You
- Money shown from
- Your Cyprus account
- Bank guarantee
- In your name, from your account
- Criminal record
- Yes, for the first permit
- Other papers
- Your marriage certificate, if married
Permits
What is the pink slip in Cyprus, and do you need one?
In my years here, people who say "pink slip" have usually meant the visitor permit, though no official text says which permit the name covers. The visitor permit is a temporary residence permit, first issued for up to a year, for people from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland who live here on their own money, without a job or business here.
For one person · each year
€24,000sent from abroad in your name to a bank account in Cyprus
More with a spouse or children; for a first application the department also accepts a transfer or deposit of at least €10,000. Details below.
Is it yours
Is the visitor permit the one you need?
It's for people from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland who want to stay on their own money, for a long holiday, to tour, or to look at whether to settle, and who won't take a job or run a business here. If you want a job, will keep working remotely, or hold an EU, EEA or Swiss passport, a different route fits; the table shows which.
| If you… | What fits instead |
|---|---|
| want a job with an employer in Cyprus | An employment permit |
| will keep working remotely for an employer or clients abroad | The digital nomad permit |
| want to work in your own company here | A permit through your company |
| hold an EU, EEA or Swiss passport | Registration with the department, not a permit |
| are family of a Cypriot or EU citizen, or of someone on another temporary permit | The family route of that person's permit |
| want permanent residence from the start | An immigration permit, such as Category F |
Sources (7)
Migration Department, Visitors and family members · Migration Department, Remunerated employment (single permit – GEN) · Migration Department, Digital nomads and family members · Migration Department, registration of EU citizens (MEU1) · Migration Department, Immigration Permits · Migration Department, appointments · Migration Department, Startup Visa
Temporary permits side by side: residence permits compared.
The detailsthe department's name for it · other visitor permits · what you're issued · a permit, not a visa
The department's name for it
The Migration Department calls it the "Autonomous visitor permit", one of its temporary residence permits for visitors; the Regulations call it a visitor's permit.
Migration Department, Visitors and family members
Other visitor permits
The department issues visitor permits for other people too: clergy of the Orthodox Church and of the religious minorities, a dependent adult family member of someone with an immigration permit, and a Cypriot citizen's partner in a proven permanent relationship, coming to marry, on a three-month permit.
Migration Department, Visitors and family members
What you're issued
A residence permit card, marked as a temporary permit for visiting. The first time, you're also registered as a foreign resident and given an Alien Registration Card (ARC) number.
Official Journal of the EU, list of residence permits (C/2025/3595) · Migration Department, Visitors and family members
A permit, not a visa
A short-stay visa is for at most 90 days in any 180 and "for reasons other than immigration"; the visitor permit is a residence permit you apply for in Cyprus.
gov.cy, Visas (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) · Migration Department, Visitors and family members
Work
Can you work on the visitor permit?
No: the Migration Department says visitor-permit holders can't carry out an economic activity here, and that the permit doesn't allow employment. Your spouse and minor children hold visitor permits too, and the department says this of every holder. If you'll keep working remotely for an employer or clients abroad, the department's route for that is the digital nomad permit.
Taking a job ends the permit on the spot.
Under the Regulations, a job taken without the department's prior written permission cancels the permit at once, and running a business without it can get the permit revoked.
Aliens and Immigration Regulations, Law Commissioner's consolidation · Migration Department, Visitors and family members
If the business would be your own company here, that's a different route: residence through company formation.
The detailsthe rule in the Regulations' words · income from Cyprus that still counts · a job later
The rule in the Regulations' words
No employment, paid or unpaid, and no business, trade or profession, without the prior written permission of the Head of the department. The department publishes no procedure for that permission.
Aliens and Immigration Regulations, Law Commissioner's consolidation
Income from Cyprus that still counts
By exception, the department's list accepts:
- dividends from a Cyprus company, with the company accountant's certificate that you draw no salary there;
- rent from property in Cyprus;
- pay into your Cyprus account from earlier work for a company of foreign interests.
Migration Department, supporting documents: visitor permit
A job later
What can follow this permit is under Afterwards.
In order
What do you prepare, and in what order?
Most of it happens in Cyprus: the department's list is for applications made after you arrive, and you apply in person. The step everything turns on is the Cyprus bank account: for a first permit the money is read from its statement from the day it opens, and the bank guarantee is drawn from your own account here. As a rule, you apply at the department in Nicosia if you live in Nicosia district, and otherwise at the police immigration unit of your district.
- From home
Papers from abroad
For a first permit, a criminal record certificate from your country of origin, or of residence if you live elsewhere, with an Apostille or diplomatic certification unless exempt, and a certified translation if it isn't in Greek or English. Your marriage certificate the same way, if you're married.
Migration Department, document ratification → - On arrival
Enter, and the clock starts
Enter with a visa if your passport needs one, and apply before it expires. Without a visa, the department's page speaks only of visa holders, so ask it how long you have.
gov.cy, Visas → - First weeks
A home
A title deed, a duly certified lease, or a host's declaration.
- Then
A Cyprus bank account, and the transfers
An account in your name, with income from abroad paid into it. For a first permit, the department reads the statement from the day the account opened.
- Once the account runs
The bank guarantee
From a bank in Cyprus, in your name and from your own account, valid for at least ten years. An e-money institution can't issue it.
Migration Department, bank guarantee → - Before you apply
Insurance and medical tests
Health insurance and, for a first permit only, medical tests.
- Plan A cover: inpatient, outpatient and transport of the body
- Blood tests and a chest X-ray, stamped by a specialist doctor in Cyprus
- A month ahead
The appointment
Outside Nicosia district, email the police immigration unit of your district at least a month before your visa or permit runs out; one request per family. In Nicosia district you go without one.
Police, appointment sheet → - On the day
Apply, in person
Form MVIS8 with the documents and the fees: €70 for the permit and, the first time, €70 for registration. Your fingerprints, photo and signature are taken there.
Migration Department, visitor forms → - Then wait
Wait, then collect
It usually takes up to four months if your documents are sufficient; keep the proof that you applied and show it if you're checked. When a letter or a text says the permit is ready, collect it where you applied.
Sources for these steps (10)
Migration Department, Visitors and family members · Migration Department, supporting documents: visitor permit · Migration Department, Document Ratification · gov.cy, Visas (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) · Migration Department, Bank guarantee · Migration Department, Bank Guarantees · Migration Department, appointments · Police, arranging an appointment at the district units · Migration Department, form MVIS8 · Migration Department, questions on residence permits
The detailsyour passport · Plan A insurance · your home · if someone applies for you · where exactly to apply · fees · travelling while you wait · if it's refused
Your passport
The department's English list asks for a passport valid for at least three months from the date you apply; its Greek list asks for at least three months beyond the stay you apply for. If the passport runs out sooner, the permit ends three months before it does.
Plan A insurance
Cover for inpatient and outpatient care and for transport of the body, with one certificate per applicant, dependants included.
Migration Department, supporting documents: visitor permit
Your home
A title deed or a purchase document at the Land Registry, a lease "duly certified" (the list doesn't say by whom), or a host's declaration. Bring the original and a copy the first time, a copy at renewal. The list sets no minimum size, rent or lease length.
Its "stamped, where applicable" dates from before stamp duty was abolished on 1 January 2026. The department's forms page carries a form for a host.
Migration Department, supporting documents: visitor permit · Law 239(I)/2025 (CyLaw) · Migration Department, visitor forms
If someone applies for you
A duly authorised representative may hand in your application and collect your permit, but you still attend for your fingerprints, photo and signature. The authorisation runs a year unless you revoke it, and your signature on it is certified.
Migration Department, applying through a representative · Migration Department, authorisation of a representative
Where exactly to apply
In Nicosia district: the department's central offices, without an appointment, first come, first served.
Elsewhere: the police Aliens and Immigration unit in Limassol, Larnaca, Paphos or Famagusta (Paralimni). The central offices serve residents of other districts only through a representative based in Nicosia.
Migration Department, appointments · Migration Department, form MVIS8
Fees for a family
€70 for each person registered for the first time, and €70 per application for the permit.
Migration Department, Visitors and family members
Other fees
€80 to change an entry on your registration certificate.
A lost permit is reported to the police and replaced through a new application. A new passport means applying to renew or reissue the permit, with your biometrics taken again.
Aliens and Immigration Regulations, Law Commissioner's consolidation · Migration Department, Frequent questions · Migration Department, questions on residence permits
Travelling while you wait
If your fee receipt carries a re-entry stamp, show it with your passport when you come back. If it doesn't, you apply for a re-entry permit before you leave, and as a rule it's granted only for serious reasons, such as health.
Migration Department, questions on entry in Cyprus
If it's refused
A letter gives the reasons.
Money
How much money do you need to show?
You show it as money sent from abroad, in your name, into a bank account in Cyprus: at least €2,000 a month or €24,000 a year for one person, 20% more with a spouse and 15% more for each child. Money you send on, abroad or to someone else, doesn't count. For a first application the department also accepts a transfer or deposit of at least €10,000, and its list doesn't say whether that replaces the yearly sum or counts towards it.
A month, one person€2,000
sent from abroad, or €24,000 a year
With a spouse20%
more, for a spouse
Per child15%
more, for each child
With a spouse or children, each of them applies with their own papers: Family.
The detailswhat counts as income · the €10,000 and cash · the two declarations · a family's total
What counts as income
Salary, a pension, deposits in an account abroad, rent, dividends and interest, from outside Cyprus. The three exceptions for income from Cyprus are under Work.
Migration Department, supporting documents: visitor permit
The €10,000 and cash
A cash deposit needs the customs cash declaration. Anyone carrying €10,000 or more in cash into or out of Cyprus declares it in writing to Customs.
Migration Department, supporting documents: visitor permit · Customs and Excise Department, cash control
The two declarations
With the statement, you hand in a declaration of how many family members you'll support here and a summary of your yearly income, on the department's forms.
Migration Department, supporting documents: visitor permit
A family's total
The department gives percentages, not totals, and doesn't say whether a child's 15% is worked out on €24,000 or on the sum already raised for a spouse.
Guarantee
What is the bank guarantee, and how much is yours?
An original letter of guarantee from a bank in Cyprus, in your name and drawn from your own account, valid for at least ten years, to cover the cost of repatriation if it's ever needed. The amount depends on your country of origin. The department's table shows no amount for the UK, so if that is your country of origin, ask it.
Most countries€850
among them the US, Canada, Australia, India and China
Some countries€550
among them Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Serbia
Some others€350
among them Turkey, the UAE, Israel and Egypt
Migration Department, bank guarantee
Find your country in the department's guarantee table.
The detailswho can issue it · at renewal · getting it back
Who can issue it
A bank; e-money institutions operating in Cyprus can't.
Migration Department, Bank Guarantees
At renewal
You hand in a copy of it.
Migration Department, supporting documents: visitor permit
Getting it back
Only for the reasons the department lists, among them leaving Cyprus without the state paying for your removal, or living here legally under another status.
You apply in writing on the department's form, with your file or ARC number and the guarantee's number, and it takes three months on average.
Renewal
How do you keep it: renewal and time away?
The first permit runs a year, less if your passport runs out sooner, and you can renew it while you still meet the conditions. Apply at least a month before it expires, in person: as of October 2026, visitor permits aren't in the online renewal service. As a rule, stay abroad for more than three months and the permit lapses, whatever date is on it.
First permit1year
renewable while the conditions are met
Renew1month
at least, before it expires
Abroad3months
away for longer, and the permit lapses
Sources (4)
Migration Department, visitors · Migration Department, residence permits FAQ · Migration Department, entry FAQ · Migration Department, appointments
If you'd rather not keep renewing, what can follow this permit is below.
The detailswhat changes at renewal · the €6,000 balance · how many times · if you're late · a longer absence
What changes at renewal
- No criminal record certificate or medical tests this time
- Copies, not originals, of the bank guarantee, your deed or lease, and your marriage certificate
- The account statement for the last twelve months
- Everything else on the department's list as for a first permit, with the same application form
Migration Department, supporting documents: visitor permit · Migration Department, form MVIS8
The €6,000 balance
When you apply to renew, the account must hold at least €6,000, whatever the size of the family.
Migration Department, supporting documents: visitor permit
How many times
The department publishes no limit on renewals; each one needs the conditions met again.
Migration Department, Visitors and family members
If you're late
The department publishes no procedure for a late renewal, and staying on after a permit expires without permission is an offence under the immigration law.
Migration Department, Visitors and family members · Aliens and Immigration Law, Cap. 105 (CyLaw, unofficial consolidation)
A longer absence
The Regulations allow a re-entry permit obtained before you leave, as an exception; ask the department before you rely on it.
Aliens and Immigration Regulations, Law Commissioner's consolidation
Family
Can your spouse and children come with you?
Yes: your spouse and your minor children can each apply for a visitor permit as your dependants, each in their own category with their own documents. Their permits run no longer than yours. The money is shown from your account (for a child, yours or your spouse's), and each of them needs their own guarantee and insurance.
What changes for each of you
Your spouse
- Money shown from
- Your Cyprus account
- Bank guarantee
- In your spouse's name, from your account
- Criminal record
- Yes, for the first permit
- Other papers
- Your marriage certificate, and your certified declaration that you cover their costs and home
Your minor child
- Money shown from
- Your or your spouse's Cyprus account
- Bank guarantee
- In the child's name, from your or your spouse's account
- Criminal record
- Not asked
- Other papers
- A birth certificate, and the other parent's consent or a custody order where needed
Migration Department, supporting documents: visitor permit · Migration Department, supporting documents: dependent spouse · Migration Department, supporting documents: dependent minor child
Your spouse's and children's full document lists are on the department's forms page.
The detailswho counts · each applies separately · a child's papers · fees per person
Who counts
A spouse and minor children: those are the visitor's dependants the department names.
Migration Department, supporting documents: dependent spouse · Migration Department, supporting documents: dependent minor child · Migration Department, Visitors and family members
Each applies separately
Each of them applies in their own category on form MVIS8, with their own list, and attends for biometrics; a child under six gives a photo only.
Migration Department, form MVIS8 · Migration Department, Visitors and family members
A child's papers
Medical tests from the country of origin or residence: a skin test instead of an X-ray under fifteen, and none for a child under six born in Cyprus. The birth certificate, and the other parent's sworn consent, a custody order or a Cyprus consulate's certification where needed. Proof of enrolment for a child at school.
Migration Department, supporting documents: dependent minor child
Fees per person
As under In order.
Afterwards
Can it lead to another permit, or to staying for good?
From here you can apply for the digital nomad permit if you start working remotely, or for a permanent immigration permit such as Category F while you keep this one. The department publishes no route from it to a permit for a job with a Cyprus employer. Whether years on it count towards EU long-term residence isn't settled in any published rule.
Permanent routes side by side: permanent residence in Cyprus.
The detailsthe digital nomad permit · the Startup Visa · Category F · a job · long-term residence
The digital nomad permit
You apply at the department in Nicosia. The scheme is capped at 500 permits and asks for at least €3,500 net a month.
Migration Department, Digital nomads and family members
The Startup Visa
The department's Startup Visa page asks anyone here "with a visitor status" to first ask in writing to change it; the request is reviewed within five weeks. The scheme is on the Startup Visa.
Migration Department, Startup Visa
Category F
It's applied for only in Nicosia, and the application gives no right to stay, so keep your visitor permit valid.
Migration Department, Immigration Permits
A job
A job needs an employment permit (a single permit).
Migration Department, Remunerated employment (single permit – GEN)
Long-term residence
The law excludes people who live here solely for temporary reasons, without listing which permits that covers.
Aliens and Immigration Law, Cap. 105 (CyLaw, unofficial consolidation)
Questions
Is the pink slip the same as the yellow slip?
Cyprus government pages list "Pink Slip" and "Yellow Slip" side by side without saying what either is. Whatever the names, this page covers the visitor permit, which is for people from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland; EU, EEA and Swiss citizens register with the department instead.
Registration for EU, EEA and Swiss citizens → the department's registration page
High Commission of Cyprus in the UK, General information · Migration Department, Visitors and family members · Migration Department, registration of EU citizens (MEU1)
Can you travel in the Schengen area on it?
No: the Cyprus government says the residence permits it issues are currently valid only for Cyprus, apart from the residence cards of family members of Cypriot and EU citizens, which with their travel document allow up to 90 days in any 180 in the Schengen area. The permit does let you back into Cyprus without a visa.
How do you know when your permit is ready?
The department sends a letter to the address on your application, and may text you that it's issued. Either way, you collect it from the office where you applied.
Migration Department, form MVIS8 · Migration Department, questions on residence permits
Free for you
Planning a stay on your own money? Tell me where you are.
Where your income comes from, who's coming with you and where you come from decide most of what you prepare. Tell me those things and, if you ask me to and it fits, I'll pass your enquiry to one relocation agency in Cyprus that helps with relocation, company formation and residence permits.
- Tell me your situation below.
- I read it and write one email introducing you to one relocation agency, with you in copy.
- The rest is between you and the agency. There is no obligation.
This form asks for an introduction: I use what you send to answer you and to introduce you to one relocation agency, passing on what you wrote. How I handle it: Privacy