Relocating your business to Cyprus

You have four main ways to bring a business to Cyprus, and the right one depends on where your company sits today and whether you want to keep it running:

• start a new Cyprus company from scratch;
• open a branch of your existing foreign company;
• redomicile a company from outside the EU, so it continues in Cyprus without closing; or
• run an EU cross-border conversion when your company is registered in another EU member state.

If your company is registered in the UK, it cannot itself move its registration to Cyprus, so a UK business uses a new Cyprus company or a branch.

An EU business has one further option, the European company (Societas Europaea), covered below. Some rules change depending on whether you hold EU citizenship or come from a third country.

This guide walks through each route and what it costs, then the steps to move your staff to Cyprus. Our firm handles business relocations to any city in Cyprus, including Limassol, Nicosia, Larnaca, and Paphos.

If you are an entrepreneur weighing a move, see our Cyprus business visa guide for the residence side, and our Cyprus company formation page for the full setup details and cost.

Cost and timeline for relocation

A new Cyprus company is usually ready in 7 to 10 working days once the name is approved and the documents are signed. Our firm handles the full company formation from €1,899, and the official registration fees are set out in the table below.

The Department of Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property (Registrar of Companies) charges these official fees for each route:

Route	Registrar fee	Fast track (extra)
New Cyprus company	€10 for each proposed name; €165 to register the company (€235 for a company with no share capital)	€20 more per name; €100 more for the registration
Branch of a foreign company	€380 to register	€100 more
Redomiciliation from outside the EU	€120 for the temporary certificate of continuation, then €20 for the certificate of continuation	€100 more for the temporary certificate; €20 more for the certificate of continuation

Source: Company Incorporation Knowledgebase - companies.gov.cy

Cyprus abolished the €350 annual company levy from 2024, so a Cyprus company no longer pays a yearly levy to the Registrar. Further fees may apply when you register the whole document package.

Moving an existing company takes longer. Redomiciliation from outside the EU depends on a certificate of good standing and other certified documents from the country of origin, and branch registration on apostilled copies of the parent company's constitution, so both run to several weeks rather than days.

Staff permits sit on their own track. An EU national registers within four months of arriving, and a non-EU employee's permit is covered in the employees section below. The fees in the table are official government charges. Legal fees for the other routes are quoted separately.

Moving your business from the UK to Cyprus

A UK company cannot redomicile to Cyprus. Cyprus registers a foreign company as continuing in Cyprus only where the law of the company's home country allows it to continue under the law of another country, and the company's constitution permits it.

UK law offers no such route. Even a company moving into the UK today usually has to be wound up and start again. In its March 2026 consultation, the UK government decided to create a route into the UK only, having concluded that the drawbacks of a route out of the UK outweigh its benefits. So a UK business moves by setting up a new Cyprus company or a Cyprus branch of the UK company.

You can start the company steps through the Business Facilitation Unit and the government business portal:

• the Cyprus Business Facilitation Unit (BFU): Business Facilitation Unit - gov.cy;
• the government business checklist: Business Checklist - businessincyprus.gov.cy.

Why Cyprus suits a UK business

One practical benefit for a UK business is that Cyprus is a common law country, like the UK.

This means that:

• the legal system follows the same structure and court rules as the UK; and
• Cyprus company law (Cap. 113) is based on the old British Companies Act.

Britain is one of the largest trading partners for Cyprus in goods and services. Many UK founders move to Cyprus for the tax position and the shared legal background.

Your own move after Brexit

Since Brexit, a UK national counts as a third-country national for Cyprus immigration, so the rules for third-country nationals in the sections below apply to you: register a Cyprus company or a branch, and use the Business Facilitation Unit where your company qualifies. UK nationals and their family members who lived in Cyprus under EU free movement rules before the end of 2020, and still live here, keep their rights of residence and work under the Withdrawal Agreement.

For the residence and permit side of a UK move, see our guide on moving to Cyprus from the UK after Brexit.

What happens to your UK company

Your UK company stays a UK company. Under UK rules, a company incorporated in the UK is resident in the UK for tax wherever it is run.

If it is managed and controlled in Cyprus, Cyprus treats it as tax resident too. Where both countries count it as resident, the UK-Cyprus tax treaty settles which one does; where the treaty gives residence to Cyprus, the UK stops treating the company as resident in the UK for tax.

You do not have to close the UK company. Once it stops trading, you have two options:

• let it become dormant for tax, as long as it is not carrying on business activity, trading or receiving income: it stays registered at Companies House and still sends its annual accounts and confirmation statement there every year; or
• close it: a company that can pay its bills applies to be struck off the Companies Register or starts a members' voluntary liquidation, a formal winding up of a company that can pay its debts.

Start your own company in Cyprus

To start a company in Cyprus, register it with the Registrar of Companies.

There are several types of business enterprise. The most common is the private limited liability company. A limited liability company limits what its members can lose if the business fails, which is why most owners choose it.

The law that governs limited liability companies in Cyprus is the Cyprus Companies Law (Cap. 113).

Cyprus company law sets no minimum share capital for a private company. A common nominal figure is €1,000, split into shares of €1 each.

If you are an EU national, the rules on living and working in Cyprus are in the employees section below.

A company qualifies for the Business Facilitation Unit (BFU) as a company of foreign interests (officially, a company with foreign interests) on ownership when it meets both of these conditions:

• third-country nationals own the majority of its shares, or a third-country minority shareholder's stake is worth at least €200,000; and
• it has an initial investment of €200,000, for example a deposit of €200,000 by its shareholders in the company's account at a bank licensed by the Central Bank of Cyprus.

A registered branch of an overseas company can qualify in the same way. Companies listed on a recognised stock exchange, Cypriot shipping companies, Cypriot high-tech and innovation companies and some others qualify on other grounds, and every one of them needs the €200,000 initial investment.

If the company does not qualify, its non-EU staff come under the general rules for entry to the Republic.

A company of foreign interests registers first with the Registrar of Companies, and then with the BFU's Register of Companies with Foreign Interests through an online application. The BFU completes this registration within ten business days of receiving a complete application.

Private limited companies registered in Cyprus

The company can have one director, who can be the sole shareholder. So a single person can own and run the company.

Every private limited company must have a company secretary. Where there is only one director, that person cannot act as secretary as well, except where the company is a private company with a single member.

Dividend income a Cyprus company receives is usually exempt from tax.

To register the company with the Cyprus Registrar of Companies, you should do the following:

• Choose a company name that is not too similar to an existing one, and have the Registrar approve it.
• Once the name is approved, draft the Memorandum and Articles of Association (M&A). These must be filed with the Registrar.
• Submit all the documentation to the Registrar of Companies.

For each step of setting up the company, and its papers, see our Cyprus company formation page. The Registrar of Companies offers guidance on the M&A at companies.gov.cy.

A lawyer must sign off on the registration. Appoint a local lawyer to handle your company's formation. Our firm can act for you here.

Setting up a branch of a foreign business in Cyprus

A branch of a foreign company in Cyprus is a place of business in Cyprus of a company not registered in Cyprus. It usually trades under the parent company's name.

To set up a company branch in Cyprus, the parent company must:

• Apply for approval of the name from the Registrar of Companies, where the branch will use a name different from the parent company's.
• Submit copies of the parent company's charter or memorandum and articles of association, certified with an apostille (the certificate that confirms a public document for use abroad), and, where they are not in Greek or English, a certified translation into Greek.
• Hand in a report about the parent company to the Registrar.
• Provide information about the representative or agent of the parent company in Cyprus. The representative is authorised to act for the company in dealings with third parties.
• Complete and file forms AE 1 to AE 3.
• File the application within one month of setting up the place of business in Cyprus.

Report from the parent company to the Registrar

Under section 347(1) of the Cyprus Companies Law (Cap. 113), the report that the parent company must submit to the Registrar has to contain several details:

• the name and legal form, and the branch's name if it differs;
• the seat and address of the parent company, and the address of the branch;
• the purpose and line of business of the parent company and of the branch;
• the registration number from the register where the company belongs;
• the issued share capital of the parent company;
• details of any bankruptcy or liquidation of the parent company, where relevant;
• if the parent company is in a non-EU country, the report states the applicable law in that country.

The parent company files two more sets of names and addresses:

• the names and addresses of the director or directors and the secretary of the parent company;
• the names and addresses of the people authorised to receive documents for the parent company in Cyprus.

The application runs through the Registrar's e-filing system, or by hand or post.

For all the details, see Business Entities, Overseas Company - companies.gov.cy.

Redomiciliation: moving an existing company to Cyprus

You can move an existing company to Cyprus without closing it and starting again. The company keeps its legal identity and its trading history. Two separate routes exist, and which one you use depends on where the company is registered now.

A company from a country outside the EU uses redomiciliation, or continuation, under Articles 354Α onward of the Companies Law, Cap. 113. A company from another EU member state uses an EU cross-border conversion under Articles 201ΗΑ onward, added to Cap. 113 by Law 26(I)/2024.

Redomiciliation from outside the EU

The company that wants to continue into Cyprus must:

• pass a resolution approving the move, taken, as far as practicable, by the majority that Cyprus law requires for a special resolution: a shareholder vote of at least three quarters of the votes cast; and
• apply to the Cyprus Registrar of Companies with the required documents.

The documents to file include:

• form ME1, filed by the company's lawyer in Cyprus;
• a copy of the company's revised memorandum;
• a certificate of good standing, or an equivalent document, from the authority of the country of incorporation;
• a sworn statement by a director confirming the company is solvent;
• the resolution, or an equivalent document, authorising the company to register as continuing in Cyprus; and
• official proof that the authority of the country of incorporation has been told of the move.

After the filing, the move runs in this order:

1. The Registrar of Companies issues a temporary certificate of continuation. From that date the company is a Cyprus company, provisionally registered, with all the powers of a company incorporated in Cyprus.
2. Within six months, which can be extended by three months for a reasonable cause, the company files form ME4 with proof from its home country that it has ceased to be registered there.
3. The Registrar of Companies issues the certificate of continuation.

Once the company continues into Cyprus, it is treated as if it had been set up under the Cyprus Companies Law, and it comes under the Cyprus Registrar of Companies like any local company.

How to transfer a business from another EU member state to Cyprus

If your company is registered in another EU member state and you want to move your business to Cyprus, you can:

• set up a local Cyprus company from scratch (see above);
• open a branch of your existing company (see above);
• set up a European company (Societas Europaea, "SE"); or
• run an EU cross-border conversion, moving your existing company to Cyprus.

The SE is "a type of public limited liability company that allows you to run your business in different European countries using a single set of rules" (europa.eu).

Two instruments govern the SE: Council Regulation (EC) 2157/2001 on the Statute for a European Company, and Council Directive 2001/86/EC of 8 October 2001 on the involvement of employees.

The SE makes cross-border mergers and re-incorporations easier, letting businesspeople pick the legal system that suits their operations.

How to set up a European company, SE

To set up a European company (SE), you need:

• your registered office and head office (the place where you carry on business) in the same country;
• at least two companies from different member states, or two companies that have each had a subsidiary or a branch in another member state for at least two years;
• a minimum subscribed capital of €120,000; and
• a way for your employees to be consulted and informed about company matters, which the EU requires for an SE.

A private limited company can join at least one other company in forming a holding SE (a new SE that acquires most of their shares from their shareholders) or a subsidiary SE (a new SE whose shares they subscribe). They qualify where they are from different member states, or where each has had a subsidiary or a branch in another member state for at least two years.

Only a public limited company can convert itself into an SE, and only after it has had a subsidiary in another member state for at least two years.

When the European company is registered, the abbreviation "SE" is added before or after the company name. The Official Journal of the European Union publishes the details of the SE.

The Registrar of Companies has the details at companies.gov.cy.

Benefits of registering an SE include:

• it can move its registered office to another member state without winding up or creating a new company; and
• it has legal personality, and every member state treats it as a public limited company of the state where it has its registered office.

EU cross-border conversion

An EU cross-border conversion moves a company registered in one member state so that it becomes a company of another member state, here Cyprus.

It is part of the freedom of establishment, one of the founding freedoms of the EU. The rules aim to close gaps and protect the people affected, such as members and creditors.

The company is not dissolved or wound up: it moves at least its registered office to Cyprus and keeps its legal personality. The Cyprus rules are in Articles 201ΗΑ onward of the Companies Law, Cap. 113.

Ongoing obligations and substance in Cyprus

A relocated company must meet a set of annual obligations. From 2026 a company incorporated in or redomiciled to Cyprus is tax resident in Cyprus by default, except where a tax treaty says otherwise.

The standing obligations are:

• a registered office in Cyprus;
• proper accounting records;
• an annual return filed with the Registrar of Companies each calendar year, with a copy of the accounts;
• audited financial statements filed with the tax return each tax year;
• registration with the Tax Department within 60 days of registering in Cyprus; and
• VAT registration once taxable supplies over the last 12 months pass €15,600, or are expected to pass it in the next 30 days.

Substance is the harder test.

For a tax treaty, a foreign tax authority or the banks to treat the company as genuinely Cypriot, the management and real decision-making should sit in Cyprus, and in most cases the company needs an office and staff on the ground rather than a nameplate.

A company managed and controlled from Cyprus is a Cyprus tax resident and pays the 15% corporate rate on its worldwide profit. Thin substance is what tax authorities abroad challenge, so this is worth getting right from the start.

How to relocate your employees to Cyprus

Your staff can move with the business: EU nationals register after they arrive, and non-EU staff need a permit, which comes faster for a company of foreign interests.

Different rules apply to EU nationals and to nationals of a third country.

Whatever your business form or country of origin, once you employ staff in the Republic you register as an employer with the Social Insurance Services.

EU nationals: working and living in Cyprus

EU nationals can live and work in Cyprus without restrictions. Two points still apply.

If they belong to a regulated profession, for example, doctors and lawyers, they contact the relevant Cyprus professional body to obtain a licence or have their existing licence recognised.

An EU national who moves to Cyprus to start work must apply for a registration certificate from the Migration Department, within four months of entering the Republic.

The application uses form MEU1 and needs a set of documents, including:

• a valid passport or identity card, copy and original;
• proof of accommodation or an address in Cyprus;
• an employment confirmation from the employer; and
• a Cyprus social insurance confirmation.

See the full list in our article on the Cyprus yellow slip.

For the rights of EU workers across the Union, see "Moving & working in Europe" from the European Commission: Moving & working in Europe - europa.eu

Third-country nationals

Cyprus runs a dedicated policy for employing third-country nationals. A company registered with the Business Facilitation Unit as a company of foreign interests can hire non-EU staff on a work permit.

Staff follow one of two tracks:

• staff paid at least €2,500 gross a month, with relevant qualifications or two years' experience and a contract of at least two years, take the fast track and skip the labour market test;
• staff at support level need a labour market test and a contract sealed by the Department of Labour.

The Migration Department examines each application for residence and employment in one month.

Employees who have lived in Cyprus legally for at least seven of the ten years before the last 12 months, and for those last 12 months with no more than 90 days away in total, can apply for citizenship by naturalisation if they hold a B1 Greek certificate, or a recognised upper secondary school leaving certificate or a degree taught in Greek, and meet the other conditions.

Highly skilled staff of companies of foreign interests qualify sooner. They need at least four years (with an A2 Greek certificate) or three years (with a B1 certificate) of legal residence in place of the seven, plus the 12 months without a break before the application.