Immigration problems nicosia

[susiesusie]

Went with friends to immigration in Nicosia as they were only given 30 days by the Turkish crossing point . Girne immigration could not help. Kocian in hand. All necessary documents. Appointment done on line.
Absolute farce ... nobody could tell us who we had an appointment with. Had to queue up at the information point. Social distancing non existent.
Was told to fill a form in stating why you wanted to extend the 30 days. All done. Paid for the stamps etc. Eventually told they would ring in 2 or 3 days. What on earth was the appointment for then.
Yes... they should have produced the Kocan when first arriving at the crossing and was informed to.do.so... however the taxi driver convinced them it was not necessary as both are over 60 years old.
Is that true ... does anyone know .if so then how can you be confident when you cross back.
What a mess

[gates]

There is an amnesty till 2023 for all over 60 so dont think its a problem

[susiesusie]

Is there any written proof of amnesty. What if the person on the border does not know anything about it. Going to be a big fine after the 30 day period if staying for another month or so.

[susiesusie]

Also... amnesty for what exactly. Done nothing wrong or against the law.
Do you mean amnesty for residence permits as that is a different matter.

[PoshinDevon]

There is an amnesty till 2023 for all over 60 so dont think its a problem

I think there are some dates/caveats around this amnesty. I wouldn’t be 100% certain all over60s have an amnesty until 2023.

FWIW when we arrived at Ercan we had original Kocan ready to show the guy on passport control. He took passports, looked thro them, likely noticed we had done residency in the past but hadn’t for about 3 years. Stamped passports, never looked at Kocan. I asked do we get 90 days…. His reply, it’s ok… no problem.

We weren’t convinced at his reply but the excitement of finally arriving back meant that we didn’t look to check the stamps in our passports until a couple of days later. Sure enough he had written 90 on the stamp.

[waddo]

Can not find anything referring to any amnesty for over 60's apart from there being a change in the law as published in the Gazette on the 12th of May 2021. Such amendment only applied to those foreign passport holders who were actually in the TRNC on or before that date and were over 60 years of age.

PID you were fortunate to get 90 days but as you can see from below - this I posted under a different thread - you may not have received that amount and because there is often no stamps applied to the passport whilst crossing the land border - you will never know what you have been given or when it will run out. Be warned - this year residency is a minefield, step carefully!!

Went South this morning - 25 minute wait in traffic to get from North side to South side - at North Side I explained my residency had expired on the 3rd of Sep and that it was at immigration awaiting their action, could I cross to the South and would I be allowed back into the North on my return? Was told no problem at all. Easy traffic coming back South to North, handed in paperwork at North Side and was told my residency had expired! Explained what was happening with residency and that I was told there would be no problem on returning from the South. New Lady doing the checking was unsure what to do so told to wait while the boss arrived. Duly stood to one side till the boss got there and he went into the booth to check things out. A couple of minutes later he came out and asked which prison we would prefer to go to - with a laugh! He told me they had given us 30 days permit to stay which should allow our residency to go through but that if not to go to the Police in Girne and explain to get further permission. He fully understands the problem with the immigration dept and that everything is backed up and slow at the moment. I asked about going South again and he told me to be careful as on my return they may not give me a further 30 days and that it may only be 5 or 10 days but it was up to me if I wanted to try. Nothing stamped in the passport and if he had not told me how many days we had been given I would never know till I went South again but apart from that he could not have been more helpful.

[PoshinDevon]

Maybe we were fortunate, but we did get an entry stamp and 90 days registered. We had a number of friends who have arrived over last three weeks and confirm all those who had previously completed residency albeit they had all expired, did get the 90 days on arrival at Ercan. Only one was asked if they owned/rented property and were asked for proof.

Seems it can be a little hit and miss but hopefully a call/trip to immigration will resolve the problem.

[susiesusie]

I was stating problem with tourist only been given 30 days when we clearly wanted the 90 day allowance in case we stayed .hence the kocan . Nothing to do with residency.
Trip to.immigration would sort of out. Please read original post . That was and is not the case.

[greenvalley]

We have the same problem. Our Kocan was in our house so we could not show it at the border. Haven't a clue how many days we were given, but we wanted 90 days as usual. We have been told we need to go to immigration in Lefkosia to explain our situation and ask if we may have a further 60 days. Other than that we really don't know what to do. It's a shame that details of a Kocan cannot be added to their system, and once they register the passport they see the Kocan details in front of them.
Wish us luck

[susiesusie]

Yes. Good luck. Immigration has still not contacted them to extend their Visa even though they said they would. No. Surprise there

[frugal90]

Green alley, agree that needing to physically show the deed seems like such an antiquated system. Difficulties like this really need not exist.