Expats return.

[kp269]

Does anybody know which hotels are quarantine hotels?

[jofra]

ETS - your message 46 - is that a yes or a no?
Or are you a politician?

[Groucho]

Jobs in casinos laundering drug money are not conducive to the wellbeing of society, so I hope they all lose their jobs. They are jobs of no benefit to mankind. Just because they distribute money does not make the source clean... it's tainted.

[EnjoyingTheSun]

ETS - your message 46 - is that a yes or a no?
Or are you a politician?

On the whole I would say no. They stop a lot of legitimate money coming through so there is an element of throwing the baby out with the bath water but it really only stops the drug dealers at low levels. The top guys can buy banks

[EnjoyingTheSun]

Jobs in casinos laundering drug money are not conducive to the wellbeing of society, so I hope they all lose their jobs. They are jobs of no benefit to mankind. Just because they distribute money does not make the source clean... it's tainted.

A tiny percentage of the money casinos handle is drug money because drug dealers know that the casinos in UK are so well regulated even prior to the EU directives that it wasn’t fertile ground for them.
For sure they aren’t curing cancer and I guess catering to a vice but by that token I guess we should be closing all bars

[Bahcelibelly]

Hi , any info yet on the timescale of PCR Tests from application to results and where they are carried out ie , hotel / hospital/ arrival/crossing point , also what are the locations re designated Hotels for this quarantine period postcode wise relevant to either Ercan or Larnaca arrival . We normally use Larnaca/Pile but are open to Turkish Airlines /Ercan given the limited availability from our local Uk airport @ BHX , but will be glad enough to get home by carrier pigeon if needed

Any help/info appreciated and we are going to wait for a few weeks to see how the land lies re successful transit from UK to TRNC , but are mindful of the chance of a 2nd wave of Covid causing lockdown 2 at either end !!

Regards P & L

[Groucho]

Jobs in casinos laundering drug money are not conducive to the wellbeing of society, so I hope they all lose their jobs. They are jobs of no benefit to mankind. Just because they distribute money does not make the source clean... it's tainted.

A tiny percentage of the money casinos handle is drug money because drug dealers know that the casinos in UK are so well regulated even prior to the EU directives that it wasn’t fertile ground for them.
For sure they aren’t curing cancer and I guess catering to a vice but by that token I guess we should be closing all bars

But we aren't in the UK or talking about the UK....

[EnjoyingTheSun]

But we aren't in the UK or talking about the UK....

TRNC casinos if they apply the EU regulations on money laundering will take a massive downturn. That is not to say that they are a haven for money laundering it’s just the those regulations drive out clean money too.
If one bakers emptied out your pocket and asked you to prove where every TL in your pocket came from before selling you a loaf of bread and one just sold you bread where would you go?

[Groucho]

But we aren't in the UK or talking about the UK....

TRNC casinos if they apply the EU regulations on money laundering will take a massive downturn. That is not to say that they are a haven for money laundering it’s just the those regulations drive out clean money too.
If one bakers emptied out your pocket and asked you to prove where every TL in your pocket came from before selling you a loaf of bread and one just sold you bread where would you go?

Ridiculous obfuscation, just like the previous diversionary attempt to draw alcohol into the frame.. you might as well use Night Nurse as an example. Casinos produce nothing, apart from debt, broken families, misery for many addicted and an opportunity for the profits from vicious, murderous drug cartels to operate a mechanism to launder their ill-gotten gains from human trafficking, prostitution, drugs and protection racketeering...

Which of those enterprises do you think warrants tolerance?

[wackyjim]

Presumably at the traveller's expense!

And probably a 2 week delay in getting test results

[Bahcelibelly]

Hi apologies for duplication as our questions were answered by an earlier post on Saturday 7th of June which we had overlooked , but we were wandering if any change or concrete clarification had occurred since July 1st , which seemed to be a relevant date for any rule changes ..........

Anyway back to the washing

[Bahcelibelly]

Sorry should read 27th June !

[EnjoyingTheSun]

Ridiculous obfuscation, just like the previous diversionary attempt to draw alcohol into the frame.. you might as well use Night Nurse as an example. Casinos produce nothing, apart from debt, broken families, misery for many addicted and an opportunity for the profits from vicious, murderous drug cartels to operate a mechanism to launder their ill-gotten gains from human trafficking, prostitution, drugs and protection racketeering...

Which of those enterprises do you think warrants tolerance?

What is amusing is I pointed out a problem that TRNC would encounter if they joined or got closer with the EU which I felt was very on topic. Now I am being dragged into justifying casinos and I will be the one accussed taking the thread off topic. But still here we go.

You highlighted that casinos don't benefit mankind and cause harm. Not something I can argue with but I asked does alcohol benefit mankind, it certainly can cause a lot of harm to addictive personalities? No-one enjoys a drink more than me but I would be hard pressed to say it is essential for my survival. If an industry has to benefit mankind we won’t have too many left tbh. I can’t see the benefits chocolate cakes bring to mankind, apart from a lot of people like them, but can see some downsides.

As for casinos being purely an outlet for laundering drug money, the amount of drug money floating through even the most dodgy of casinos is dwarfed by the amount of money floating through the legitimate banking system, it is a speck. It is a sad fact of life that if you removed the drug money from the world economy it would crash.
Macau is the biggest casino area in the world now, full of Chinese players gambling billions. They will gamble half a million pounds on a hand, which is obscene. Due to currency regulations the most money you can take out of China is around 30,000 a year. So all that money is getting to Macau with the help of criminals and the consent of the Government turning a blind eye.
Las Vegas was run by the mafia from the 1940s to the 1970s but once big business moved in they were finished there and quickly run out of town. Criminals can only really thrive in a dark economy.
You could ban casinos which will just drive them underground with the associated risks that will bring. How did prohibition work out in America? It put the Mafia in a position of strength that they have never really relinquished. As a society it is difficult to support boxing where you watch two people beating each other up. But if you ban it you will just see more unlicensed boxing where the fighters will be taking even greater risks to their health and lives. People will still go to watch it.
Many things are necessary evils and keeping them legal but heavily regulated is a better solution than banning them and driving them underground.
TRNC casinos could certainly do with more regulation but the EU can over-regulate and their money laundering regulations are an example of this.
My main problem with casinos out here is that they don't contribute what they can or should to the local economy.
All I have done is point out that were TRNC to join the EU or adopt these rules in particular it will heavily impact on one of the bigger industries in TRNC. The EU rules on Money Laundering were sensible but regulators regulate and a hammer sees everything as a nail. Now they are unworkable unless you drive out most of the money and hope to take the miniscule amount of drug money they take as well.
Casinos reason for existence is probably going too far off topic but an argument that I am happy to engage in.

[Groucho]

Ridiculous obfuscation, just like the previous diversionary attempt to draw alcohol into the frame.. you might as well use Night Nurse as an example. Casinos produce nothing, apart from debt, broken families, misery for many addicted and an opportunity for the profits from vicious, murderous drug cartels to operate a mechanism to launder their ill-gotten gains from human trafficking, prostitution, drugs and protection racketeering...

Which of those enterprises do you think warrants tolerance?

What is amusing is I pointed out a problem that TRNC would encounter if they joined or got closer with the EU which I felt was very on topic. Now I am being dragged into justifying casinos and I will be the one accussed taking the thread off topic. But still here we go.

You highlighted that casinos don't benefit mankind and cause harm. Not something I can argue with but I asked does alcohol benefit mankind, it certainly can cause a lot of harm to addictive personalities? No-one enjoys a drink more than me but I would be hard pressed to say it is essential for my survival. If an industry has to benefit mankind we won’t have too many left tbh. I can’t see the benefits chocolate cakes bring to mankind, apart from a lot of people like them, but can see some downsides.

As for casinos being purely an outlet for laundering drug money, the amount of drug money floating through even the most dodgy of casinos is dwarfed by the amount of money floating through the legitimate banking system, it is a speck. It is a sad fact of life that if you removed the drug money from the world economy it would crash.
Macau is the biggest casino area in the world now, full of Chinese players gambling billions. They will gamble half a million pounds on a hand, which is obscene. Due to currency regulations the most money you can take out of China is around 30,000 a year. So all that money is getting to Macau with the help of criminals and the consent of the Government turning a blind eye.
Las Vegas was run by the mafia from the 1940s to the 1970s but once big business moved in they were finished there and quickly run out of town. Criminals can only really thrive in a dark economy.
You could ban casinos which will just drive them underground with the associated risks that will bring. How did prohibition work out in America? It put the Mafia in a position of strength that they have never really relinquished. As a society it is difficult to support boxing where you watch two people beating each other up. But if you ban it you will just see more unlicensed boxing where the fighters will be taking even greater risks to their health and lives. People will still go to watch it.
Many things are necessary evils and keeping them legal but heavily regulated is a better solution than banning them and driving them underground.
TRNC casinos could certainly do with more regulation but the EU can over-regulate and their money laundering regulations are an example of this.
My main problem with casinos out here is that they don't contribute what they can or should to the local economy.
All I have done is point out that were TRNC to join the EU or adopt these rules in particular it will heavily impact on one of the bigger industries in TRNC. The EU rules on Money Laundering were sensible but regulators regulate and a hammer sees everything as a nail. Now they are unworkable unless you drive out most of the money and hope to take the miniscule amount of drug money they take as well.
Casinos reason for existence is probably going too far off topic but an argument that I am happy to engage in.

I've worked with families destroyed by all forms of addiction, the difference being that most are not the shitty end of the stick held by corrupt organisations whose raison d'être is to launder the proceeds of crime.

[EnjoyingTheSun]

I've worked with families destroyed by all forms of addiction, the difference being that most are not the shitty end of the stick held by corrupt organisations whose raison d'être is to launder the proceeds of crime.

Casinos raison d'être is to make money admittedly out of a vice. For TRNC casinos I agree there probably is some money laundering going on but I would guess it is dwarfed by construction. That too will take a massive hit if the EU money laundering regulations are fully or even partially applied over here.

[Hedge-fund]

The south say UK passengers can arrive from 1st August...

https://cyprus-mail.com/2020/07/03/coro ... -august-1/

I've just moved my flight to LCA to 5th Aug so fingers crossed......

[waddo]

Hedge-fund, FCO now saying that you can fly from UK to Cyprus and do not need quarantine - however, in the small print - Cyprus are saying that you can not come to Cyprus if you have been in the UK for the past 14 days! Of course that is different if you are a Cypriot and have a legal residence in the RoC, then you can come.......

I wonder if anyone, anywhere knows what is happening but the safe bet is if you are not a citizen of the country you intend to fly to - DON'T!

[Hedge-fund]

Hedge-fund, FCO now saying that you can fly from UK to Cyprus and do not need quarantine - however, in the small print - Cyprus are saying that you can not come to Cyprus if you have been in the UK for the past 14 days! Of course that is different if you are a Cypriot and have a legal residence in the RoC, then you can come.......

I wonder if anyone, anywhere knows what is happening but the safe bet is if you are not a citizen of the country you intend to fly to - DON'T!

The 14 day rule is the case as of now.

From 1st August it's just the negative test result needed - however they are trying to get us into group A instead so watch this space.

Getting across the green line is another matter!

[waddo]

Hedge-fund, Sorry, better make it plain that when I said "Cyprus" which is the only place that the FCO are centrally interested in - known as the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) - I failed to make it clear that they were talking about the RoC and not the TRNC. So you could go to the RoC and not have to quarantine (you still need the 72 hour PCR of course) but the catch 22 is that Cyprus (RoC) will not let you in if you have been in the UK for the past 14 days unless you are a Cypriot (GC's/TC's apparently are Covid free if they come from the UK?) which seems strange to me. In addition, the GC's border guards are refusing exit from the South to the North to all EU passport holders who are non-Cypriots. It seems that the RoC is now a EU prison camp in effect, I wonder if the EU are aware of this or are they just blind in that eye? I would be interested to know if any EU passport holder has attempted to cross into the North via the SBA areas because that would be a whole new can of worms if what is essentially the UK stopped its own citizens from leaving as well.

Not complaining or moaning just interested in the way things are working out here on this Island.

[ifonly]

My friends arrived from Cat A (Germany) into Larnaca at 1pm on Saturday. They had their PCR certificate. RoC taxi took them to Metehan - no they were told by the GC police/immigration, you cannot leave. Why not ?- No Tourists are allowed to leave South Cyprus !!!.
They tried to reason with them but the response was No Tourists are allowed to leave South Cyprus.
The taxi then took them to the Beyarmudu crossing - no problem at all and they were allowed to cross from South to North. No 2nd test or quarantine either !!!
They are self isolating anyway for 72 hours but were expecting a 2nd test on arrival here.

[kibsolar1999]

ifonly...
not only a 2nd test.. they also need to be transferred into a quaratine hotel until the 2nd test result is out!

they have been very lucky and nobody knows what happens tomorrow...

[terry2366]

How will this work will we be taken by bus to the hotel, will the hotels be around Girne and not famagusta or the like. What will the daily cost be if it's a two day wait? They obviously won't give you an address and trust you to get your own taxi and it will require everyone on the plane going into quarantine.

[kibsolar1999]

on a FB forum a UK lady said she was transferred to a hotel in Gönyeli. no balcony. she needs to stay there 14 days.
how long even an A country has to stay in quarantine nobody knows... it says only "until the test result is out".

[mrsgee]

It will interesting to see how many of the Brits come out of quarantine with no trace of the Virus, and yet Turkish people have been allowed to come with no quarantine and so far, 5 new cases. Hmmmmm a tad unfair I think.

[wanderer]

Hold the presses new decision on the way
The link just says that I think
https://www.kibrisgazetesi.com/kibris/u ... 92372.html

[forestpixie]

Nobody is arriving now they just announced all points of entry are shut!

[wanderer]

New rules of entry

[Soner]

Update: viewtopic.php?f=55&t=51844

[taurus]

Thank you Soner, as like so many other holiday home owners, just patiently waiting until we can visit again.