Abubakar Uthman granted legal status by TRNC Prime Minister

Important regulations were made with the Foreigners and Immigration (Amendment) Law No. 61/2024, which entered into force with the initiative of TRNC Prime Minister Ünal Üstel. 

The decree published in the Official Gazette on Tuesday August 27 stated that the young people living in the SOS Children's Village who do not have an ID card will be granted citizenship, while Abubakar Uthman, who was living in the country without permit, was also provided with legal status.

With the initiatives of Prime Minister Ünal Üstel , Abubakar Uthman, a well-known figure in Lefkosia, northern Cyprus, was granted legal status after being arrested for living without permit for 16 years. In addition, an amendment was made to the Law No. 61/2024 on Foreigners and Immigration (Amendment) in order to grant citizenship to the young people in the SOS Children's Village.

The prime minister in his statement said with the Foreigners and Immigration (Amendment) Law, which entered into force on July 11, 2024, a regulation was made by reducing the penalties for people with various statuses who were subject to immigration penalties, but in practice, there were new demands and a number of measures were taken by evaluating this in order to eliminate some grievances.

Prime Minister Üstel noted the following in his statement:

"In order to prevent the loss of income to be obtained by the State, applications were made in accordance with other rules specified in the Foreigners and Immigration (Amendment) Law No. 61/2024 and within the scope of the amnesty period in order to enable the collection of accumulated fines.

In our country, those who are under the age of 18 (eighteen) or over the age of 18 (eighteen) and are in the SOS Children's Village and/or under the protection of the State, those who have left the SOS Children's Village and/or under the protection of the State and are residing in the country and are sentenced for any reason, those who are sentenced due to lack of residence permit in the country, children under the age of 18 (eighteen) who are sentenced in the country, disabled persons specified in the Residence Permits and Visas Regulation are exempted from the remaining fine on condition that they pay a fine of 10% of the current 1-month gross minimum wage.

Those who are abroad but have family ties (spouse, mother, father, sibling, child) in the TRNC and whose entry is prevented after being found to be in the TRNC without permission are exempt from the remainder of the fine on condition that they pay 1 minimum wage.

The Decree Having the Force of Law prepared in this direction was published in the Official Gazette on 27 August 2024 and entered into force.