Health checks for foreign nationals aged 60 and over applying for residency permits in the TRNC have been scrapped, Interior Minister Ayşegül Baybars has said. Recently implemented residency and visa regulations have done away with the previous “gentlemen’s agreement” that allowed expat residents aged 60 and over to stay in the TRNC without any legal permission, have caused concern in the expat community.
“No health checks will be needed in the first or subsequent residency applications,” Interior Minister Ayşegül Baybars has said.
SHe added said that she would be sending a “memo” to immigration officers telling them to give reassurances to TRNC-based expats that they had a year to comply with the new regulations.
The pledge was made after some expats reported that they had had their passports stamped with new 30-day tourist visas – and warned that they would become “illegal” if they “overstayed” – after crossing back to the TRNC following a trip to South Cyprus.
“Irrespective of what is being said by an [immigration] officer, the new rules provide for a one-year transition period [for foreign residents aged 60 and over],” she said.
FOREIGNERS WHO ARE OLDER THAN SIXTY YEARS AND HAVE NO LEGAL PERMISSION TO STAY IN TRNC MUST GET A RESIDENCE PERMIT.
Foreigners who reached the age of sixty before the residence permits and visas regulation entered into force and who have been living in the TRNC without a legal permission may remain in the country if they obtain a residence permit within one year. [TRNC Ministry of Interior website].
Cyprus Today
