½ûÂþÌìÌÃ

@ricolo I don't know where you come from and how they treat there the inmigrants at inmigration office. All over Europe inmigration offices are made to work bad and not to welcome the inmigrants. So 50 minutes wait, in my eyes, it's not worth even to write a comment. Just keep the hope that you don't need to come back to this office in the next few years.

When I see public administration offices working deliberately that bad way, how they push people to pay lawyers several hundred euros for a simple procedure to give some stamped documents, there is a smell of corruption in the air. And I will not continue to talk about it, just like I said, hope not to come back to this place in many years.

Hi, I have lived in several countries and waiting is a game they all play, I find that taking a good book to read the time passes quickly, so you kill two birds with one stone, read your book and get your immigration sorted.

In Saudi they always make you wait, just waiting for your reaction, so when you quietly sit down and start reading you can see they don't really know how to handle it and usually process things quite quickly.

@ricolo Vienna, Austria has some really bad immigration issues, especially in the winter when its  cold, wet or snowing. Before COVID you had to be to be in the queue way before 5am for a change to be seen. The office would open at 8am. You had to collect a number from the machine. There would be only tickets up to 250. Past that you would have to come back in the afternoon (if the office was open), or come back the next day.

Having only experienced immigration depts in. Malta and Cyprus...I'd say those two were the same in terms of efficiency and attitude ....

If you think that wait was long now go and try the transport office!

I was deliberating what I would do when I retired finally. I am not one for day time TV and gardening is OK but not every day. Especially in the heat of Cyprus. I prefer not to become an accidental alcoholic so spending my time sitting in the various air conditioned offices of the Cypriot authorities and meeting people is a great start lol Maria and her team in Paphos customs are always interesting to chat with. Then there are the other poor souls waiting in line. Problem is I still actually work and only have mornings up to 11am to get all the authorities sorted. Good job they open early here! I expect that I will have retired by the time I get all this sorted so I need to get looking for a sail boat to occupy my time :-) as they say in jamaica irie man

That's exactly the thing everyone needs to look at when retirement comes a calling.. especially those who are fortunate enough to retire early ....

Many people retire and then find they are not ready to retire and find themselves at loose ends so they then look for some form of employment to keep the gray matter ticking over... Some take up charity volunteer work and there are animal welfare charities, refugee charity, McMillan and other charitable groups like St Michael's hospice.. and sure there are lots of others.. plenty of sporting activities too 

Here is my latest on the very poor immigration service here in Cyprus. I have been waiting 10 months for my Biometric ID card and it has still not arrived. I am trying the SMS service on a regular basis and the information you get back tells you nothing. I have also tried emailing the immigration people and never got a response.

Last week I visited the Paphos immigration office and they were about as useful as a chocolate fireguard. But, they did give me a contact number for the Nicosia Immigration office. So this week, I emailed Nicosia again on Monday, and today on Thursday I had confirmation that the email had been delivered, delivered not read. Since Monday I have tried to ring Nicosia at least 4 or 5 times a day at various times, with around about 20 calls so far this week. Every time I get cut off after about 10 minutes of waiting.

On Tuesday I contacted the high commission to see if they could help. What I got back was a boilerplate email talking about Brexit rules and some links to the UK Government website, again not helpful.

So, it looks like all I can do is sit and wait, I do have my renewal appointment in September maybe the card will come before then.

Frustrated from Newcastle

we were considering making an appointment with the Immigration office in Nicosia to see if I can break the log jam on getting our ID cards. Does anyone think that would help.

I do of course need to ring for an appointment first, does anyone know the lead time for appointments at Nicosia immigration.

I have my renewal appointment in 8 weeks.

we were considering making an appointment with the Immigration office in Nicosia to see if I can break the log jam on getting our ID cards. Does anyone think that would help.
-@MacGeorge8035

It's worth a try.

@MacGeorge8035 I did speak to an young guy while at the immigration office on Tuesday. He asked me how things were at the paphos office. He said last year he went to Nicosia and was there for 10 minutes and done. Might be worth a try.

For the past 2 years my residence card has been issued 1 month before the previous one expired, so you might get it real soon.

Always worth a punt.    But as Ricolo has said maybe wait till september.....

My partners yellow slip has expired in July he has been pestering for to get a new appointment but was told immigration won't give office we use an appointment. My slip runs out November do you think I should start applying now for an appointment as I go back to UK for Xmas am frightened they won't let me back into Cyprus if I at least don't have official appointment date

Why can't you get an appointment ? You simply email the appropriate dept to get one.

I would be chasing the expired residency renewal  as a priority ....otherwise you could be regarded as an overstayer and that usually means a penalty or ban or both

As for your renewal I would be applying for a renewal date now.. otherwise it may well.mean starting the whole process again.....

Good luck ..

@mbohills57 We were advised to apply for a renewal appointment 3 months before our temporary resident permit expired. This is what we did and we have our appointment to renew 2 weeks before our current residency permit expires. Don’t leave things hanging, getting appointments with immigration can take a while. Either email or ring immigration. If you ring one of the following numbers +357 22 308808 or +357 22 308811 this will get you through to immigration to make an appointment.

Thank you for those phone numbers!

Thank you for information which I will act upon but one more question. When you get to immigration office to you need someone with you ie a solicitor or do you just fend for yourself .last time I had someone from CC&A with me

Toon ,CC&A are saying that immigration are not giving appointments???

Really...and the explanation for it is what exactly .... Overloaded maybe ...

Have you tried yourself ....

@MacGeorge8035 ty for this info once at appointment to you have to fend for yourself or will there be someone on hand to help ???

If you are doing it yourself you are on your own.. better to pay one of the many "fixers" to help you take the anxiety frustration and potential delays and revisits out of the process

@mbohills57 I am not sure where you are living in Cyprus but if you are living in the Paphos region I suggest you speak to someone like Peter Savvas or Gwennys they will help you get sorted. At one time you could book an appointment online, but that was stopped after it was being abused by Agents and Lawyers you now have to ring or email immigration for an appointment.

@MacGeorge8035 ty for all the information I have been to CC&A today and the lady that deals with it is not back in office till 22nd Aug so in meantime I am going to try sort one for myself on numbers you passed on and if lucky I have just to back to them with details and hopefully all will be sorted.Cant thank yous all enough for the help in trying to deal with it

Good luck...

If your calls do not get an appointment I would call the other fixers like Gwenny's Red Tape etc. and cast your net a bit wider. Might also be worth exploring one of the other immigration offices as they might be less busy. Keep us posted and good luck

@Toon Thank you

@MacGeorge8035

Hello. I am dealing with immigration every week. In Nicosia you don't need an appointment for Visitor permit. But have in mind that if you are residence of any other city than Nicosia you must go through an agent or a Lawyer. You just go there (better go there before 10:00) and  get a number from the entrance. Be careful as they only give 140 numbers per day, there is a chance they will not give you number if you go there late. For the examination procedure and the issuance of cards don't expect any big differences. If you are lucky you will get it one month earlier than from Paphos. Hope my information will help you.

OK here is my update on completing my residency renewal in Paralimni. The Immigration office here is in a much more modern building and it's much cleaner and a lot less crowded. There also apprars to be more stuff so the whole place just seems less frantic compared to Paphos. Our renewal from arrival to having our photo and fingerprints taken took around 35 minutes.

That sounds good. I bet it will not be 35 mins when I renew mine in Paphos lol

@phildraper Maybe i was lucky and went on a good day

@MacGeorge8035

Sound like heaven rather than the black hole Hell of Paphos

@Toon just to rub it in there is a reasonable amount of parking as well

Go for it mate ...Paphos shortcomings need to be highlighted .

@ricolo

I did the equivalent in Santiago for my Chilean Residence Permit some years ago. No appointments issued, first come first served. We anticipated a line, and got there 45 minutes before opening time. But too late, there were already a few hundred people, and the line went way down the street. We didn't get to the front until the early afternoon. Fortunately, they'd adopted the modern innovation of giving folks a ticket/number when they get inside the office, so at least we could sit down while waiting. :-)