In 2017, Cyprus granted a residence permit to 18,971 non-EUcitizens, according to data published by Eurostat, the majority to citizens ofIndia and Russia.
A residence permit is a permit issued by the competentauthorities of a country, allowing non-EU citizens (also known as third-countrynationals) to remain in the territory for at least 3 months.
According to the report, the main reasons for issuingpermits are employment opportunities (1.01 million), family reunification(829.9 million) and educational opportunities (530 million), while “otherreasons” (766.8 million .) covers stay without right to work or internationalprotection.
The largest number of permits were issued to citizens ofUkraine (662 thousand); almost three times more than the number of Syriancitizens (223 thousand); the second largest number.
During 2017, Cyprus granted a residence permit to 18,291non-EU citizens (also referred to as third-country nationals) from:
India - 4710 (24.8%)
Russia - 2883 (15.2%)
Nepal - 1,406 (7.4%)
Philippines - 1,317 (6.9%)
Sri Lanka - 1759 (5.5%)
Others - 15,330(47.6%)