Moving to Cyprus, with a company or without one.

The route depends on your passport, your work and your money. These are the people the routes on this page are written for.

• A founder from outside the EU moving with a business. You will employ people from outside the EU, including yourself, and can make the €200,000 investment: the Business Facilitation Unit route.
• A remote worker from outside the EU. You work for an employer or clients based outside Cyprus and earn at least €3,500 a month net: the Digital Nomad Visa, with no company needed.
• An EU, EEA or Swiss citizen, with or without family. You register your residence and receive the yellow slip; no visa and no investment.
• Someone living on a pension, savings or investments. You will not work here: the visitor permit, or a Category F permit.
• A buyer of a home worth €300,000 or more. Permanent residence by investment, with the Council of Ministers' permission for the purchase.

The Business Facilitation Unit (BFU), now part of the government's Business Support Centre, registers companies of foreign interests, and the Migration Department issues residence and employment permits for their staff from outside the EU. It is the route for a founder who is moving to Cyprus with a real business and wants to employ people from outside the EU, including themselves.

The published requirements, as they stand in October 2026:

• An initial investment of at least €200,000, made within the six months before the application, as a deposit in the company's bank account or as the purchase of office premises or equipment. It applies in every case.
• An office lease of at least 12 months, in premises separate from any home.
• A minimum gross salary of €2,500 a month for each highly paid employee from outside the EU, who needs a degree or two years' relevant experience and a two-year contract. Staff already on €2,000 or more may renew on that basis until 31 December 2026.
• Residence and employment permits for up to three years, renewable, with no cap on their number. The company's commitment on the ratio between local and foreign staff is checked from 2 January 2027. [to confirm the exact ratio test]
• Since 1 July 2026, applications are made only through CY Login.

What we do: we prepare the company's registration with the unit, the residence and employment permit applications and the family permits, and we coordinate the office, the salary and the substance questions with our partners so that the file is complete the first time.

Read the 2026 guide to the BFU route.

For non-EU nationals who work remotely for employers or clients based outside Cyprus. No Cyprus company is needed. The published income requirement is €3,500 a month, net, from the remote work, and the applicant must have health insurance and a clean criminal record. You apply within three months of arriving.

The permit is issued for one year and can be renewed for up to two more. Your spouse or partner and minor children can join you but may not work. The number of permits is capped at 500. Spending more than 183 days in Cyprus in a tax year makes you tax resident here.

What we do: we prepare and submit the application and the renewal, and we book the appointments with the Migration Department.

Citizens of EU and EEA countries and Switzerland can live and work in Cyprus without a visa. If you stay longer than three months, you register your residence with the Migration Department (formerly the Civil Registry and Migration Department) within four months of arriving and receive a registration certificate, form MEU1, commonly called the yellow slip. You show that you work or run a business here, or that you have enough money and full health insurance. No investment is involved. Appointments are usually available two to three weeks after we request them.

What we do: we prepare the file, request the appointment and come with you to it where that helps.

For non-EU nationals who will live in Cyprus on a pension, savings or investments, without working here.

• Visitor permit, often called the pink slip: issued for a year at a time and renewable, with no right to work. The Migration Department's checklist asks for an income of at least €2,000 a month (€24,000 a year) for one person, paid into a Cyprus bank account, plus 20% for a spouse and 15% for each child, and full health insurance.
• Category F permit: a permanent permit, also with no right to work, for people with a secure income from abroad of at least €9,568 a year, plus €4,613 for each dependant. Since 1 September 2026, applications for Categories A to F include medical tests done abroad.

What we do: we prepare the file, the income evidence and the health cover, and book the appointments.

Under Regulation 6(2), a non-EU national can obtain permanent residence by investing at least €300,000 plus VAT, usually in a new home bought from a developer, and showing a secure income from abroad of at least €50,000 a year, plus €15,000 for a spouse and €10,000 for each child. The permit lapses after two years' absence from Cyprus.

Buying property as a non-EU national also needs the Council of Ministers' permission under Cap. 109. Our partner advocate handles the purchase documents; we prepare the residence application.

You become a Cyprus tax resident by spending more than 183 days in Cyprus in a calendar year, or under the 60-day rule. The 60-day rule needs all four of these in the same year: at least 60 days in Cyprus; no more than 183 days in any other single country; a permanent home in Cyprus that you own or rent; and a business or a job in Cyprus, or a directorship of a Cyprus tax-resident company, held at some point in the year and not ended during it. Since 1 January 2026 you no longer have to show that you are not tax resident anywhere else.

A Cyprus tax resident who is not domiciled in Cyprus pays no Special Defence Contribution on dividends and most interest. Not domiciled means a domicile of origin outside Cyprus and fewer than 17 of the last 20 years as a Cyprus tax resident. From 1 January 2026, rental income is outside the Special Defence Contribution for everyone, and the rate on dividends for those who do pay it fell to 5%. After the 17 years, the status can be extended by paying €250,000 for each five-year period, for up to two periods. The national health contribution of 2.65% still applies to dividends, interest and rent, up to €180,000 of income a year.

What we do: we register you with the Tax Department, prepare the tax residence and non-domiciled status applications and keep the dates that the status depends on. Where your position needs advice, our audit partner or our partner advocate can give it.

Under the Business Facilitation Unit route, your spouse and minor children apply for family permits in the same file as yours. Family members of EU citizens register their residence with you. Schools, health cover and the family's own tax registrations follow in the calendar, so nothing is missed in the first months.

Independent office premises are a requirement of the Business Facilitation Unit route, and a real office is part of what banks and tax authorities mean by substance. We coordinate the office step: introductions to business centres and landlords in Limassol, viewings, the lease and the timetable, so that the address exists before the applications that depend on it.

The lease itself, and the rental agreement for your home, are drafted by our partner advocate. Rental and other agreements.

What changes depends on where you are coming from: the tax office at home, your pension, your company. The questions people from each country ask first are answered, with official sources, here:

The exact list depends on the route and is sent to you at step 2, "We ask you what we need". The Migration Department's published checklists usually ask for these.

• Your passport, valid for the period; for the Digital Nomad Visa, also the page with your last entry stamp.
• Proof of address: a title deed, or a lease with a utility bill. The checklists still say "stamped"; we confirm what is accepted for a lease signed from 2026.
• Evidence of work and income. Digital Nomad Visa: the employment or client contracts, the employer's confirmation that the work is remote, payslips and six months of bank statements. Visitor permit: income paid into a Cyprus bank account. EU citizens: employment or Social Insurance records, or enough money to live on.
• Health insurance for inpatient and outpatient care: the Plan A policy the checklists name.
• A criminal record certificate from your country of origin or residence, and medical tests, for the non-EU permits that ask for them.
• Business Facilitation Unit: the Registrar's certificates, the UBO certificate, the beneficial owners' passports, the office lease and proof of the €200,000 investment, such as a bank SWIFT or purchase invoices.

• Missing the three months. The Digital Nomad Visa application goes in within three months of arrival, and an application without every document on the list is not accepted.
• Working for a Cyprus client on the Digital Nomad Visa. The visa is for work for employers or clients outside Cyprus, and the application includes an affirmation to that effect. Work for a Cyprus business needs a different route.
• EU citizens who never register. If you stay longer than three months, you register within four months of arriving. Not applying can bring a fine of up to €2,500.
• The 60-day rule with three conditions out of four. It needs all four in the same year: at least 60 days here, no more than 183 days in any other single country, a home you own or rent, and a business, job or directorship here that is not ended during the year.
• Treating the €200,000 as a rule for everyone. It belongs to the Business Facilitation Unit route only, and it is made within the six months before the application. The other routes have income requirements instead.
• Renewing late. A Digital Nomad renewal goes in at least a month before the permit expires.