Living in Cyprus

[Spainintherain]

Does anyone here live in Cyprus? It's a country I love and have some family roots there. I'm really keen to hear what life is like there. I particularly love larnaca bu would love to hear from anyone living anywhere there. How do you find the life? What do you love or dislike the most? I have two small children and would love to give them the experience of living in a warmer, safer country.

Bump?

I know a couple who moved there about 15 years ago. They are very happy, but they both had jobs they could do remotely (accounting and product design). They kept a small flat in London to use as a base too and earn rental income from it. Otherwise, I think they'd be screwed financially. What would you do for work?

I've lived in Cyprus for nearly 20 years.
If you are on Facebook, search for ex pat groups, there are many of them.

You can also find a lot of info here:

www.gov.uk/guidance/living-in-cyprus

And here regarding residency post EU Exit: brexit.com.cy/?fbclid=IwAR33ZRIRde5p-NiSjz32jlIHC1YGSgr86jLShPyGwvW1rKzL7ZySslTzdyE

If you have Cypriot roots, look into getting your Cyprus ID then you won't have to worry about sorting out your residency: cyprusinuk.com/ids/

The best advice I can give you is to bring enough money to last you a good while, there is no benefit system here until you have paid in and it's a difficult place to live if you are skint.

Plus, rent don't buy until you are certain you want to stay.

Thank you for all this information and the links. I will definitely look into all this. I hope you enjoy life there.

There have been hard times when one or both of us were between jobs, but this has been home now for so long.
I wouldn't go back to UK.

I want a safer life for my children.

I've lived in Cyprus for 15 years, I love it here and would never go back to the UK but it's not the safe country it once was. The country relies on tourism which has died now so unemployment and crime have rocketed. The area I live in has become a 'ghetto' for Syrian refugees, so much so that it's now become illegal for landlords to rent property to Syrians.

How would you support yourself and your children? There are no jobs in the hospitality sector but more opportunities if you speak, read and write Greek. Your children could attend a Greek school and may adapt well if they're young but if they struggle you'd be looking at a private international school which costs €€€.

Also, if you're British you can't just move to Cyprus now (TCTeddy has posted some useful advice and links above). If you arrive here and get caught without the correct residency permits you can end up in trouble - the police are being very heavy-handed at the moment.