#Irregular migration

Deputy migration minister Nicholas Ioannides welcomed the European Union’s new deal to enable faster return procedures for irregular third-country migrants, speaking of a “landmark agreement” that strengthened the credibility ...

The risks surrounding Wednesday’s raid targeting illegal migration had been fully assessed, though an element of unpredictability always remains, Larnaca police chief Ioannis Kapnoulas said on Thursday. Speaking to ...

A third-country national suspected of leading an organised migrant smuggling network has been arrested on Thursday, following what officials described as targeted operations against illegal immigration. Officials described the suspect ...

Approximately five per cent of Cyprus population are refugees, ranking the island first among the three countries recording the highest share of immigrants in the European Union, a report by ...

Twenty-two migrants have died off the coast of Greece after spending six days at sea in a rubber boat, the Greek coast guard said in a statement late on Friday. ...

Parliament on Thursday began discussing a government bill that will overhaul the law governing migrants and asylum seekers, drawing heavily on the European Pact on Migration and Asylum. According to ...

The police immigration office arrested 19 illegal foreigners of various nationalities on Wednesday morning in Paphos, in the framework of a coordinated operation. According to the police, procedures for their repatriation ...

Combating illegal migrant smuggling remains a daily operational challenge, deputy migration minister Nicholas Ioannides admitted on Thursday, Speaking at Europol’s joint parliamentary scrutiny meeting, Ioannides said the government had ...

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 32-year-old man who kicked a policewoman in the eye last Friday has been remanded in custody for three days by the Nicosia district court, police said on Tuesday. The ...

A new migration management centre was opened in the north on Thursday, with the aim of allowing the Turkish Cypriot authorities to better manage the phenomenon of irregular migration. In ...

A man was handed concurrent prison sentences, the longest of five years, for aiding and abetting 31 illegal immigrants from Syria entering the Republic of Cyprus by sea. The attorney-general’s ...

The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) is to receive €1.7 million worth of upgrades following the issuance of a grant by the interior ministry’s directorate of European funds. The funds ...

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 ...

Police have requested the cooperation of the bicommunal crime committee in the ongoing Potamia case from its outset, the force said on Thursday. They have also requested the help from ...

The barbed wire placed in Cyprus’ buffer zone near the villages of Akaki, Peristerona and Astromeritis to kerb migrant flows “will be removed within January”, Migration Deputy Minister Nicholas Ioannides ...

A total of 146 individuals found to be residing in the Republic illegally were returned to their countries of origin in the past week, police said on Monday. In total, 80 people ...

Cyprus’ strategy surrounding migration is largely focused on two core points: returns and integration, Deputy Minister of Migration Nicholas Ioannides said on Saturday. In a speech to the Demographics Institute ...

Concerns were raised in the House legal committee on Wednesday over the looming end of the fixed term contracts signed by police officers who patrol the Republic’s side of ...

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 ...

A total of 6,800 who were residing illegally in Cyprus have been deported or repatriated so far in 2024 as part of efforts to return third-country nationals to their countries of origin, ...

The government is being sued for migrant pushbacks over the dozens of asylum seekers still stranded in the buffer zone, while the deputy migration minister remained defiant on Wednesday saying ...