Visa requirements and document checklists are a tricky subject when it comes to travel and tourism. On one hand, most of this information is public. On the other – it is often hidden deep in government websites, or not available in English, etc.
Visa List is an excellent website with a really easy user interface, which presents all that information and more for 238+ countries.
Excellent work!
CNA shares some interesting news:
A proposal promoting startups visa, aiming to attract entrepreneurs from non-EU countries will be submitted to the next meeting of the Council of Ministers for approval, Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades has said.
Addressing a graduation ceremony of IDEA, a starup programme co-founded by Bank of Cyprus and CIIM, the President also announced that a proposal from the legal framework for university spinoffs, liking academic research with entrepreneurship will be tabled within the next three months.
“We believe that the Cypriot startup visa will be one of the most competitive and will bring multiple benefits in the medium-term both as regards new jobs as well as promoting innovation and research and the boosting the competitiveness of our economy,” the President said.
Of course, knowing how long things take in this country (especially if the government is involved) and how twisted they get by the implementation time, one shouldn’t hold one’s breath. But there’s hope, if nothing else…
Cyprus News reports … and Cyprus breaks out into celebration.
CYPRUS has drawn up plans to take in up to 200,000 refugees from the fighting in Syria, where the crackdown by government troops against opposition forces has intensified in recent weeks.
While the figures are a worst-case scenario, the number is equivalent to a quarter of the island’s population, a huge burden at a time of economic upheaval.
Cyprus Updates reports:
According to an article in Phileleftheros newspaper almost four thousands of aliens who were illegally in Cyprus last year left on their own, while many others were deported by decree of the Ministry of Interior.
According to Immigration Department figures from the last year 669 illegal immigrants presented themselves voluntarily at airports in Cyprus and asked to return to their countries. All of them had come to the free areas though illegally occupied North and nobody knew about their presence here. The majority were mainly Syrians and Moldavian, while the rest were from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India and China. Another 3,332 illegal aliens who either came to Cyprus through legal channels but their residence permits expired, or were asylum seekers, but their request was rejected and remained illegally on the island, also left voluntarily.The phenomenon of voluntary departures large wave of illegal immigration is mainly attributed to lack of employment and increase unemployment, but also the fear that sooner or later be arrested by the Police.
I am somewhat familiar with illegal alien situation in Cyprus. And in my personal opinion, police has not much to do with it. Police was never effective enough to scare people off the island. I think pretty much the only factor that is involved here is economy. When people from poorer countries could get in here, get a job, and earn enough money in summer season to take them through winter, when jobs are less, or enough money to survive in Cyprus and support their families back home – that was a good enough reason to break the law. After all, what’s going to happen in the worst case? They’ll put you in jail for a few days until they figure out where you are from and arrange the deportation, and then they will send you back home. Oh, boy, that’s scary. Right.
In the last few years the situation in Cyprus changed quite a bit. Tourism is down. Businesses are closing. Jobs are less. And life is getting more expensive. These are the factors that make people leave. Not the police.