Cyprus after Brexit: the visa and healthcare questions we hear most

Once you’ve decided Cyprus is where you want to be, the questions shift fast: how long can you actually stay, what happens to your healthcare, can you keep working? Brexit changed the answers to all three. We get asked these three things more than almost anything else, so here’s where things currently stand.

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What changed after Brexit?

Before 2021, this whole conversation didn’t really exist. British buyers moved to Cyprus more or less as they pleased, EU citizens among EU citizens. Now, as a third-country national, your passport gets you 90 days in any 180-day stretch and nothing more – after that, you need permission to stay, in one form or another.

It sounds bureaucratic but once you know which route applies to you, it’s a relatively straightforward process – and we can help you find the right one for where you are right now.

If you’re not ready to commit yet: the Temporary Residence Permit

Most people don’t leap straight from “we love it here” to permanent residency. There’s usually a year or two of easing in – viewing trips, getting to know a neighbourhood, working out whether the life you’re picturing actually fits.

That’s exactly what the Temporary Residence Permit, still known locally by its old nickname, the Pink Slip, is for. It lets you and your dependants stay for longer than 90 days at a time, is valid for a year, and can be renewed annually. It won’t let you work, and you can’t be outside Cyprus for more than around three consecutive months without risking it being cancelled – small print worth knowing before you book a long trip home.

To qualify, you’ll need to show an income from outside Cyprus of at least €24,000 a year for a single applicant, rising by 20% for a spouse and 15% per child, along with an initial transfer of roughly €10,000 into a Cypriot bank account. You’ll also need valid health insurance covering inpatient and outpatient care, plus repatriation, as one of the required documents – something worth arranging before you apply rather than after. None of this is designed to catch you out – it’s simply proof that you can support yourself while you’re there.

When you’re ready to stay for good

Once you’ve bought and you know Cyprus is home, permanent residency is the natural next step.

There are two doors here. The standard one, Category F, is based purely on income rather than the size of your investment, with a statutory minimum of around €9,568 a year, plus roughly €4,613 per dependant, though that’s the legal minimum and in practice, expect to show more, plus a property or rental agreement. It suits people who aren’t in a hurry, because right now it’s a slow route – processing has been running into years rather than months.

If timing matters more to you, buying a qualifying new-build property opens up a considerably faster path to permanent residency, typically decided within a matter of months rather than years. Read a full breakdown of exactly what that route requires – the investment threshold, the income test, what counts as a qualifying property – in our guide to gaining residency by buying a property in Cyprus.

Working, and running a business, on the island

Third-country national status also reshapes how you can work. Before Brexit, EU freedom of movement meant you could simply take up a job in Cyprus; now, as a third-country national, you need the right visa to do that. What surprises people is that owning a business is a different matter entirely: Cyprus company law puts no restriction on foreign shareholders or directors, so you can own and direct a Cyprus company remotely, often with a local director handling day-to-day matters. The distinction to hold onto is that owning the company is one thing; relocating and actively working inside it yourself is another, and that second part still needs the appropriate work-permit route.

is far simpler. If your salary comes from a UK employer and your work happens on a laptop rather than for a Cypriot company on Cypriot soil, there’s nothing stopping you doing that from a terrace with a sea view instead of a kitchen table in the rain.

Remote working isn’t automatically covered by the Temporary Residence Permit, so if you want to work from the island for a UK employer or overseas clients, you’ll usually need Cyprus’s separate digital nomad visa instead. It asks for a stable monthly income of at least €3,500 from remote work and is issued for a year with the option to renew for up to two further years.

Sorting your bank account early

Wherever you start the process – from Cyprus or from your kitchen table back home – having a Cypriot bank account is more important than you might expect. Because your residency income and deposit requirements need to be transferred from abroad and evidenced through it, opening one early isn’t just a good idea, it’s the thing that keeps every other application moving.

You don’t need to be on the island to get started. Many people appoint a Cypriot lawyer under power of attorney before they’ve even booked a flight, so the paperwork carries on while the rest of life carries on as normal at home.

The tax picture has actually improved

There’s good news on the tax front: stamp duty on Cyprus property purchases was abolished entirely from 1 January 2026. So, if you’d read up on this a couple of years ago and mentally filed away a stamp duty bill as part of the cost of buying, you can cross it off!

Beyond that, there isn’t much more to keep track of. New-build property carries VAT – 19% as standard, or a reduced 5% if it qualifies as your main residence. Resale property carries no VAT but does carry transfer fees, charged on a sliding scale and halved compared to the old rates. Whichever category your purchase falls into, it’s worth asking your lawyer to run the actual numbers before you commit, since new-build and resale purchases are taxed in different ways.

Healthcare: what changes the moment you become a resident

Healthcare works differently once you become a resident.

Your GHIC card – the card that replaced the old EHIC – still works in Cyprus, but only for temporary visits. The day you become a resident rather than a visitor, GHIC stops applying, and you’ll need to register with Cyprus’s own state system, GESY, instead. GESY isn’t free, but it works on a gentle co-payment basis rather than asking you to fund everything privately, and if you’re a UK State Pensioner, an S1 form means the UK covers your GESY contribution instead of you paying it yourself, though the same small co-payments still apply. For a full walkthrough of registering with GESY, seeing a doctor and what things actually cost day to day, read our guide on how to access healthcare in Cyprus.

Many people choose to have private international cover alongside GESY, mainly for the flexibility – shorter waits, a wider choice of specialists, and the ability to skip the referral queue. We work with Cigna Global, whose plans range from core hospital cover through to more comprehensive options, with dental, vision and outpatient treatment (including prescriptions) available as add-ons depending on what matters to you. Because pricing depends on your age, location, medical history and the cover you choose, Cigna doesn’t publish a flat price – you can get a personalised quote in a couple of minutes instead, so you know exactly what your own cover would cost before deciding anything.

A pre-existing condition doesn’t need to be a dealbreaker, either. Insurers typically offer a few routes through it: a moratorium approach, where recent conditions are set aside for a period before being reconsidered; full medical underwriting, where a questionnaire determines any exclusions; or continuation cover if you’re moving from a UK or employer policy, which can often carry your existing cover across with little further underwriting. It’s worth talking your own history through with a provider directly, since the right route varies from person to person.

Conclusion

None of this is meant to be intimidating, and if it feels like a lot laid out end to end, that’s just because there’s a fair bit to plan for. In practice, most people move through this a step at a time – bank account, health insurance, permit, property – and find that each step is more manageable than it looked on paper.

If you’d like a clearer picture of how these pieces fit your own plans, our property consultants talk through exactly this kind of thing every day, and Smart Currency Exchange can also help you plan the transfers involved – whether that’s your residency deposit or the funds for the property itself – so the numbers move as smoothly as the rest of the process.