Employment Permit
Options for European Citizens
Options for Non-European Citizens
For a company to employ non E.U. nationals it must be a Cyprus company of foreign interests.
A company is considered to be of foreign interests when the majority of the company’s shareholders are non-E.U. nationals. In the case of shareholders whose beneficial owners are foreign companies, evidence of identity of ultimate beneficial owner/s should be submitted with the Civil Registry and Migration Department (CRMD).
a. The company should operate from their self-contained offices in Cyprus, which should be located in suitable distinct premises, not part of a private residence or another office, except from cases of companies that share lodging.
b. When the company applies for the employment of their first non E.U. national they must submit, among others, the following with CRMD:
- Constitutional documents in original
- Profile describing the nature of the company’s business and activities
- List of employees
- Documents evidencing the chain of ownership
- Deposit of €200.000 to be made by the shareholder with funds originating from abroad.
- Title deed or rental agreement of the office premises.
I. Executive director. This includes directors of partners, general managers of branches and subsidiary of overseas company and department managers of companies operating from Cyprus for at least two years.
Criteria:
The minimum acceptable monthly gross salary is €4000. Applicant must be at least 24 years old with suitable qualifications evidenced by relevant documentation.
This includes non-executive directors, middle management/executive staff and other managerial or technical personnel.
Criteria:
The minimum acceptable monthly gross salary is €2000. Applicant must be at least 24 years old with suitable qualifications evidenced by relevant documentation.
This includes the following professions:
- Software and System Engineers
- Application and Data Architects
- Information and Communication Technology and Enterprise Solution Architects
- Technical Assurance Professionals
- Telecom and Space Engineers
- Data scientists
- Machine Learning Engineers
- Web Developers and designers
- UX User Experience Professionals
- Quantitative Analysts
- Quality Assurance Analysts
- Mobile Application Developers
- Augmented Reality/ Virtual Reality Programmers
- Digital Marketing Specialists
- Video Production Multimedia Specialists for Mobile Apps and Software
- Analysts for Mobile Apps and Software
- Designers of Prototype for Mobile Devices
- DevOps Engineers
- Cyber Security Specialists
- Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Big Data Specialists
- Pharmaceutical Formulation Technologists
- Pharmaceutical Engineer Validation Specialists
- Pharmaceutical Patents Specialists
- Pharmaceutical Regulatory and Quality Assurance Professionals
- Marine Engineers
- Naval Architects
This includes any other type of personnel not covered by the above.
Criteria:
For this category, the companies should first seek to employ local or EU personnel.
- The employment permit for non-E.U. nationals is issued for a maximum of two years and may be renewed at such intervals indefinitely.
- The applications for renewal of permits are submitted to the CRMD together with a certificate of the annual movement of the company’s accounts that prove the normal functioning of the company by the Registrar of Companies and the tax clearance issued by the Inland Revenue Department in addition to list a of documents provided upon request.
- The company is capped at five (5) executive directors and (10) middle-management staff and specialists based on annual turnover:
- ≤€1 million: 5 employees
- >€1 – €3 millions: 10 employees
- >€3 – €5 millions: 20 employees
- >€5 – €10 millions: 30 employees
- >€10 – €20 millions: 50 employees
- >€20 – €30 millions:100 employees
- >€30 millions: 200 employees
- List of documents for company and personnel may be provided upon request.
- The anticipated processing times by the CRMD following submission of the application for employment permit are as follows:
- First employ and company registration: 20 business days
- Any other employ and family members: 20 business days
- Work permit renewal applications: 20 business days
- B. General Employment
- C. Intra-corporate Transfer
- D. Start-up Employment Permit
- E. Family Reunification Permit
- F. Visitors Permit
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