# How easy is it for an American to immigrate to Cyprus?



## Polypterus (Aug 17, 2011)

Hi all. I’m a native born US citizen (currently still in the US) and I just wanted to get some idea if it would be possible to immigrate to Cyprus. I’m mainly interested in Cyprus, well ... because it looks cool  Also it’s less travel distance to visit my relatives in Lebanon and my wife’s relatives in Kyrgyzstan. On the down side I don’t speak Greek (or Turkish for that matter). On the up side my finances are decent. I could live jobless if needed although I would really prefer to work at some point. I’m a very experienced software engineer, if that makes a difference. 

Right now I’m just kind of checking out my options (assuming I have any), so any advice is welcome. Thanks in advance.


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## philly (Feb 5, 2010)

Polypterus said:


> Hi all. I’m a native born US citizen (currently still in the US) and I just wanted to get some idea if it would be possible to immigrate to Cyprus. I’m mainly interested in Cyprus, well ... because it looks cool  Also it’s less travel distance to visit my relatives in Lebanon and my wife’s relatives in Kyrgyzstan. On the down side I don’t speak Greek (or Turkish for that matter). On the up side my finances are decent. I could live jobless if needed although I would really prefer to work at some point. I’m a very experienced software engineer, if that makes a difference.
> 
> Right now I’m just kind of checking out my options (assuming I have any), so any advice is welcome. Thanks in advance.


Hi there

Having friends who are in the same biz as you I must say they have found it very very hard to find any type of work here

Currently Cyprus is at an all time low regards to jobs etc with no sign of things getting any better - iin fact most people believe it will get worse before better

I would come for a holiday prior to moving here to see for yourself the situation here

HTH


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## Polypterus (Aug 17, 2011)

philly said:


> Hi there
> 
> Having friends who are in the same biz as you I must say they have found it very very hard to find any type of work here
> 
> ...


Thanks for the reply. As I said I can get by without a job if needed. Currently I have my own game project going which is nearing demo stage and I've got a few leads on some funding when that's complete. If things go well I might actually hire some more programmers. But that's not a sure thing yet. 

I would defiantly take your advice and come there for a vacation first. I mainly wanted to see if I had any options for getting permanent residency there since I'm not an EU citizen. Do you have any pointers in that department?


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## Cleo Shahateet (Feb 23, 2009)

Polypterus said:


> Thanks for the reply. As I said I can get by without a job if needed. Currently I have my own game project going which is nearing demo stage and I've got a few leads on some funding when that's complete. If things go well I might actually hire some more programmers. But that's not a sure thing yet.
> 
> I would defiantly take your advice and come there for a vacation first. I mainly wanted to see if I had any options for getting permanent residency there since I'm not an EU citizen. Do you have any pointers in that department?



The long term residence visa is required for a stay of up to one year and is applicable to employees and self-employed people which it seems you are. It can be renewed yearly. As a US citizen you only need to have a valid passport for visitors' entry to Cyprus - no visa is required - for a stay of up to 90 days. However for the long term visa applications should ideally be made before arrival. I would contact the Cyprus Embassy in DC just to be sure on all details regarding your situation. And do visit before you move!
Official Website of the Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus in Washington D.C.


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## Nilla (Jul 28, 2011)

Polypterus: I lived a lot of places in Europe and as far as I know no EU countries issue permanent residency for US citizens or allows them to work unless they have a business invitation from a large company or are married to an EU citizen. I doubt Cyprus is any different but I could be wrong. 

I moved to Cyprus from Prague and I know many Americans who work there for places like PriceWaterHouseCoopers and Avast, but they came with their visas sorted before they left the US. There's a lot of Americans working in post-communist Europe in the tech industry, when communism fell two decades ago companies started setting up there because the infrastructure was quite good and wage costs were low. For someone with your skill set this would be a good way into the EU because in eastern Europe there is work in this field and it pays well, cost of living is low and these countries are far more interesting to live in.

Also I work with game related software. Me and my fiancee moved to Cyprus two months ago to work on our online company, we just wanted a quiet place where you could basically work 14/7 for a year without any distractions. 

We got here a month before the power station exploded which nobody could have predicted, but after that followed the power cuts, 2-3 times a day for 2-3 hours at the time. To make matters worse they were unscheduled. The days sort of float into one for me here, but I think it took them 3 weeks to release an actual schedule and create a service where you got an sms just prior to a cut so you had time to shut your equipment down. For the past week there hasn't been any so it looks like it's sorted and it seems this area was hit worse than most, but it says something about the infrastructure. 

Another problem when it comes to technology is getting the equipment. Electronic stores here only hold the very basics, and they're several models behind and overpriced. As an example here I went to Paphos (3rd largest city) to buy a headset, spent 3 hours looking until I found one (quite possibly the only headset in Cyprus). It was a piece of garbage for 35 euro but it was all I could find, I looked up the recommended price online and it was 7 euro. 

You have to order everything online, the largest place we found is Singular Computers, and they don't keep things in stock but it's flown in from Germany. The delivery time for us has been 8 days both times and it would only be a day or two less if you lived in a larger place here, still paying way more than you would anywhere else in Europe. And God forbid you forgot a cable or something simple you wouldn't think about because then you're back to waiting another 8 days 

Large companies would not set up in a place like this so that's why people who come here looking for work in this field will not find it. Nor will you find anyone to talk to who understands anything about it. Just something to keep in mind even if you could live here because it might drive you mad.


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## Cleo Shahateet (Feb 23, 2009)

Nilla said:


> Polypterus: I lived a lot of places in Europe and as far as I know no EU countries issue permanent residency for US citizens or allows them to work unless they have a business invitation from a large company or are married to an EU citizen. I doubt Cyprus is any different but I could be wrong.
> 
> I moved to Cyprus from Prague and I know many Americans who work there for places like PriceWaterHouseCoopers and Avast, but they came with their visas sorted before they left the US. There's a lot of Americans working in post-communist Europe in the tech industry, when communism fell two decades ago companies started setting up there because the infrastructure was quite good and wage costs were low. For someone with your skill set this would be a good way into the EU because in eastern Europe there is work in this field and it pays well, cost of living is low and these countries are far more interesting to live in.
> 
> ...


Agreed that you will find it very frustrating to get things done and buy what you need as it does take forever and it is very expensive compared to the US. There are some people who will understand as many Cypriots have studied and lived in the US and UK but the problem is finding them to help you.


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## Polypterus (Aug 17, 2011)

Hmmmmm. Thanks for the info guys. I suppose I'll just have to visit and see what it's like for myself. I'm pretty self-sufficient computer wise. I currently have a lot of equipment and I can probably change out the power supplies to 240 (at least on some of it). However not being able to purchase smaller items is somewhat of an issue.


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## Nilla (Jul 28, 2011)

Sorry Cleo if I sounded like one of those people who like to move somewhere and calls everyone an idiot, I'm not like that and I find people here very nice in general. I've met several bright young Cypriots, my point was simply that there wouldn't be many opportunities for people who studied in these fields so they would have no choice but to leave a lot of the time. And I haven't met everyone on the island either, nor do I think Peyia is representative of the whole country. 

When it comes do the outrageous prices on electronics here I don't have an issue with that either, I knew it before I got here, and to be honest I would charge the same prices myself if I could. Anything that's not mainstream electronics would be a niche market here so nothing strange about it, and no sensible person would expect a small island nation to work like London. Maybe a little bit faster though 

But the power cuts are annoying if you work with expensive electronics because they can break, and if they do it's also difficult to replace them here. And i did notice even before the explosion that you get those flicker cuts that just lasts a few seconds from time to time at night, for most people this is not an issue but if you've set up files to upload or render it's hours of work lost and worst case broken pc.


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## Polypterus (Aug 17, 2011)

Nilla said:


> And i did notice even before the explosion that you get those flicker cuts that just lasts a few seconds from time to time at night, for most people this is not an issue but if you've set up files to upload or render it's hours of work lost and worst case broken pc.


I have UPSs on most of my systems. So I'm hoping that won't be too much of an issue.


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## Cleo Shahateet (Feb 23, 2009)

Nilla said:


> Sorry Cleo if I sounded like one of those people who like to move somewhere and calls everyone an idiot, I'm not like that and I find people here very nice in general. I've met several bright young Cypriots, my point was simply that there wouldn't be many opportunities for people who studied in these fields so they would have no choice but to leave a lot of the time. And I haven't met everyone on the island either, nor do I think Peyia is representative of the whole country.
> 
> When it comes do the outrageous prices on electronics here I don't have an issue with that either, I knew it before I got here, and to be honest I would charge the same prices myself if I could. Anything that's not mainstream electronics would be a niche market here so nothing strange about it, and no sensible person would expect a small island nation to work like London. Maybe a little bit faster though
> 
> But the power cuts are annoying if you work with expensive electronics because they can break, and if they do it's also difficult to replace them here. And i did notice even before the explosion that you get those flicker cuts that just lasts a few seconds from time to time at night, for most people this is not an issue but if you've set up files to upload or render it's hours of work lost and worst case broken pc.


No need to apologize, I didn't think that. You gave some sound advice. Every place has its pros and cons. When I first moved to Cyprus our home was on a generator as the builder hadn't gotten the main electric connected yet (!!??) so you can imagine all the cuts we endured. Very frustrating. I also am the SEO/computer guy of my company now too so it is important to have access all the time, fast connection etc.


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## Nilla (Jul 28, 2011)

Cleo Shahateet said:


> No need to apologize, I didn't think that. You gave some sound advice. Every place has its pros and cons. When I first moved to Cyprus our home was on a generator as the builder hadn't gotten the main electric connected yet (!!??) so you can imagine all the cuts we endured. Very frustrating. I also am the SEO/computer guy of my company now too so it is important to have access all the time, fast connection etc.



Cheers, I've developed paranoia since I got here because almost every expat I've met either loves or hates this place and it's so easy to offend people from both camps. Full-time living on a generator must be great haha, lucky you got the electric connected in the end. It's those things you take for granted, kind of healthy to get a reminder from time to time. Maybe I'll come to Mandria to drink beer and complain about broken routers 

Polypterus, UPSs would be a bit heavy to fly around the world I think. But anyway, as you said come for a holiday and check it out for yourself, everyone's experience is different.


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## Pam n Dave (Jun 11, 2007)

Are your UPS 230 volt?? We have some stuff from the states and have a transformer that converts from 230 volt to 110 volt. Ebay is a good place to start but use the UK site.

If you plan to bring items from the states to Cyprus then be aware that there may be customs charges and customs are not known for being friendly.


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## Polypterus (Aug 17, 2011)

Pam n Dave said:


> Are your UPS 230 volt?? We have some stuff from the states and have a transformer that converts from 230 volt to 110 volt. Ebay is a good place to start but use the UK site.
> 
> If you plan to bring items from the states to Cyprus then be aware that there may be customs charges and customs are not known for being friendly.


Not currently. My stuff is 110. I would have to sell it and buy new UPSs. I don't expect a move like this to be particularly cheap. I'm sure I will have to buy at least some new stuff and pay some customs. However I have quite a bit of stuff I would like to keep. I imagine I would have to pay for a shipping container.


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## totorama (Jun 12, 2010)

Polypterus said:


> Not currently. My stuff is 110. I would have to sell it and buy new UPSs. I don't expect a move like this to be particularly cheap. I'm sure I will have to buy at least some new stuff and pay some customs. However I have quite a bit of stuff I would like to keep. I imagine I would have to pay for a shipping container.


We recently moved here from California, I managed to get a 3Kw transformer to convert from 110 up to 240v. It works fine but a bit inconvenient to keep in the kitchen as it's so big. (The kitchens in Cyprus are nowhere near the size we were used to in California). The plan was to install it in one of the cupboards and run a separate 110v power strip for all the kitchen appliances etc, but of cause it may not be convenient to power other appliances around the house like vacuum cleaners TV's etc. 

Luckily we managed to get 2 dual standard and dual voltage LCD TV's that will work in US or Europe and did not have to pay any duty on the TV's as they were more than 9 months old when we imported them.

Customs can be a bit tricky to get past if you try to bring in new items. We had a customs officer present at the HOUSE from the point the container arrived, and the seal was cut on the container, until the last box was off loaded.. Anything that looked new, they would query.

You might find the links below useful for getting dual voltage/standard devices and transformers etc. We also got a 'region Free' BluRay DVD player. The normal DVD players are Region 1 in the US and will not work in Europe. (which I think is Region 2)

Region Free DVD Players, MultiSystem LCD TVs, Region Free DVD Recorders, Multi-System Plasma TV, multi-system TVs, PAL LCD TV, PAL TV, Step Down transformer, Step up transformer, Chicago


220 volts electronics - Code Free DVD Player reviews, Voltage converter guide, Multi system lcd plasma tv multisystem home theater


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## totorama (Jun 12, 2010)

totorama said:


> .....
> 
> You might find the links below useful for getting dual voltage/standard devices and transformers etc. We also got a 'region Free' BluRay DVD player. The normal DVD players are Region 1 in the US and will not work in Europe. (which I think is Region 2)
> 
> ...


One further point regarding DVD's films etc.. If you have DVD's that have been purchased in the US (Region 1), they will not play on European DVD players (Region 2) unless the player is 'Region Free'. Another good reason to get a new player before you leave the US.


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