Since 1974, Cyprus has been split into a north/south divide which has a considerable impact on refugee law and procedure. The north of Cyprus is a de facto state of its own, known as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) – Türkiye is the only country that recognises the TRNC. The Republic of Cyprus (RoC) in southern Cyprus is an internationally recognised state. A ‘buffer zone’ runs through the middle of the island, splitting the capital city Nicosia into two sections. This zone is monitored by the United Nations (UN) but has no formal legal framework of its own.

Cyprus is a party to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which provides the internationally recognised definition of a refugee and outlines the legal protection, and its 1967 Protocol, which expanded the Convention to apply universally and protect all persons fleeing from conflict and persecution. Although the TRNC in theory inherited established domestic asylum law, it has no dedicated refugee legislation and violations of the 1951 Conventions’s provisions preventing punishment for irregular entry have been recorded. 

Neither region of Cyprus is party to the 1954 Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons nor the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. 

Cyprus has been a full member of the European Union (EU) since May 2004, but EU law is suspended in the TRNC. In addition to these international protection frameworks, and as part of the European Union (EU), Cyprus is bound by the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) which aimed at introducing EU-wide standards for the equal treatment and protection of refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers entering the EU. The system is governed by five legislative instruments and one agency:

• Asylum Procedures Directive, aiming at setting out the conditions for fair, quick, and quality asylum decisions; 
• Reception Conditions Directive, providing common standards for reception conditions across the EU;
• Qualification Directive, clarifying grounds for granting international protection;
• Dublin Regulation, establishing the State responsible for examining the application;
• EURODAC Directive, governing the EU database of asylum seekers fingerprints;
• European Union Agency for Asylum, providing operational and technical assistance to EU Member States in the assessment of applications for international protection.

The CEAS has been reformed by the New Pact on Migration and Asylum (the Pact), approved in 2024 and set to take effect in 2026. The Pact presents a complex package of ten legislative files intended to reform the EU’s migration and asylum system by establishing new EU-wide solutions to long-standing migration challenges. 

While the Pact has been presented by EU institutions as delivering the intended results while remaining grounded in European values, human rights organisations and migration experts have long opposed and criticised its reforms. Here you can find a point by point analysis of the Pact by the European Council on Refugees and Exiles.

In addition to its obligations under the aforementioned international instruments, Cyprus is obligated to respect the international customary legal principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits any country from deporting any person to a country where they face the threat of persecution. Violations of this principle have been recorded in the TRNC, with migrants deported after their residency status expires. Similarly in the south, a 2024 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights against Cyprus found violations of Articles 3, 4 of Protocol No. 4 and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which calls into question Cyprus’s compliance with the principle of non-refoulement.

Cyprus’s 1952 Aliens and Immigration Law (Chapter 105) regulates aspects of refugees’ stay in Cyprus such as the marriage of two persons for convenience, who can enter the country freely or not, and deportation information. The law was amended in 2017, bringing the legislation in line with international law, the European Directive 2014/36/EU on seasonal workers, and the European Directive 2014/66/EU on intra-corporate transfers. 

The European Directive 2014/36/EU ensures seasonal workers are entitled to equal treatment with national workers regarding pay, working conditions and social security benefits; and establishes the criteria for obtaining seasonal work permits. 

The European Directive 2014/66/EU defines intra-corporate transferees as encompassing managers, specialists and trainee employees (13). It advocates for labour immigration as it increases competitiveness and economic vitality (4) and welcomes the new skills and knowledge, innovation and enhanced economic prosperity brought with the intra-corporate transfers (6). After being granted refugee status and you are looking for work, the directive facilitates the temporary relocation of managers, trainees and specialists from a parent company to its presence elsewhere in the EU. 

Its 2000 Refugee Law officially implemented and embedded the definition of a refugee, asylum application procedure, and the principle of non-refoulement. It stipulates refugees’ education rights (including high school diplomas) and provides for employment training and work experience programmes. It also outlines the conditions under which refugee status ceases to exist. It was last amended in 2016 to align with the revised EU directive 2013/32/EU (on asylum procedures) and the EU directive 2013/33/EU on reception conditions. In 2004, the Temporary Protection Directive was transposed into the Refugee Law and was activated in 2022. It is available for Ukrainian nationals residing in Ukraine before February 2022, and, provided the individual is in possession of a passport (valid or expired), can be granted a residence permit (one-year duration), medical assistance and access to the labour/ housing market – please refer here for the full conditions.  

Since 2002, the Asylum Service of the Minister of Interior has been the primary decision-maker for the Refugee Status Determination (RSD) process, after taking over responsibility from UNHCR. UNHCR remains involved in refining and improving the asylum legislation and procedures in Cyprus. In January 2016, a new Administrative Court began to operate judicially to review asylum decisions and now the two bodies interact to determine claims. The initial decision is made by the Asylum Service of the Ministry of Interior; if the application is rejected at first instance, the individual can appeal to the International Protection Administration Court (IPAC). Before the establishment of IPAC, the former authority of RSD was the Refugee Reviewing Authority. Though it exists nominally, the IPAC now assumes most of its role. If the application is rejected at second instance, constitutionally there is a general right to file a recourse against the second instance rejection to the Supreme Court of Cyprus though these are usually unsuccessful. 

The 2005 Refugee Regulations (also known as the 2005 Reception Conditions Regulations) outline reception conditions for refugees, such detailing the obligation of the government to provide housing throughout the period of the asylum application – more information can be found here: EU Directive 2013/33/EU. Additionally, the 2000 Legal Aid Law outlines the right to legal aid under Article 5.

Articles 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, and 19 of Cyprus’s Constitution detail a person’s rights pertaining to right to life, freedom from degrading treatment, security of person and conditions of unlawful detention, rights before court, freedom of movement, and freedom of speech. Recent case law precedents have seen these rights upheld in refugee contexts. 

There is no official asylum legislation in the north – UNHCR’s proxy Refugee Rights Association (RRA) aims to fill the legal void. Initially, the RRA held status determining interviews with the aim of facilitating third-country resettlement. Third-country resettlement became less important with Cyprus’s EU membership and from 2014, UNHCR stopped issuing refugee certificates and replaced them with certificates identifying applicants as a ‘person of concern’. This allows refugees to stay in the TRNC, but it does not have legal status in the RoC and does not validate border crossings. 

Under exceptional circumstances in 2019, the RRA organised a shuttle service across the border for the large number of Syrian refugees in TRNC but immigration law amendments later that year required people from Syria to apply for a visa prior to arrival in TRNC, closing this channel. 

The Asylum Information Database (AIDA) provides a summary of the relevant legislation and policy in Cyprus, which you can find here.