Cyprus Employment permits to employees of companies of foreign interests (IBC)

The Council of Ministers, with its Decision of 7.10.2020, reviewed the policy regarding the issuance of temporary residence and employment permits to employees of existing and new companies of foreign interests (IBC) registered in Cyprus, as well as companies that have joined the  Fast Track Business Activation Mechanism.

The main differences from the previous policy are as follows:

  • For new companies to be registered, an investment of €200.000 is required (previously investment was €171.000).
  • For new Directors, the minimum salary is now set to €4.000 and for new Key Personnel to €2.000
  • A new category of employees is created, called Specialists (in addition to the Directors, Key Personnel and Supporting Staff). Companies are entitled to employ third-country nationals in professions / with skills as listed in Table below:
#Professions / Skills
1Software and System Engineers
2Application and Data Architects
3Information and Communication Technology and Enterprise Solution Architects
4Technical Assurance Professionals
5Telecom and Space Engineers
6Data scientists
7Machine Learning Engineers
8Web Developers and designers
9UX User Experience Professionals
10Quantitative Analysts
11Quality Assurance Analysts
12Mobile Application Developers
13Augmented Reality/ Virtual Reality Programmers
14Digital Marketing Specialists
15Video Production Multimedia Specialists for Mobile Apps and Software
16Analysts for Mobile Apps and Software
17Designers of Prototype for Mobile Devices
18DevOps Engineers
19Cyber Security Specialists
20Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Big Data Specialists
21Pharmaceutical Formulation Technologists
22Pharmaceutical Engineer Validation Specialists
23Pharmaceutical Patents Specialists
24Pharmaceutical Regulatory and Quality Assurance Professionals
25Marine Engineers
26Naval Architects

The minimum acceptable gross monthly earnings for Specialists is €2.000, an amount that can be adjusted from time to time, depending on fluctuations in the wage index.

The maximum number of third-country employees per staff category, as per new policy:

Staff CategoryMaximum allowed number
Directors5
Middle management executives and other key personnel10
SpecialistsBased on annual turnover*

≤1 million: 5

>€1 – €3 millions: 10

>€3 – €5 millions: 20

>€5 – €10 millions: 30

>€10 – €20 millions: 50

>€20 – €30 millions:100

>€30 millions: 200

* For eligible companies that relocate to Cyprus and have joined the Fast Track Business Activation Mechanism, the turnover that will be taken into account will be the one of the company’s abroad. This will be valid for the first two years of operations in Cyprus. Following the first two years, the annual turnover of the company in Cyprus will be taken into account.

Support Staff30% of the total staff (will be reviewed by the Department of Labour during the labor market test).

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