Appointment for MEU 3

[WHL]

I shouldn't think so, Jeba. These days information stored on computers it's easier for immigration officers to access such important information.

Now I got curious and googled. Passenger data are stored for 5 years but can only be accessed

if a serious crime is suspected, such as human and drug trafficking, child sexual exploitation or money laundering as well as terrorism.

(source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 22023.html). I doubt that checking your residence status is a reason.

Why are you so against the authorities of any country checking the status of any body entering their country???????????

[jeba]

I shouldn't think so, Jeba. These days information stored on computers it's easier for immigration officers to access such important information.

Now I got curious and googled. Passenger data are stored for 5 years but can only be accessed

if a serious crime is suspected, such as human and drug trafficking, child sexual exploitation or money laundering as well as terrorism.

(source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 22023.html). I doubt that checking your residence status is a reason.

Why are you so against the authorities of any country checking the status of any body entering their country???????????

What makes you think I am? I was merely surprised data can be stored for longer than 3 months because that used to be the law where I'm from.

[WHL]

Now I got curious and googled. Passenger data are stored for 5 years but can only be accessed (source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 22023.html). I doubt that checking your residence status is a reason.

Why are you so against the authorities of any country checking the status of any body entering their country???????????

What makes you think I am? I was merely surprised data can be stored for longer than 3 months because that used to be the law where I'm from.

Reading your posts, They seem to give me the impression that you are against authorities being able to check on peoples resident status when leaving or entering, the country, if I am wrong then I apologize to you .

[Kili01]

Must say thats how I interpreted Jeba's remarks. I think he may underestimate Cyprus's Immigration dept. In the days before EU membership, Cyprus immigration always used to stamp our passports going in and out of their country. Nowadays, their computers must hold a lot of information.
After the 31Dec, all Brits who do not hold Cyprus valid residency documents, will be limited to a visit of up to 90 days in a 6 month period.

Dee

[trevnhil]

Re checking up on people at the Airport.. I am sure I have read of people being stopped when leaving the country because there were outstanding fines that they had not paid.
I have no 'link' to this information, I just read it in the online news ..

[WHL]

Re checking up on people at the Airport.. I am sure I have read of people being stopped when leaving the country because there were outstanding fines that they had not paid.
I have no 'link' to this information, I just read it in the online news ..

You are correct, there was a guy, cant remember the name who posted recently, who was stopped at Larnaca, and was not allowed to leave Cyprus, because he had unpaid fines, over a grand if I remember correctly.

[josef k]

The people at the airport definitely do check residency status when you arrive. My wife is not an EU citizen, and therefore has an MEU2a, and it is clear from their questioning that they have her full immigration record on the screen in front of them.
It is obvious that, once we are in 2021, they will be paying more attention to the frequency and duration of UK passport holder's stays in Cyprus, both on arrival and departure.

[WHL]

Re checking up on people at the Airport.. I am sure I have read of people being stopped when leaving the country because there were outstanding fines that they had not paid.
I have no 'link' to this information, I just read it in the online news ..

Found it


Re: Almost 2,000 traffic violations in only three days
Post by Paulo » Wed Oct 14, 2020 10:18 am

I have also had several traffic violations over the years (not for a long time though) and I usually pay them quite promptly.
I was travelling through Paphos Airport, a couple of years ago, when I was stopped at passport control and taken to one side. I was informed that I had two outstanding traffic violations dating as far back as 2007, one of these I have no recollection of and the other one I thought I had paid (apparently I was given 2 penalties at the same time and had only paid one of them). In the meantime these had both been to court and accumulated a total balance of €1200!
It was made very clear to me that if I wanted to leave the country I would have to pay this in full, if not I would be arrested and taken to Paphos police station and held until I could appear in court on Monday morning (it was Saturday). As you can imagine I paid up!
My point is, if you don’t pay the fines they will catch up with you eventually and it can turn out to be very expensive.

What’s strange is I usually fly out of Larnaca several times a year and it was only when I tried to fly out of Paphos that I was stopped???

[Diocletian]

To fulfil a majority electoral mandate I would suspect/

In case you hadn't noticed, as most folks with half an IQ have woken up to the realities of Brexit, that "majority electoral mandate" has long since evaporated.

The perceived benefits of Brexit are lying on the floor of the parrot cage, along with poor Polly (deceased).

A typically insulting reply ignoring the fact that the aforementioned mandate was repeated twice, once in the last EU elections and again in the last GE. I would suggest that the ones out of touch with the real world are the insulting voices on here.

Since the actual Brexit has not happened in its entirety as yet, it is a tad premature to suggest that it is dead. As for IQ's....well I will leave that for another of your foot in mouth posts lol

[jeba]

Why are you so against the authorities of any country checking the status of any body entering their country???????????

What makes you think I am? I was merely surprised data can be stored for longer than 3 months because that used to be the law where I'm from.

Reading your posts, They seem to give me the impression that you are against authorities being able to check on peoples resident status when leaving or entering, the country, if I am wrong then I apologize to you .

In general I´m against becoming too transparent to authorities or anybody else. However, I have no problem with the current situation as the data can only be used for fighting serious crime (not just for residence status checks). Also, even though they may be stored for up to 5 years they have to be depersonalised after 6 months:

The Directive provides data protection safeguards, such as:

Sensitive data must not be processed;
Data must be deleted after 5 years;
Data depersonalised after 6 months;

source: https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what- ... nge/pnr_en

[trevnhil]

It would seem from the post I recollected, and that WHL has posted above, that data is not deleted nor is it depersonalised..
" I was informed that I had two outstanding traffic violations dating as far back as 2007, one of these I have no recollection of and the other one I thought I had paid (apparently I was given 2 penalties at the same time and had only paid one of them). In the meantime these had both been to court and accumulated a total balance of €1200!"

If data with names and dates is still available from 2007 then things are not being deleted..

And indeed, why should they be ?? If you obey the laws and rules how can they catch you out on anything ..

[jeba]

It would seem from the post I recollected, and that WHL has posted above, that data is not deleted nor is it depersonalised..

They are depersonalised. The link I gave above is from an official EU website and on a German website (too lazy now to look it up again and translate) I read that it takes a judge´s order to repersonalise them again.

" I was informed that I had two outstanding traffic violations dating as far back as 2007, one of these I have no recollection of and the other one I thought I had paid (apparently I was given 2 penalties at the same time and had only paid one of them). In the meantime these had both been to court and accumulated a total balance of €1200!"

If data with names and dates is still available from 2007 then things are not being deleted..

Data about traffic fines etc have nothing to do with air passenger data. That´s a completely different database.

And indeed, why should they be ?? If you obey the laws and rules how can they catch you out on anything ..

For most people that´s a big if though. E. g. when my mother was diagnosed with cancer I took her back to Germany and spent almost more than 6 months there with her. I´d be quite annoyed if I was a non-EU resident and something like that would backfire on the residency front.

[trevnhil]

Jeba, I am tired of arguing with you
To me depersonalising data means it cannot be linked to a person, and yet above is an example of a fine from 2007 showing up against a mans name..
You say traffic fines have nothing to do with air traffic data.. maybe so. But the traffic fine showed up when the mans passport was checked at the airport..
Re the 6 months rule.. It is there for everyone .. whether they are quite annoyed or not
That's it from me

[WHL]

Agree with trev, personally my view is the more data the authorities have, on who is entering/ leaving the country the better, if you play by the rules you have nothing to fear.

[Pafos]

The ETIAS scheme comes in to play soon. This information will be shared with all European countries, not just Schengen countries. UK passport holders will need to apply for ETIAS approval by 2022. It’s similar to a US ESTA.

https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/etias/

https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/c ... rotection/

Border control will know exactly how long you have been inside the Schengen zone or individual non Schengen country with this system.

I have personally known someone that had a traffic fine in Cyprus that was asked to pay before he was allowed to leave. They also can tell if a Cypriot has completed national service requirements, or if service is outstanding. This works for both entry and exit.

http://www.parikiaki.com/2013/01/cyprus ... ing-fines/

[jeba]

Jeba, I am tired of arguing with you
To me depersonalising data means it cannot be linked to a person, and yet above is an example of a fine from 2007 showing up against a mans name..

To me as well. Now I found the website I previously mentioned and which explains:

PNR data is stored in the PNR information system for five years. Data elements that allow identification shall be made unrecognizable (depersonalized) six months after their transmission.

Depersonalization refers to the process by which those data elements that could be used to establish the identity of a passenger are made invisible to a user. Depersonalization may only be revoked if the revocation is necessary for the prevention or prosecution of terrorist offences or serious crime and if the revocation has been approved by a court of law (or, in the event of imminent danger, by the President of the Federal Criminal Police Office) at the request of the management of the Passenger Data Central Office or its representative.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version), source: https://www.bka.de/DE/UnsereAufgaben/Au ... 8.live0601

Of course, there are datasets helping authorities to screen you when you´re being checked - not only at the airport. These have nothing to do though with PNR (passenger name records) to which the Directive (EU) 2016/681 applies which came into effect in 2018 and according to which data protection laws apply. However, you obviously can´t demand that info e. g. about your outstanding fines will be deleted because otherwise your right for data protection will be violated. That doesn´t mean immigration can access those data after 6 months without a judge´s order.

[Cheshire Lad]

Is there somewhere where I can get a list of the documents required for an MEU3

CL

[bromerzz]

When you go and make an appointment they will give you the list, and in our case they circled the applicable ones based on what we told them at that time.

[trevnhil]

You are given a list at the Immigration office when you go with your passport to make an appointment ..
I suppose everyone's circumstances are different..

[Lofos-Jan]

Is there somewhere where I can get a list of the documents required for an MEU3

CL

[url] http://www.moi.gov.cy/moi/crmd/crmd.nsf ... 0FINAL.doc[/ url]

Jeanne