6 Myths About Cyprus Entry Rules: Visas, Formalities, Tips

For more than two decades, Cyprus has been one of the favorite places for a beach holiday among Russians. Most charter and regular flights from Russia operate to Larnaca Airport, a number of airlines also fly to Paphos. In other words, you can only get directly from Russia to the Greek part of the island (accordingly, most tour operators offer hotels here).

As you know, since 1974 Cyprus has been divided into two parts - Greek and Turkish. The Republic of Cyprus (the Greek part of the island) is an internationally recognized state, which is today a member of the EU. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus - today, de jure, not recognized by the world community, however, de facto really existing and pursuing its own independent policy, including attracting foreign tourists, whose number is constantly growing.

The Greek and Turkish parts of the island are separated by the so-called "green line" - in fact, a full-fledged border between states. And for a long time there were a number of difficulties for crossing it, but after the entry of the Republic of Cyprus into the EU, most of the restrictions were lifted. And the transition from one part of the island to another began to take a few minutes. Temporary restrictions on staying in the "occupied territories" have also disappeared.

However, a Russian tourist who arranges a tour in one agency or another can often receive outdated, if not fantastic, information about various kinds of bans on visiting the northern part of the island. Agencies also often sin by ignorance of the rules for entering and staying on the Greek part of the island, not to mention the Turkish part. Let's take a closer look at the most "popular" myths about Cyprus.

Myth #1. If you have issued a Cypriot visa directly on the website of the Cypriot consulate (Pro-Visa, issued online, duration of stay - 90 days), you are required to fly to Cyprus only from Russia and only by direct flight.

In fact, you should separate the rules of airlines carrying passengers, and. For the migration service of the Republic of Cyprus, it does not matter where and how you arrived. The main thing is that you must fulfill the requirements for persons applying for a visa online, i.e. enter the country through the international airports of Larnaca and Paphos.

Important! With Pro-Visa, you cannot enter the territory of the Republic of Cyprus through land checkpoints or through seaports!

The problem, in fact, is represented by air carriers, especially European low-cost airlines, which are not always aware of the visa policy of Cyprus. Therefore, it is worth contacting the airline in advance and clarifying whether its employees know what a Pro-Visa is and whether there will be any problems when boarding a flight. If there are problems at the airport when checking in for a flight, insist that the airline employees contact the migration service of Larnaca airport.

Myth number 2. You cannot enter Cyprus on a Schengen visa, you need to apply for a national visa.

The visa regulations of the Republic of Cyprus state: foreign citizens who have valid Schengen visas of category C (double or multiple entries), long-term visas of the Schengen countries or a residence permit, as well as short-term visas of Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia (double or multiple entries) in their passports can arrive in Cyprus and stay on the island on the basis of these visas (the period of stay is limited to the number of days specified in the visa). At the same time, a national visa of the Republic of Cyprus is not required.

Therefore, it is impossible to enter Cyprus on a Schengen visa only in two cases:

• a tourist has a single-entry Schengen visa,
• the tourist has a double-entry Schengen visa, but all trips have already been exhausted.

Myth No. 3. You can apply for a Cypriot visa, but fly to the Turkish part of the island, and then enter the Republic of Cyprus by land.

In fact, such entry from the point of view of the immigration rules of the Republic of Cyprus is illegal. If a tourist who has entered the island in this way tries to leave it through the airports or seaports of the Greek part, most likely he will have to communicate with the migration service (in practice, no one was detained for more than 2 hours) and subsequent blacklisting - with the following requests to the consulate of Cyprus, such a tourist will most likely be denied a visa.

By the way, from the point of view of the legislation of the Republic of Cyprus, those tourists who, having entered the territory of Greek Cyprus, left the island through the Turkish part, also violate the law. In the future, the tourist will also have problems with obtaining a Cypriot visa and entering the Greek part of the island.

Myth number 4. Those who flew to the Greek part of Cyprus cannot stay in the Turkish part for more than three days. (As an option - "you can cross the border, but you need to return on the same day").

Indeed, there were previously temporary restrictions on staying on the Turkish part of the island, but these rules were canceled when the Republic of Cyprus joined the EU. To date, there are no time and quantity restrictions for crossing the border and staying tourists on the Turkish part of the island.

Checkpoints between the two parts of the island operate around the clock. There are currently seven of them:

• in the capital of Nicosia, the checkpoints are located next to the Ledra Palace Hotel and in the middle of the pedestrian Ledra street,
• in the west of Nicosia is the checkpoint of Ayios Drometios (Ayios Dhometios),
• 40 minutes drive from Larnaca and Ayia Napa are the checkpoints of Ayios Nikolaos and Pergamos,
• two checkpoints - Astromeritis (Astromeritis) and Zodeia (Zodeia) - are located in the north-west of the island near the city of Morphou.

Myth number 5. Entry and exit from one part of the island is not fixed anywhere.

When crossing the border from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus to the Republic of Cyprus, the Greeks carry out random checks of the passports of incoming foreigners. At the same time, passports are scanned and entered into the database. Without a Cypriot visa, as well as in the presence of stamps of Northern Cyprus, you will not be allowed into the Greek part of the island.

On the Turkish side, foreigners' passports are also scanned and entered into the database. In this case, entry and exit stamps are not set. The practice of affixing stamps on a separate sheet has been abolished.

Myth No. 6. Northern Cyprus Airport does not have an IATA code and you can fly here only from Turkey.

The main air gate of the Turkish part of Cyprus - Ercan Airport - has international status, and, accordingly, the IATA code is ECN. KA here the second part of the statement is true - today direct regular flights to this airport are operated from the territory of Turkey. However, this does not mean that flights from other countries are not organized to Ercan: in the summer, charter flights are operated from Berlin, Dusseldorf, Glasgow, Manchester, Munich, Ljubljana, Budapest, Paris, Vienna and many other European cities. But all of them involve a transfer at one or another airport in Turkey.

If you still have questions, ask them on the Travel.ru Forum. We will help you understand all the nuances.

Katriona Kopylova