles of association with a declaration signed by a Cyprus lawyer. Once the certificate of incorporation is issued, the company can open a bank account. Our guide to company registration in Cyprus covers each step and the fees.

Within 60 days of incorporation the company registers with the Tax Department for a tax number. It registers with Social Insurance Services as an employer when it takes on staff, and for VAT once its taxable sales pass €15,600 over 12 months. If it will hire non-EU staff without a labour market test, it registers in the Register of Foreign Interest Companies, online through the Business Support Center.

Private limited liability companies registered in Cyprus:

• Can have one single director who can also be the only shareholder.
• Must have a company secretary.
• Pay corporate tax at 15% from 1 January 2026, up from 12.5%.
• Can be owned and run by non-residents: Cyprus company law sets no residence test for directors or shareholders.

Setting up a branch of a foreign business in Cyprus

A branch of a foreign company in Cyprus is registered with the Registrar of Companies as the place of business of an overseas company. Once the Registrar approves the name, the application goes in within one month of setting up in Cyprus.

It carries the parent company's certified charter or articles, a report on the company signed by an authorised person, forms AE1 to AE3, which list the documents and name the company's officers and the people authorised to represent it in Cyprus, and a fee of €380.

For all the details, see Business entities - Department of Registrar of Companies

Healthcare in Cyprus for expats after Brexit

A residence permit on its own does not give you GeSY, the General Healthcare System. GeSY covers non-EU residents who hold a permanent residence permit or work in Cyprus, and their dependants. A Pink Slip holder without an S1 needs private health insurance.

If you receive a UK State Pension, you may be entitled to an S1 form from NHS Overseas Healthcare Services. You register it with GeSY, online or through a GeSY doctor, and you and your dependants are then covered on the same basis as an insured Cypriot. You can apply for the S1 online up to 90 days before you move.

The UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) is for visits. To get one, apply through the NHS. You cannot use it in Cyprus once you live here, but S1 holders receive a UK-issued GHIC for travel.

If you are registered with GeSY as a worker or a permanent resident, you may be entitled to a Cypriot European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) for travel, including visits to the UK.

Driving licences from the UK in Cyprus

You can drive in Cyprus on a UK driving licence for up to six months after you become resident. To keep driving after that, you exchange it for a Cypriot licence.

You apply in person on form TOM 7D at a District Driver Examiner Office of the Road Transport Department. Bring a recent photo, your passport, your Alien Registration Certificate and residence permit, and your UK licence, which is sent back to the UK licensing authority. You need a check code from the DVLA too, or from the DVA for a Northern Irish licence.

How to bring your car to Cyprus

A car brought from the UK is an import from outside the EU, so VAT and any import duty are due, except where Customs grants relief on a transfer of residence. The relief covers a car you have owned and used for at least six months, provided you lived outside the EU for at least 12 months before the move. You apply to any Customs District Office on form Απ. 2.

After customs clearance the car must be registered with the Road Transport Department, which can set extra conditions for used cars from outside the EU. Check with the department before you ship.

Retiring (pension, tax, your vote)

Pension

You can receive your UK State Pension in Cyprus, and it goes up every year, as it does in the UK, because Cyprus is in the European Economic Area. Our guide to retiring to Cyprus from the UK covers pensions in more depth.

Private UK pension schemes: Contact your pension provider to find out the arrangements for private pension schemes.

UK state pension: to have it paid in Cyprus,

• claim it through the International Pension Centre, from four months before you reach State Pension age;
• have it paid into a bank in Cyprus, or into a bank or building society in the UK;
• for a Cyprus account, give the IBAN and the BIC;
• pick one country, because the pension cannot be paid in one country for part of the year and in another for the rest.

UK law also allows for workplace pensions to be paid abroad.

The local exchange rate will affect pensions (from pound sterling to local currency).

Tax matters

Under the 2018 UK-Cyprus double tax treaty, a pension paid to someone tax resident in Cyprus is taxable only in Cyprus. Cyprus taxes foreign pension income at a flat 5% on the part above €5,000 a year, or at the normal income tax rates if you choose them for that year. A lump sum from a pension conversion is not taxed in Cyprus.

Pensions for UK government service, such as civil service or armed forces pensions, stay taxable only in the UK. The exception is a pensioner who is both a Cypriot national and resident in Cyprus.

If you return to the UK within five years, the UK's temporary non-residence rules can tax some of the income and gains you received abroad. See Tax if you return to the UK.

The rules are complex; the UK government advises contacting HMRC or a tax adviser.

Your vote

British citizens who once lived in the UK can vote in UK Parliament elections no matter how long they have been abroad. The old 15-year limit ended on 16 January 2024. You register as an overseas voter and renew the registration every three years.

In Cyprus, UK nationals cannot vote in local or national elections without Cypriot citizenship, or in European elections without the citizenship of an EU country.

Lifestyle

Life in Cyprus has its draws: a large British community, fresh local food, mild weather and the sea.

Cultural events happen throughout the year in Cyprus, and the municipalities can provide information.

You can still bring a dog or cat with you after Brexit. It needs a microchip and a rabies vaccination given at least 21 days before travel. A UK vet then issues an animal health certificate, which is valid for entry into the EU for 10 days from the date of issue. If you live in Great Britain, you cannot use a pet passport to enter the EU, wherever it was issued.