Those Brits considering gaining Citizenship be informed;
The Republic of Cyprus has introduced significant amendments to the law that govern naturalisation of foreign nationals based on years of residence in Cyprus.
These changes, published on December 19, 2023 in the Official Government Gazette, have immediate effect and have raised the bar further by including additional criteria and requirements that have to be met by applicants prior to being eligible to apply for Cypriot citizenship.
The dreaded 'Language test' being the main obstacle to most Brits I've met!
Cyprus raises bar further for citizenship
Re: Cyprus raises bar further for citizenship
Personally i think knowing a certain degree of the local laungage is a good thing not only for cyprus but also for anyone wanting UK .citizenship
Re: Cyprus raises bar further for citizenship
Just to put the cat amongst the pigeons, Turkish is a national language. If they introduce the obligation of speaking a national language, they would have to accept Turkish. This brings me to a question: there are many official websites with both Greek and English available, but very few with Turkish. In my opinion, ignoring an official national language is possibly illegal. Go to an official counter and speak to them in Turkish! The president of Cyprus is the official representative of the whole country, as acknowledged by the United Nations – can he speak Turkish? Cat among the pigeons?
Re: Cyprus raises bar further for citizenship
I'm sure if you wanted citizenship and only spoke Turkish it would be acceptable as Greek and Turkish are the Two official languages of the Republic, I know someone who is a greek cypriot who is studying Turkish at his secondary school in Larnaca, so I don't think things are quite as bad as you are trying to paint them Devil.Devil wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2024 11:38 am Just to put the cat amongst the pigeons, Turkish is a national language. If they introduce the obligation of speaking a national language, they would have to accept Turkish. This brings me to a question: there are many official websites with both Greek and English available, but very few with Turkish. In my opinion, ignoring an official national language is possibly illegal. Go to an official counter and speak to them in Turkish! The president of Cyprus is the official representative of the whole country, as acknowledged by the United Nations – can he speak Turkish? Cat among the pigeons?
Re: Cyprus raises bar further for citizenship
Hi,
The Language test is (as you would expect) is the ability to speak Greek to a certain level of competancy.
Speaking a second language is generally not easy for us Brits, even less so for those of advanced years!
Learning this not so simple language in your 60's,70' or 80's, I consider well nigh impossible, hence my initial comment.
As to the benefits of Citizenship, it provides you (amongst other benefits) with a cypriot passport giving full access without visa (and their associated rising costs) to European countries.
How attractive this is for senior citizens is down to the individual to judge.
The Language test is (as you would expect) is the ability to speak Greek to a certain level of competancy.
Speaking a second language is generally not easy for us Brits, even less so for those of advanced years!
Learning this not so simple language in your 60's,70' or 80's, I consider well nigh impossible, hence my initial comment.
As to the benefits of Citizenship, it provides you (amongst other benefits) with a cypriot passport giving full access without visa (and their associated rising costs) to European countries.
How attractive this is for senior citizens is down to the individual to judge.
Re: Cyprus raises bar further for citizenship
Seems fair enough, but I tried to learn the language and got floored by the grammar this requires. Now I have a MUKW3 which is a BioMetric Card. I am wondering if this will be more useful than the old MEU3 was if traveling elsewhere in Europe?
