BRITS TREATED LIKE ‘ILLEGAL SETTLERS’
BRITISH expats living in the TRNC are being treated by the Greek Cypriot authorities like “illegal settlers” the head of the British Residents Society (BRS) has said.
BRS chairman Peter Wilkins told this newspaper yesterday that he has been made aware that South Cyprus is “intending to refuse entry via their airports” to any British citizen who has “previously ‘overstayed’ by putting a ‘stop’ on their passports for an unspecified length of time” from October 1 onwards.
“There will not be a central register that travellers will be able to access to check whether they are on this list,” he said.
“We believe that this is aimed at UK citizens who reside in the TRNC, who they regard as illegal settlers.
“As yet we are unaware of how this will affect UK citizens wishing to enter the RoC [Republic of Cyprus] via the Green Line crossings, but we believe that we will know more on Monday after a meeting with the British High Commissioner [Stephen Lillie].”
The situation regarding nonTurkish Cypriot UK passport holders travelling to and from the TRNC via South Cyprus airports has arisen because the UK is no longer part of the EU.
Since the Brexit transition period came to an end on December 31, 2020, Brits are only allowed to stay in “Cyprus” for up to 90 days in a 180day period without a visa.
The UK advises that the “Republic of Cyprus authorities may count time spent in the north of Cyprus towards the 90-day visa free total” and that “if you overstay, you may potentially face difficulties at the airport on exit or re-entry”.
The rules were not put to the test, however, until June of this year, when the border between North and South Cyprus was reopened to the general public and tourists for the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
At the time Cyprus Today reported that expats in the TRNC could start to encounter problems from September onwards due to the 90-day rule.
Some British travellers who recently returned to the TRNC via Larnaca airport claimed they were told they would “banned” from reentering.
One man who had travelled with his wife for an eight-week stay in the TRNC said: “When my wife presented her passport the official spotted that she had two old and expired temporary resident visa pages.
“He immediately went into a rant about the TRNC and referred to 1974. He also said she had overstayed on the last visit, which we did as we were stuck here for nine months due to not being able to get a flight to the north of England . . . He said he would give us 14 days and then we must leave the country from their ports/airports otherwise we would be put on a blacklist and banned from the RoC forever!”
Mr Wilkins added: “I can only imagine that our members are pleased and relieved that the UK has moved Turkey from the ‘Red’ list to ‘Amber’ as this will allow them to travel to the UK without the worry and stress of having to cope with rude and belligerent officials at Larnaca and Paphos airports.”
Meanwhile the United Nations has announced that as of 8am on Monday, people who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will no longer be required to provide a negative test result to cross the “Green Line”.
Under the “Level 2 (Orange)” rules, unvaccinated people will need to provide negative rapid or PCR tests that are not more than 72 hours old, “with the exception of high school students and people residing in Kato Pyrgos who will instead need a seven-day negative rapid test or PCR test” a statement from the UN’s spokesperson in Cyprus said.