# husband wants to move to Cyprus from Canada



## missizlove (Jun 29, 2013)

Here is my situation: my husband would like to move to Cyprus within the next 12 months. I am Canadian, born and raised and so is he, however, he does have Right of Abode in the UK, due to his adopted mother. He is under the impression that this will extend to me and that we would be able to use this to find work, etc in Cyprus. Does anyone have any sort of first-hand experience with this? I need more information and don't want to jump and run with no concrete proof that this theory will work. In my mind, that sounds way too simple, there must be a "catch".

Any ideas?


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## missizlove (Jun 29, 2013)

oh yes, to give more information, we will be going there to find work. We are both in our early 40s. He will have to release from the Canadian military, so he will lose that part of his pension, we will have enough money to get by for a few months, but certainly not much. We will have to quite literally start over. He is hoping to find work in fields similar to what he is doing now, logistics, airports, etc. I am really unsure about this. I just have a bad feeling that we are going to give up everything here and his utopia is going to fall short of the dream. Neither of us speak any language other than English. I have only recent experience in retail. I don't feel confident that I will be able to work there and I don't think he'll be able to secure employment to support us both. Am I just being negative or realistic? What is the job force like there. He is looking at either Larnaca or Paphos.


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## MartynKSA (Aug 7, 2011)

missizlove said:


> I just have a bad feeling that we are going to give up everything here and his utopia is going to fall short of the dream.


Don't want to put a dampener on anyone's dream, but could I suggest you spend a lot of time researching the basic idea of emigrating to Cyprus before seeking answers to the question you actually raised? A good place to start is the previous threads on this forum, which will give you an idea of the issues facing Cyprus now and for the foreseeable future, especially on the jobs front.

It is far from Utopia if you have to "start again" with only limited funding available


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## Mycroft (Sep 9, 2009)

MartynKSA said:


> Don't want to put a dampener on anyone's dream, but could I suggest you spend a lot of time researching the basic idea of emigrating to Cyprus before seeking answers to the question you actually raised? A good place to start is the previous threads on this forum, which will give you an idea of the issues facing Cyprus now and for the foreseeable future, especially on the jobs front.
> 
> It is far from Utopia if you have to "start again" with only limited funding available


Good morning,

MartynKSA is quite right. Please through the various threads here and on the other Cyprus ex-pat forums. Things here have changes a lot since the EU financial bail out and not for the better for many. Jobs are in very very short supply, and if you do not speak the language (Cypriot Greek) it will be virtually impossible to get employment. Shops and businesses are closing daily and it will not get better for many years. You will need to be financially secure and be able to manage without work, and as well as having a regular income to satisfy the requirements of the immigration department, be it from here or outside Cyprus. 

Budget wise please bear in mind that there is no state support if you have not paid in to the system here, healthcare is not free and health insurance will be necessary for you, if you already have this your current provider may not cover Cyprus. 

You are certainly not being negative, but realistic. Good luck whatever you decide, but please, please do a lot of home work, it is a long way to travel to have your dreams shattered. 

Kind regards


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## missizlove (Jun 29, 2013)

Thank you for the truth. This is what I have suspected but he is under the impression that everything there will be great. Let me say this, he is there right now on a 6 week deployment, staying at a beautiful hotel in Paphos, and eating out at restaurants. He is working on the Canadian taxpayer's money right now, so his view of this will definitely be jaded. This isn't coming out of his pocket. He thinks this will be easy to walk into. I don't believe that. If everything in life was this easy, wouldn't the entire population of the world be fighting to go to Cyprus? I am so afraid that we will sell everything, take his return of contributions and lose it all, very quickly. Thank you for being honest, I need this.


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

You are very wise to be questioning your husbands plans as life here in Cyprus is not ideal for anyone who has to work for a living. 
Jobs are very scare these days and of course any that there are will go to Cypriot nationals. Many foreigner workers have lost their jobs in recent times and have had to leave and go back to their home countries.
To give up his pension to come here to look for work is in my opinion foolish to say the very least.
It would be far wiser to complete his military carreer so that he has his pension and then take another look at coming here. 
Most expats are retired with pensions to support them with some taking part time work to pay for the little luxuries that their pensions won't stretch to.
To find well paid full time employment at this time is virtually impossible.

Also you say he has the right of abode in the UK because of his adopted mother but is he actually a British citizen? If not it could be more difficult to come here than he thinks.

Veronica


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## plunger (Apr 1, 2012)

What hotel is he staying at?


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## missizlove (Jun 29, 2013)

Veronica said:


> Also you say he has the right of abode in the UK because of his adopted mother but is he actually a British citizen? If not it could be more difficult to come here than he thinks.
> 
> Veronica


No, he is not an actual citizen. He "shacked up" with a woman in England immediately after his first marriage ended, but he returned to Canada within months when it didn't work out... That was about approximately 8 years ago, so that short time is the longest duration he has spent in England. I don't know if that gives him some sort of status but he is a Canadian citizen.

I suspect that he is meeting people who are telling him the glory and non of the reality. I, too, feel that this is a mistake, but the hard part will be convincing him to look at this realistically.

Thank you all for the honesty. I love my husband, but I need to question his judgement at times like this.


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

OH lord
'Shacking up' with some woman for a few months does not give him any right of abode in the UK.
As non EU citizens you do not have automatic right of residence in Cyprus.


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## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

Do not do it !

You husband will lose part of his pension by leaving the forces, neither of you by the sounds of it has right of abode in Cyprus, neither of you speak anything except English and the Cypriot economy is on its knees.

Stay in Canada.


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## MartynKSA (Aug 7, 2011)

missizlove said:


> I love my husband, but I need to question his judgement at times like this.


Hi missizlove

Not all husbands make sound decisions (just ask she who must be obeyed, who is a Couple Counsellor and sees this kind of thing often). I'm afraid a reality check appears needed here. Hard love springs to mind- but if he has his heart set on Cyprus, you've got a tough job on your hands

Best of luck


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## Verdande (Apr 30, 2013)

Wow, I think you should be happy that it appears he does not have the right of abode in the UK (which is not easy to come by). You mention "wouldn't the entire population of the world be fighting to go to Cyprus"? Actually a considerable part of the work-age population of southern Europe including Cyprus are LEAVING their homelands. So unless you are independently wealthy, it sounds like a major bad idea.


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## rodster23 (Jan 30, 2013)

It's pity with some many people wanting to gain employment and bring financial backing that there is so much negative talk on this BB.

I hope the government are reading our posts and realise that many people want to invest/live in Cyprus. 

Poor show


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## missizlove (Jun 29, 2013)

sorry I have been absent for the past few days... it's been busy here.... he does have right of abode from his adopted mother, but he thinks it is the same as citizenship because he lived there for a few months. He has never actually paid into the tax system in the UK or the EU, but he thinks the right of abode is the same as citizenship. I don't think it is, it couldn't be or else there would be millions of people overtaking Europe and jumping from country to country if it was that simple. I was always taught, as many have been, that if it seems like it is too good to be true, that is because it is...


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## missizlove (Jun 29, 2013)

Verdande said:


> Wow, I think you should be happy that it appears he does not have the right of abode in the UK (which is not easy to come by). You mention "wouldn't the entire population of the world be fighting to go to Cyprus"? Actually a considerable part of the work-age population of southern Europe including Cyprus are LEAVING their homelands. So unless you are independently wealthy, it sounds like a major bad idea.


I tried talking to him (reasonably, I might add) today. He just brushed it off with "You just have to see it here to know..." He still thinks we can just jump into this. He isn't thinking that within the next 20 years, he will be at an age where retirement will be inevitable and having given up his military pension, he will (WE will) be broke. I have very little saved up from before our marriage, and that will not carry us through retirement. He isn't seeing the reality. Like I said before, right now, he isn't in a true position of day to day life in Cyprus. No matter what, he is guaranteed shelter and food, thanks to the Canadian military. It doesn't help that every time he sees a Brit (and he seeks them out every time we go on holiday, soccer talk, Man U, etc) you are all so polite to him (I'm chuckling, no offense meant). He doesn't see the reality, he just sees happy people.


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## Geraldine (Jan 3, 2009)

I feel so sorry for you, you are obviously very level headed and in touch with reality. Your husband isn't listening because you are not saying what he wants to hear.

As you rightly say, day to day living here is very different than being in a state of 'perpetual holiday' mode.

I wish you well and steadfast in your correct opinon of times here now.


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## Sarchy (Feb 14, 2011)

missizlove said:


> Here is my situation: my husband would like to move to Cyprus within the next 12 months. I am Canadian, born and raised and so is he, however, he does have Right of Abode in the UK, due to his adopted mother. He is under the impression that this will extend to me and that we would be able to use this to find work, etc in Cyprus. Does anyone have any sort of first-hand experience with this? I need more information and don't want to jump and run with no concrete proof that this theory will work. In my mind, that sounds way too simple, there must be a "catch".
> 
> Any ideas?


I think that you are being very level headed about this and I would suggest that your husband needs to seriously get his mind set out of "holiday mode" and come back into the real world. Having "right of abode" does not make him a British citizen...even less so yourself. You may care to take a look at the UK Border Agency site which sets everything out in full...
UK Border Agency | British citizenship

As an aside, we are having a meet up at Pissouri this coming Saturday. If your husband is still here and is able to, maybe he could join as and get our take on his ideas!

Good Luck

Sheila


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## mdekkers (Jul 3, 2013)

Hi Missizlove,

Here is some information on immigrating to Cyprus if you don't have an EU passport. Cyprus Law | Immigration - basically, unless you are bringing money and are ready to invest in Cyprus, the answer will probably be "no". To work in Cyprus, you will have to speak Greek, especially in airports etc. Unless he has a very specific skillset that is not readily available in Cyprus, this will be very hard.

The current state of the economy (as per many answers on this board) is dire, and finding casual work is going to be very, very hard. You must count on having at least 6 months worth of living expenses - I would say about 15000 Euro's give or take.

Good luck!

Martijn :ranger:


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## missizlove (Jun 29, 2013)

Sarchy said:


> As an aside, we are having a meet up at Pissouri this coming Saturday. If your husband is still here and is able to, maybe he could join as and get our take on his ideas!
> 
> Good Luck
> 
> Sheila


I just messaged him and it is a work day for him, escorting troops, not sure if they are leaving decompression in Paphos or coming in... but he has to work, otherwise it would have been great to get him to sit and talk to people that are living there and experiencing the ups and downs. I am sure it is gorgeous there, but I don't want him to be blinded by that. But thank you very much for the invitation.


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