# Bureaucracy nightmare! What can I do?



## birdfather (Sep 15, 2020)

My wife and I are British and moved to Cyprus in November. We are both self-employed.

To apply for the MEU1, we were told by Larnaca immigration office that we needed various documents, including social insurance documents showing that were are registered as self-employed, and a receipt for our first social insurance payments.

We both applied for social insurance in November and were both rejected. The letters gave no reason why, just that we didn't meet their requirements.

We went to an accountant to pursue the matter for us. It has taken her a month, but she has an answer from them: the Social Insurance Department will not register us until we get MEU1s. She also had the Immigration Department confirm that they will not grant us MEU1s until we have the social insurance documents.

It's a catch-22. We can't get registered for anything. What should I do now?


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## JonandGaynor (Jun 8, 2009)

Have you tried an immigration expert to help? As you seem to live in the Larnaca area i would recommend speaking to a lady called Foda who is an immigration and car import specialist and sorted out the importation of our car. Her contact details are: 
[email protected] 
[email protected]
phone: 97820657


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## birdfather (Sep 15, 2020)

JonandGaynor said:


> Have you tried an immigration expert to help? As you seem to live in the Larnaca area i would recommend speaking to a lady called Foda who is an immigration and car import specialist and sorted out the importation of our car. Her contact details are:
> [email protected]
> [email protected]
> phone: 97820657


Thank you! If nothing else works, I will try that.

I've been advised elsewhere that this is a common issue. The solution, apparently, is to apply for the MEU1 (now the MUKW1 for Brits) as a temporary visitor rather than as self-employed. Instead of showing the social insurance documents, you show bank statements proving you have enough funds to live off for the time you are here. Supposedly 480 euros a month per person is the magic number. I'm not sure whether we can apply for the MUKW1 in person now or if we have to wait until the online submission route is available.

Once you have the MEU1/MUKW1, you can go to the social insurance office and apply to be recognised as self-employed.

It seems crazy to me, but there it is. I just wish the immigration officers had told us we could do this on the multiple occasions we have spoken to them about the situation...


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