Cyprus starts granting residency to Belarusians with expired passports

Source: Radio Svaboda

Belarusian citizens with expired passports can now obtain and renew residence permits in Cyprus, the office of Cyprus’s deputy migration minister told RFE/RL’s Belarusian service, Radio Svaboda. The decision by Cypriot authorities took effect in May 2026.

Children born on the island to Belarusian parents who cannot obtain Belarusian passports for them are eligible for a residence permit based on a Cypriot birth certificate, provided both parents are Belarusian citizens.

The deputy minister’s office could not say whether time spent in Cyprus while holding a residence permit issued on the basis of an expired Belarusian passport would count toward the residency requirement for Cypriot citizenship. It referred journalists to Cyprus’s Interior Ministry, which handles naturalization.

Radio Svaboda also noted that international travel remains a problem: a Cypriot residence permit does not replace a passport or another travel document, and, on its own, it does nothing to address the issue of leaving the country for Belarusians with expired passports.

In September 2023, Belarusian embassies and consulates stopped issuing new passports and renewing old ones. Anyone seeking a new passport or a renewal must now travel to Belarus.

As a result, some Belarusians living abroad cannot renew their documents, since returning home puts them at risk of criminal prosecution. That causes them all kinds of problems. A Polish bank, for instance, refused to open an account for Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya because her Belarusian passport had expired.

In some countries, such as Spain, authorities recognize Belarusian passports even after they expire.

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