Cyprus shifts from migration crisis to labour needs

Irregular migration falls 92 per cent as Cyprus seeks workersCyprus is trying to turn migration from something associated almost exclusively with crisis into part of the solution to the country’s labour shortages, Deputy Migration Minister Nicholas Ioannides has told the Cyprus Mail, as irregular arrivals have fallen by 92 per cent from their 2022 peak. At the same time, the government is preparing for more Syrians to return home, opening legal routes for foreign workers and trying to overhaul a migration system long associated with tortuous bureaucracy and delays. Pournara migrant reception centre had just 142 people staying there when Ioannides visited this week. By the beginning of 2022 there were over 3,000 there. Irregular arrivals fall 92 per cent Asked how Cyprus had achieved such a dramatic reduction in irregular arrivals, Ioannides said there had been no single measure responsible. “It was a sequence of events and essentially a web of policy measures. It was not something that happened with one action,” he said. He pointed to increased surveillance of the Green Line, cameras, sea patrols, faster asylum procedures and returns. “Previously, someone could submit an asylum application and remain for years until it was examined. Now applications are examined within weeks or a few months,” he said. Together, the measures sent a message to smugglers and to people coming from designated safe countries that Cyprus could no longer be used to enter the asylum system and remain for years while a claim was examined. At one stage, he said, around 80 per cent of asylum applications were considered abusive. Deputy Migration Minister Nicholas Ioannides – ‘if you are a foreign national in Cyprus you need to have a reason to be here’ An information campaign was also carried out in sub-Saharan Africa after the government concluded many people travelling to Republic via Turkey and then the occupied north did not understand where they were going, with some believing Cyprus provided a route onwards to central Europe. When asked whether there had been cooperation, even indirectly, with Turkey, Ioannides said there had been no direct contact. “There was none, but representations were made by the European Commission, which we requested, because as you know we have no diplomatic relations with Turkey and it does not recognise us,” he said. Turkey itself had also tightened its migration policy. “We now have a 92 per cent reduction in arrivals compared with 2022, which was the peak.” Asked whether the reduction could instead largely be explained by developments in Syria, Ioannides rejected the suggestion. “It is not accidental that the flows have fallen, because the smuggling networks continue to exist,” he said. People are still arriving from countries including Somalia and Congo, while some Syrians continue to arrive, now mostly single men rather than families. “The fact that the war stopped in Syria does not mean that people are no longer being smuggled.” Cyprus is working with other countries and Europol against trafficking networks, he said, pointing to Lebanese authorities stopping a boat carrying 25 migrants which was preparing to travel to Cyprus last week. “So these are not coincidences. It is targeted policy, cooperation with third countries, cooperation with EU member states, cooperation with Europol.” A drone view of the Pournara migrant reception camp Green Line route largely closed The Green Line, once the main route for irregular arrivals, has also largely ceased to be one. Authorities believed the Green Line arrivals constituted a coordinated attempt by smuggling networks to direct migrants into the Republic. “We also have videos showing movements in the occupied areas, showing people guiding them to come,” Ioannides said. “It had nothing to do with the profile of those people. We have given protection to thousands of people. That was not the issue. The issue was to stop the smugglers.” Anyone reaching the Republic can still apply for asylum, he said, but faster procedures mean those coming from countries considered safe may receive a decision within weeks. Since the beginning of 2026 more than 4,000 people have been either repatriated or deported. Syrian returns remain controversial The government’s position on Syrians is likely to remain among the more controversial elements of its migration policy. Around 5,500 Syrians have so far returned voluntarily since hostilities in Syria ceased. Asked whether voluntary return really meant people were simply deciding themselves that it was safe to go home, Ioannides said circumstances varied. Most had withdrawn their asylum applications or given up their protection status. Others have had applications rejected, while in some cases protection status has been revoked because of offending behaviour or because the conditions for protection were no longer met. “If you are a foreign national in Cyprus, you need to have a reason to be here,” he said. Ioannides firmly rejected the argument that Syria as a whole remains too unsafe for returns. “I cannot accept that Syria is not a safe country from the moment these people came under the previous government, that government has changed, they are Sunnis in their majority and they are not persecuted in their country,” he said. “What exists are difficult living conditions, but living conditions do not establish a right to asylum.” He stressed, however, that Cyprus did not intend simply to send people back and end its involvement. “This is not black and white,” he said. Cyprus has supported the lifting of EU sanctions against Syria and has strengthened contacts with Damascus. “We are trying to help the country in various ways. It is not that we simply send people back and do not care.” The government is also working with the International Organisation for Migration on a reintegration programme for Syrians returning home. “We want to make sure there is a smooth reintegration into society.” Pressure on Cyprus’ reception system has meanwhile eased dramatically. In addition to the 142 people now in Pournara, down from a high of more than 3,000, the Kofinou facility currently accommodates around 500, mainly families. There are around 12,000 asylum applications pending. The number of unaccompanied minors has also fallen sharply, from around 1,100 when the deputy ministry was established in 2024 to about 350 today, of whom 132 live in ministry accommodation and the remainder with foster or extended families. Deputy Migration Minister Nicholas Ioannides on a recent visit to the Kofinou migrant facility From asylum to legal work The discussion over Syrians feeds directly into another problem facing Cyprus, its shortage of workers. Asked whether Syrian returns could worsen labour shortages, particularly in construction, Ioannides said a scheme introduced last year allows one member of a Syrian family to remain in Cyprus with a work permit while the rest return voluntarily. “We are not going to remove everyone en masse,” he said. But Ioannides repeatedly drew a distinction between labour migration and asylum. Cyprus needs foreign workers Cyprus needs foreign workers, he said, but wants them to arrive through legal routes. The government has signed a bilateral labour agreement with Egypt and is preparing a similar agreement with India, allowing employers to recruit workers through official channels. Asked why, if Cyprus is short of workers, asylum seekers already here could not simply be given wider access to the labour market, Ioannides described it as “a reasonable question”. Asylum seekers can work, but only in specified sectors. “When someone comes to ask for asylum, the primary concern is to protect them from the danger they face in their country. They do not come to work,” he said. Widening access too far, he argued, could encourage people to use asylum as a route to employment and create unfair competition for employers recruiting legally. “The reason the framework is restrictive is so that it does not become attractive, ‘come, let us apply for asylum in Cyprus so that we can work’,” he said. “The asylum system is not forever.” Asked what Cyprus now wants from legal migration, Ioannides said foreign labour had become essential. “We want to cover sectors which are important for the economy and for the competitiveness of the country, which cannot be covered by Cypriots,” he said. Ioannides said it was absolutely necessary to have foreign labour (Depositphotos) With unemployment among Cypriots around 4 per cent or lower, he said, the shortage was not simply a question of locals refusing certain jobs. “Therefore it is absolutely necessary to have foreign labour.” Asked about criticism that Cyprus operates a migration policy at two speeds, one for wealthy foreigners and another for poorer migrants, Ioannides disagreed. “I would not say that. There are different categories of migrants and different criteria.” Investment based residence permits are themselves subject to extensive checks, he said. He also dismissed the suggestion that religion played a role in determining which workers Cyprus sought to attract. “We already have Egyptians working here, we have Syrians, we have Muslims. There is no issue of religion.” The bigger challenge may ultimately be how those who remain are integrated. A national strategy for the integration of legally resident migrants was approved by cabinet earlier this year, with measures covering language learning, skills, knowledge of Cyprus’ institutions and way of life and efforts to tackle stereotypes. Ioannides acknowledged that public attitudes hardened during the years of high migration pressure. “We always had foreigners in Cyprus,” he said. “But with the refugee crisis, particularly from 2021 onwards, there was a lot of social tension because we really had too many people. A small island could not cope with so many.” That pressure, he said, was felt in hospitals, schools and neighbourhoods. He pointed to public reactions to foreign workers gathering at Limassol’s seafront on their day off. “When we make an announcement that people have been deported, we hear, ‘go and look at the Molos’,” he said. “I try to explain that those people you see at the Molos on Sunday are not illegal. They are workers who have their day off.” “When you explain it, people understand.” Asked about Ukrainians and what happens when the EU’s temporary protection system eventually ends, Ioannides said support would not abruptly stop. The longer term aim is to gradually move Ukrainians who remain into other forms of legal residence, including employment-based permits. “But certainly we will not leave these people without protection in any way.” Cyprus is also implementing the EU Migration and Asylum Pact, which Ioannides described as an important milestone, particularly for frontline states which had faced disproportionate pressure. Digitising legal migration For him, however, one of the most important changes at the deputy ministry is receiving far less attention, the digitisation of legal migration. “The poor relative of the public discussion around migration is what is happening with legal migration,” he said. “We believe in the developmental role of migration, so we want to improve the procedures because people suffer from bureaucracy, complicated processes and paperwork.” Employers and households can already renew permits for some workers and domestic helpers online, with more services to be added. The aim is for most of the Migration Department’s legal migration work to be carried out online by the end of 2027, with applicants eventually able to track their applications electronically. Ultimately, Ioannides said, the government wants to change how migration itself is understood. “We want to turn migration into a solution,” he said. “When people hear migration, they have negative connotations. They think of a full Pournara, criminals, terrorists, people who want to exploit the system and receive benefits.” “But most migrants are here to work. They are law abiding, they contribute to society and they contribute to the economy.”