CONFUSION OVER RESIDENCY RULES
● BRITISH RESIDENTS SOCIETY SEEKS ‘URGENT CLARIFICATION’ FROM GOVERNMENT REGARDING ‘CHANGES IN THE CRITERIA FOR RESIDENCY PERMITS’
● CONCERNS RAISED OVER ‘INCOME REQUIREMENT OF THREE TIMES MONTHLY MINIMUM WAGE’
● THE FOREIGN RESIDENTS GROUP CALLS FOR ‘CALM’, STATING THAT THERE HAVE BEEN ‘NO RECENT CHANGES IN THE RULES AND REGULATIONS’
THERE was concern and confusion among expat residents of the TRNC this week after the British Residents Society (BRS) said it had been made aware of “changes in the criteria for residency permits”.
A notice sent to members of the BRS said it is “urgently seeking an official meeting and very much needed additional information and clarity surrounding these changes”.
The BRS set out a list of 11 “key major changes as we see them just at this particular moment in time”.
According to the information provided by the BRS, the “very key important change” states that if an “applicant for an immovable property residency permit holds title deeds in their own name, then they will need to submit evidence of monthly income, equivalent to three times the TRNC National Minimum Wage”.
The gross monthly minimum wage in the TRNC is currently 9,885TL, equivalent to about £470 based on an exchange rate of around 21TL to the pound, meaning a monthly income of over £1,400 would be needed to meet the criteria as stated by the BRS.
In contrast the full new State Pension in the UK is £185.15 per week, or roughly £800 per calendar month, while those from the UK who reached state pension age before April 6, 2016, and are on the full basic State Pension receive just £141.85 per week, or approximately £615 per calendar month.
The BRS added that a “new class of residency permit is now available for applicants who can demonstrate a monthly income figure equivalent to five times the TRNC National Minimum Wage” but said that “how this new class of residency permit interacts with property ownership is not stated”.
The BRS also said that the residency regulations “no longer appear to identify an entitlement to a residency permit for applicants who either rent or lease property” and that “applications for residency permits must now be submitted within 30 days of arrival, even though an entry visa may have been granted for a longer period of time upon arrival”.
It said that “there now appears to be no exemption for applicants aged 60 years or over needing to submit ‘a clean medical report’ within their application” and that “a clean medical report must now be delivered to the department within 30 days of the date of the application”.
Other points raised by the BRS in its notice said that “applications for immovable property residency permits for the first three years will now only be issued for a maximum period of one year at a time” and that “as from the fourth application, twoyear residency permits can be issued, but only if the applicant is in possession of title deeds in their name”.
The BRS added: “There is no longer any reference to
savings and or deposit accounts being able to be used as an alternative to a current account monthly income-based account.”
The statement said the BRS “fully recognises that the above may be worrying and cause some members concern” and to “bear with us, until such time as we can seek urgent clarification and the missing detailed information that we need”.
The information was also shared on social media, sparking “panic” among some residents.
The Foreign Residents (TFR) group yesterday issued a statement regarding the matter, saying that people should “stop panicking”.
The TFR said its secretary Caroline Houghton had visited the Interior Ministry yesterday and was “reassured that there have been no recent changes in the rules and regulations regarding residency permits”.
A message regarding residency rules was also shared by the TRNCbased Ex Pats Consultancy Service, after the BRS issued its notice, which said: “Many people have panicked about information recently shared elsewhere. I confirm that the income requirement for renters is still 3x the minimum wage.
“The rules published on the Ministry of Interior website stating 5x minimum wage is what was initially required by the rules when they first came into operation in 2019. They were then changed to 3x for those who rent.
“Any changes to the law do not come into operation until they are publicised in the TRNC Official Gazette.”