#Asylum seekers

At 23.9 applicants per 100,000 people, Cyprus recorded the second-highest rate of asylum applications in the European Union in August 2025, Eurostat said on Monday. Across the EU, most first-time applications were submitted ...

A small boat with a total of 21 Syrian nationals on board arrived in Cyprus, near the village of Rizokarpaso, on Thursday morning. The 21 people, all male, were spotted by the ...

Cyprus has relocated more than 3,000 asylum seekers to nine different EU member states between 2022 until September 2025, the deputy ministry of migration said on Thursday. “The relocations are being implemented in ...

Deputy Migration Minister Nicholas Ioannides on Thursday presented the relaunch of the ‘voluntary repatriation plan‘ for Syrians, set to open on June 2, in response to the collapse of the Assad ...

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a habeas corpus ad subjiciendum demand for release filed by an international protection applicant, who had admitted various crimes, including murder, to the police. ...

A group called ‘Syrians in Cyprus’ has called for the partial lifting of a freeze on asylum applications from Syria, saying in letters to the interior minister and deputy migration ...

The new migrant centre in Limnes, near the Larnaca district village of Menoyia, is to be completed by the end of the year, Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades said on Wednesday. ...

Cyprus has recorded the highest ratio of departures to arrivals among EU member states in 2024, with a rate of 179 per cent. A total of 10,941 people left the country in the ...

A number of Syrian nationals in Cyprus are eyeing a return to their home country, Deputy Minister for Migration Nicholas Ioannides said on Monday after President Bashar al-Assad’s fall ...

All migrants who were stranded in the buffer zone have been removed from the site, the deputy migration ministry confirmed on Saturday, putting an end to months of wrangling. A ...

Any asylum seeker who commits a crime will have their subsidiary protection status revoked, Deputy Minister of Migration Nicholas Ioannides announced on Thursday. His statements were made after a Cabinet ...

A group of Syrian asylum seekers has addressed an open letter to key government officials, including President Nikos Christodoulides, House president Annita Demetriou, and Deputy Minister of Migration Nikolas Ioannides, ...

The government on Wednesday denied carrying out pushbacks, arguing its migration policy is in line with EU and international law. Its defence came a day after a damning European Court ...

Making agreements with Lebanon to stem the tide of would-be refugees is misguided, Associate International Law and Human Rights’ professor Aristotelis Constantinides said on Wednesday. The UCy expert made the ...

The Republic of Cyprus was on Tuesday ordered to pay around €50,000 in damages to two asylum seekers for degrading treatment and pushback as they sought refuge in Cyprus from Lebanon, ...

Human Rights Watch on Wednesday called on the EU to hold Cyprus accountable for its treatment of migrants, as it documented cases of beatings, pushbacks and excessive force as migrants ...

Cyprus received 29.9 applications from first-time asylum seekers for every 100,000 people in May 2024 compared to its population, according to data published by Eurostat on Tuesday. The drop in first-time asylum applications ...

There are over 14,000 pending asylum-seeker applications from Syrian nationals, the UNHCR confirmed on Tuesday as the EU Commission said any efforts to return Syrians to their home country must be ...

Cyprus is among eight countries that have asked the EU to rethink its strategy on migrants from Syria, in a letter seen by the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) on Monday. ...

The government is to make refugees who are granted asylum in Cyprus wait a full five years before allowing them access to the guaranteed minimum income, according to a bill ...

Syrian asylum seekers in Cyprus are waiting up to five years for their applications to be processed, a human rights report revealed on Friday. In the report, Ombudswoman Maria Stylianou ...

The Cyprus government ‘doesn’t have a leg to stand on’ by leaving migrants stranded in the UN buffer zone for close to a week, sources close to the matter ...

President Nikos Christodoulides said on Sunday that Cyprus “cannot accept any more Syrian refugees”. In an interview with the Editor Network Germany (RND), he said “we are not in a ...

Two more migrant boats have been spotted on Monday by Cyprus’ port police, it emerged. Authorities said that one boat had 37 migrants on board and was seen off the coast ...