TRNC Ministry of Interior introduce new developments on resident permit for students

The TRNC Ministry of Interior has introduced new developments which have been put in place for foreigners and students in the country.

1) International students would have a 40 day period commencing from the expiration of their student permit (30-09-2019) during which to commence the procedure to renew their student permits. During this 40 day period there will be no daily penalty. It is important to note that this 40 day period has been in effect since October 1, 2019.

2) During this 40 day period, students whose resident permits expired on the 30th of September, 2019, are exempted from visa fines if they leave the country, and back to the TRNC, within the 40 day period. 

3) However, those who leave the country after the 40 day period without renewing their expired residency permits would be subject to procedures dating to the expiration date of their permission and there would be no exemption. (This means if you leave the country after this 40 day period without renewing your residency permit, you would have to pay a daily fine which would include the 40 days. For instance, if you were to travel after this 40 day period, your penalty would include the daily penalty for 40 days plus the extra number of days after the 40 day period.

4) It is important to note that students from Nigeria, Syria and Armenia who leave the country without renewing their residency permit within this 40 day period, would still require a visa to re-enter North Cyprus, within the said period, but without any penalties. Reason being that students from the above mentioned countries need a visa to enter North Cyprus. While the visa rule applies to these students, point 3 above also applies to them if they have left the TRNC after the expiry of their residency (i.e. 40 days penalty + extra number of days after the 40 days period)

**Although this is not included in the document below, we would like to advise international students to commence the residency permit during this 40 day period while we seek avenues to try to solve the issue of the drastic increase in the amount of money paid to obtain the student residency permit. We are trying our best and our members are working tirelessly toward this aim.

Over the next couple of days and weeks we will be calling on all international students to join us as we pressure the authorities for change!

VOIS Cyprus

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