Foreign companies and criteria for employment in Cyprus

Articles on Cyprus and its naturalisation and residence permit regime have been recently published in previous issues of this journal.

For the new reader, it must be briefly mentioned that Cyprus is a member of the European Union and euro zone. It is the third-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and lies at the crossroads of three continents, namely Europe, Africa and Asia.

The residence permit that may be granted by exception upon the criteria referred to in previous articles does not entitle a successful applicant to carry on any kind of work in Cyprus, or derive income from sources on the island. Hence, the criteria of establishing a company with foreign participation and the employment of third-country nationals (TCNs) by such a company are laid out in this article. A TCN is a person not being a national or resident of an EU member state.