North Cyprus Residency Program: Permit Routes and Rules (2026)

North Cyprus Residency Program: Permit Routes and Rules (2026)

This page sets out, as of 5 November 2026, how the North Cyprus residency program works in law: which permits the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) issues to foreigners, for how long, on what conditions and at what official fee. It is built on the Residence and Visa Regulation (consolidated text including the amending regulation published in Official Gazette No. 194 on 5 October 2026), the Permanent Residence Law 51/2015, the Foreigners’ Work Permits Law 63/2006 and its Regulation, and the E-Vize Regulation of 24 August 2026. Every figure carries the text it comes from and the date of that text.

The TRNC does not run one residence-by-investment scheme under a single name. The North Cyprus residency program is, in practice, the set of permits that the regulation and the related laws provide: tourist visas and extensions, short-term residence permits for several purposes, family permits, student permits, work and business-establishment permits, and permanent residence. The sections below compare them in one table, then take each route in turn. Two companion guides on this site go deeper where the North Cyprus residency program touches property: the guide to the property-based and permanent residence permit and the guide to residence permit rights in Northern Cyprus. Their figures are stated once here and not repeated in full.

North Cyprus Residency Program: Legal Framework and 2026 Changes

Four texts do most of the work. The Residence and Visa Regulation is made under Article 20 of the Aliens and Immigration Law (Cap. 105) and covers visas, short-term permits, family permits, student permits, renewal, refusal and fees. The Permanent Residence Law 51/2015 covers the permit that has no end date. The Foreigners’ Work Permits Law 63/2006 and its Regulation cover employment and business establishment. The E-Vize Regulation covers online visa applications for the nationalities that the Council of Ministers designates. Citizenship is outside all four: Law 51/2015 refers to the separate Citizenship Law 25/1993 for the marriage route, and the North Cyprus citizenship guide covers that subject.

Article 11 of the regulation states the basic duty: a foreigner who stays longer than the period of a visa or visa exemption, or longer than ninety days, must hold a residence permit unless another lawful status applies. Work permits, business-establishment permits and permanent residence permits count as residence permits for as long as they are valid, so their holders do not need a second document. Applications are lodged with the Immigration branch of the District Police Directorate for the area where the applicant lives (Article 22(1)); the Immigration Department (Muhaceret Dairesi) under the Ministry of Interior decides, and it publishes the list of information and documents for each permit type on its own website. Work permits are issued by the ministry responsible for labour, not by the Immigration Department.

Several changes took effect in 2026. The table lists those that touch the routes below, with the instrument that carries them.

North Cyprus Residency Program Routes Compared

The table places every permit type in one view. “Fee” is the official fee in Turkish lira (TL) for the length stated, taken from the schedules to the regulations; fees for other lengths are in the fee section further down. “Text as of” is the version of the legal text read for this page.

Entry, Tourist Stays and Visa Extensions

A permit can only be applied for after lawful entry, so the entry rules come first in the North Cyprus residency program. Article 7(1) of the regulation requires a foreigner who has no legal right to enter visa-free to obtain a visa stating the purpose and length of the visit; where the visa is issued at a border gate, the passport receives a “visaed entry” stamp that records its type and length. Article 7(2) caps a stay on a visa at ninety days at a time and ninety days in any 180 days, and stays that end within seventy-two hours of entry are left out of the count. Article 4(2) sets the passport rule: for nationals of states with no embassy or consulate in the TRNC and for nationals of states outside the European Union, the passport must be valid for at least six months; for nationals of states with a mission and for EU citizens, at least two months. Since the 24 August 2026 amendment, Article 4(2)(d) asks for at least 24 months of validity from nationals of states without a mission who come to study or work.

The table sets out the visa lengths of Article 9(1) by purpose.

A visa can be extended. Article 10 allows an extension for tourists with a paid reservation and a receipt, for people who bought a property but could not show the title deed or contract at entry, and in cases the Chief Immigration Officer considers essential. The visa and the extension together may not exceed ninety days. The application is made through the GöçSis system at least five working days before the visa ends, and the fee is TL 20 per day under the Second Schedule, which is not refunded if the extension is refused or the visa is cancelled. As an example of the arithmetic, extending a 30-day visa to the 90-day maximum adds 60 days, so the fee is 60 × TL 20 = TL 1,200. Article 10(5) lets the Chief Immigration Officer extend a general visa up to ninety days in total where a visitor decides to apply for a permit, appears to meet the conditions of one permit type and has a chance of success.

The ninety-in-180 rule is worth working through. A person who stays on a visa from 1 November 2026 to 29 January 2027 has used 90 days (30 in November, 31 in December, 29 in January). The 180-day window that ends on 29 April 2027 still contains 1 November; the window that ends on 30 April 2027 starts on 2 November and holds 89 days of that stay, so 30 April 2027 is the first day on which a further day on a visa fits. A permit holder is not counted under this rule, because the ceiling is written for visas.

The regulation adds that a visa never carries an absolute right of entry (Article 5(8)): the border unit checks for entry bans, may carry out a comprehensive check where there are doubts, and Article 6 lists the persons refused entry. A Public Information Office page of the TRNC Ministry of Foreign Affairs (footer dated 2024) also states that a visitor should carry £85 or its equivalent per day of the intended stay; the regulation itself states no daily sum, so the page is cited here only as a statement of that office.

Short-Term Residence Permit: Conditions and Document Checklist

The short-term residence permit is the general category of the North Cyprus residency program. Article 13(1) provides that it is issued for at most one year each time unless a rule says otherwise, and Article 14(1) provides that where the regulation sets no other period, the first grant is one year and later grants are two years; the applicant’s request, the reasons given and the other circumstances of the permit are taken into account. Article 15 sets the general conditions that apply to every short-term permit. The applicant must claim a permit category that exists and prove it; must not be subject to an entry or stay ban; must have housing that meets general health and security standards and give its address; must present, if the Department asks, a criminal record certificate from the country of citizenship or legal residence; must not have a disease that the health authorities classify as a threat to public health (this condition is not applied to applicants over 60); and must show the means to live on for the permit period.

The passport rule applies again at the permit stage. Article 15(7) requires a passport valid for at least six months beyond the requested permit period for nationals of states without a mission in the TRNC and for non-EU nationals, and at least two months beyond for others. Article 24(1) adds that a permit is issued for a period 60 days shorter than the passport’s validity. If a passport is valid to 31 March 2029, for example, the longest permit that can be issued ends 60 days earlier, on 30 January 2029, whatever term was requested.

Article 15(8) deals with health cover. An applicant for any permit type who has no right to public health services under social insurance pays a premium under the Health Fund Law 8/2012, and the premium is scaled to the length of the permit requested or planned. The regulation does not state the premium amount. Article 29(2) requires the applicant to allow fingerprints and other biometric data to be taken; without that, no permit is issued. The Department can also ask for any other document it considers necessary, giving the applicant fifteen days to supply it (Article 22(8)).

The regulation fixes conditions and leaves the exact form list to the Immigration Department, which publishes it on its website. The checklist below ties each item to the article that makes it relevant, so it shows what the text requires rather than a single form.

Property Owner Routes in the North Cyprus Residency Program

For property buyers, the North Cyprus residency program rests on Article 14(2)(b) of the regulation, which sets the terms of the short-term permit for a foreigner who owns immovable property. The dwelling must be suitable for residence and used for that purpose. If the title deed is in the applicant’s name and the total value of the properties bought is £300,000 or more (or the equivalent in another currency), the permit is issued for 10 years without an income condition; if the total value is below £300,000, it is issued for 5 years, again without an income condition. If the applicant holds a sale contract stamped and approved by the Revenue and Tax Department and the value stated in it is £300,000 or more, and the application is made to the Ministry, the permit is issued for 5 years without an income condition; if the contract value is below £300,000, the applicant shows a regular monthly income of one minimum wage, by an apostilled document from the home country or a document from any bank, and the permit is issued for 5 years. A contract buyer must also have paid at least one third of the price and applied to the Council of Ministers for permission to acquire the property (Article 14(2)(b)(iii)). The property-owner permit guide works through these terms case by case, with listing prices.

The £300,000 figure is a switch between permit terms and income conditions. It does not decide whether an owner may apply, and it is not the only number that circulates. The table keeps the thresholds apart by what each one controls.

Two further points belong to this route. First, where one title deed is divided into shares and one shareholder has already received a short-term permit for the dwelling, another shareholder is not issued one for the same dwelling unless the first holder has not obtained a family permit on its strength, and where several short-term permits rest on one dwelling, no family permit can rest on any of them (Article 14(2)(b)(ii)). Second, a person over 60 who could receive a property-based permit can instead obtain an exemption certificate from the duty to hold a permit; Article 12(2)(c) provides a five-year exemption record, and Article 12(2)(ç) provides that no fee may be charged for it. The rules on what a foreigner may buy are covered separately in the guides on whether foreigners can buy property in North Cyprus, the purchase steps, taxes and fees, title deed types, Land Registry checks and the legal status of land; the Northern Cyprus country page lists current projects by town and the property prices page shows listed prices.

Income and Retirement Routes

The regulation contains routes for people who do not buy property, and they are expressed in multiples of the monthly minimum wage rather than in a fixed sterling or euro deposit. Under Article 14(2)(i), a person whose monthly income is at least three minimum wages, or who holds that sum for a year in a bank account, can receive a one-year short-term permit at each application. The same paragraph has two provisions for foreigners over 60. A person over 60 with a regular pension income who applies with a rental contract stamped and approved by the Revenue and Tax Department can receive a permit for the length of the rental contract, up to five years. A person over 60 without such an income can receive the same, on condition of holding in a bank a sum equal to one monthly minimum wage multiplied by the number of months of the permit requested.

The Revenue and Tax Department’s notice for 1 July 2026 gives a gross monthly minimum wage of TL 70,893 and a net one of TL 61,677. The regulation says “minimum wage” without stating gross or net, so both bases are shown in the table. The arithmetic is as follows: three monthly wages are 3 × 70,893 = TL 212,679 gross (3 × 61,677 = TL 185,031 net), and the same sum for twelve months is 12 × 212,679 = TL 2,552,148 gross (12 × 185,031 = TL 2,220,372 net). For the over-60 deposit, a three-year permit needs 36 × 70,893 = TL 2,552,148 gross (36 × 61,677 = TL 2,220,372 net), and a five-year permit needs 60 × 70,893 = TL 4,253,580 gross (60 × 61,677 = TL 3,700,620 net).

Foreigners who receive a pension from the TRNC Social Insurance Department are treated separately under Article 14(2)(j): they can receive a short-term permit of up to five years at a time without another income condition. Article 28A, which implements the agreement between the TRNC and Türkiye on additional facilities for each other’s citizens, reads the income condition of Article 14(2)(i) for Turkish citizens as having enough income to live on. The over-60 provisions also interact with the health condition: Article 15(5) does not apply the public-health disease condition to applicants over 60, and Article 13(4) allows permits for people aged 60 or over to be issued for at most three years at a time.

The regulation also lists narrower purposes under the short-term permit. Scientific research permits run for at most six months each time, medical-treatment permits for at most six months each time and two years in total, a one-time permit of up to six months is available to graduates of two-year programmes or of at least three years of a longer programme who apply within sixty days of the end of the student permit, yacht owners and crews can receive permits for the time the yacht is in port, up to six months each time, and film or documentary crews can receive permits of up to one year. A humanitarian permit of up to one year can be given at the discretion of the Chief Immigration Officer’s delegate to a foreigner who would otherwise face hardship; a holder of that permit cannot act as a sponsor for a family permit.

Student Residence Permits

Under Article 19, anyone who will study in an associate, bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral programme at a higher-education institution in the TRNC must hold a student residence permit. Article 13(3) provides that it is issued for at most one year at a time according to the length of study. The quality and recognition of institutions is supervised by the Higher Education Planning, Supervision, Accreditation and Coordination Board (YÖDAK); the regulation itself speaks of higher-education institutions and universities without listing them.

The conditions are set in Article 20. The application is made through the application on the Immigration Department’s website; the student must have obtained a student visa through the e-visa system unless already lawfully present; must not have a disease classed as a threat to public health; must give a housing address; and must show a valid passport. Valid health insurance covering the whole requested period is required by Article 19(2). A visa application for study asks for a document showing registration or pre-registration at the institution. The university reports each student’s status (active, passive, frozen or deleted) to the Immigration Department every three months through GöçSis; a student whose studies stop has the permit cancelled and receives sixty days of lawful presence. Where a university fails to report a change within one month and a deportation order is later made, the cost of removal falls on the university under Article 20(4).

Student permits are renewed within sixty days of the end of the current permit, against forty days for short-term permits (Article 22(2)(b)). The student permit fee is TL 1,000 for up to six months, TL 1,500 for six to twelve months and TL 3,000 for twelve to twenty-four months. Article 21 states that the right of student permit holders to work is exercised under the Foreigners’ Work Permits Law, and the Work Permits Regulation provides a separate student work permit with its own fee (TL 1,395 for up to six months and TL 2,789 for six to twelve months). A student permit can also be issued to pupils at private primary and secondary schools and vocational schools registered with the Ministry of National Education, while open and distance learning, other private schools, tutoring centres and licensed courses do not give a right to a student permit or any residence permit (Article 19(5)). A foreign child under 18 who is enrolled in a registered school, or who lives with a citizen or lawfully permitted parent or guardian, is exempt from the duty to hold a permit under Article 12(1)(c)(i).

On completion of studies, Article 25(2)(c) treats a graduate of a secondary school or university as lawfully present for sixty days after the end date of the last student permit, without a fine. The one-time graduate permit of up to six months mentioned above is available to those who apply directly to the Immigration Department within those sixty days, and no health check is made for it; a longer stay is then considered under one of the other routes in this guide, such as a work permit applied for by an employer.

Work and Business Permits

A residence permit does not carry the right to work. Article 8(1) of the Foreigners’ Work Permits Law 63/2006 forbids a foreigner without a work permit from working in any workplace or job in the TRNC or from carrying on an economic activity in his or her own name and account, and Article 7(1) forbids employing a foreigner without a work permit. Article 23(1)(ğ) of the Residence and Visa Regulation adds that being found working while holding a residence permit is a ground for cancelling it. Valid permanent residence permit holders are treated by Article 5(4) of the Law as holding the work and business permits.

The employer, not the worker, applies. Before applying, the employer must open the vacancy through the job-matching portal run by the Labour Department (Work Permits Regulation, Article 9). The Ministry approves the request for a foreign worker if it finds that qualified TRNC citizens or unemployed persons are not available, or are hard to find, for that occupation. For a worker who is abroad, the Ministry then issues a prior approval, valid for 30 days, which entitles the holder to enter and work for that employer in that job. After entry the employer must apply for the fixed-term work permit, and a worker who enters without prior approval cannot be employed or receive a permit. The first fixed-term permit runs for at least six months and at most one year (Article 15(3)), and the permit is tied to the workplace named in it. All expenses and fees for a work permit fall on the employer, which cannot deduct them from the worker’s pay (Article 32).

The regulation also provides a work-doing permit of up to 90 days for workers sent by foreign firms, with no more than 90 days in a year for one worker, a student work permit for university students, and a business-establishment permit for foreign directors and partners of companies lawfully set up in the TRNC. A business-establishment permit lapses if the company’s activities in the TRNC end, the partner sells the shares or the director’s office ends (Article 28(4)). The fee schedule of the Work Permits Regulation, as consolidated on 6 October 2026, is below.

Six continuous years of work permits, business-establishment permits or a mix of both are also the basis of one of the permanent residence routes, described below. Property-based permit holders with their permanent home in the TRNC, and their spouses and children, are exempt from the prior-approval step under Article 30(5) of the Work Permits Regulation, but the work permit itself is still required.

Family Members and Permit Exemptions

Articles 16 and 17 govern the family residence permit in the North Cyprus residency program. A TRNC citizen or the holder of a residence permit, a permanent residence permit, a work or business-establishment permit or a student permit can be a sponsor; a pupil under 18 on a student permit cannot, and neither can the holder of a humanitarian permit. The people who can apply are the sponsor’s foreign spouse or partner; a disabled foreign child over 18 of the sponsor or the spouse; unmarried children under 25 and unmarried daughters of any age (not where the sponsor holds only a student permit); the parents of the sponsor or the spouse when the sponsor and the spouse are working and the spouse is pregnant (doctor’s report) or there are children under 12; parents and unmarried children in the cases listed for a citizen sponsor; and the parents and spouse of a student permit holder. Where the law of the home country allows more than one spouse, only one receives a family permit.

The sponsor must have housing that meets health and security standards for the size of the family and valid health insurance covering every family member (Article 17(1)). The applicant must show the family tie, must not have married for the purpose of obtaining a permit or citizenship, must be at least 18 for spouses, and must show that he or she lives or intends to live with the sponsor. Partners file a declaration signed by both, and a break-up is reported within fifteen days. Article 18 allows an inquiry where there is reasonable suspicion that a marriage was made only to obtain a permit or citizenship, lists the indicators (for example spouses who do not live together or share no language) and requires that the inquiry avoid conduct that disturbs or demeans people and respect the privacy of the home. A family permit lasts up to ten years but never beyond the sponsor’s lawful stay (Article 16(4)); the regulation sets the renewal window at forty days, or sixty where the sponsor holds a student permit.

Some family members need no permit at all. Under Article 12(1), the spouse of a TRNC citizen is exempt and obtains a two-year exemption record on application; a child under 18 living with a citizen or lawfully permitted parent or guardian, or documented as enrolled in a registered school, is exempt; since 2 October 2026 so is any foreigner under 6; the holder of a permanent residence permit and that holder’s spouse are exempt while the permit lasts; and parents over 60 living with a citizen child are exempt with a five-year record. Article 16(5) allows a foreign spouse who was married to a citizen for at least three years and has since divorced to receive a short-term permit of up to six months each time, one year in total, if the application is made within sixty days of the divorce; Article 16(6) removes the three-year condition where a court decision records domestic violence. After the death of a sponsor, the family permit runs to its end and then up to two further one-year short-term permits can follow.

Permanent Residence Under Law 51/2015

The permanent residence permit is defined in the law as a permit that gives the right to reside continuously in the TRNC. It is not part of the short-term system: it is granted by the Director of the Immigration Department, or a senior official authorised by the Minister, on four footings. Article 4 covers foreigners who have held work or business-establishment permits without interruption for six years. Article 5 covers owners of a home with assured income who have held permits for at least six years. Article 6 covers marriage to a TRNC citizen, on the conditions of the Citizenship Law. Article 7 covers foreigners born in the TRNC or who arrived before adulthood, who apply within two years of reaching 18 and meet the conditions listed in that article.

For the property route of Article 5, “without interruption” means a permit each year over six consecutive years with no more than forty days between permits, and three years for an applicant aged 60 or over on the date of application. The applicant needs an assured income to support himself or herself and the family: one monthly minimum wage for the applicant and one for the spouse, and half a minimum wage for each dependent child, as regular income or as a bank deposit equal to one year of that income. The applicant must own a home, defined for this article as a dwelling worth at least EUR 125,000 or the equivalent; must have no infectious disease classed as a public-health threat; must have no prison sentence in any country other than for traffic offences and no conviction or pending prosecution for the listed offences; must hold valid health insurance in the TRNC; and must not have spent more than 180 days abroad in any of the last six years, although the yearly limit is disregarded if the total over the period does not exceed 1,080 days (540 days for the three-year route). The work-permit route of Article 4 has a stricter absence limit: no more than forty days abroad in each year, with the forty-day limit disregarded if the total over six years is no more than 240 days.

The assured-income definition becomes numbers with the minimum wage notice. For a single applicant a year’s deposit is 12 × 70,893 = TL 850,716 gross (12 × 61,677 = TL 740,124 net). For a couple it is 2 × 70,893 = TL 141,786 per month, or 12 × 141,786 = TL 1,701,432 for a year. For a couple with two dependent children the monthly total is 2 + 0.5 + 0.5 = 3 minimum wages, which is TL 212,679, or TL 2,552,148 for twelve months, the same figure as the income-based short-term permit above.

The fee is set in Article 14: TL 25,000 for the permit and TL 10,000 for the check made every two years. The Council of Ministers may raise both amounts up to fifteen times by regulation, taking annual inflation into account, and ten per cent of what is collected goes to the sickness insurance branch of the Social Insurance Fund. The holder must make a declaration every two years, within thirty days counted from the date the permit was first issued, that none of the cancellation grounds of Article 8 applies. After the permit is granted, a holder who obtained it on the work or business route may not spend more than ninety days a year abroad, while a holder on the home and income route loses the permit by losing the home or the assured income or lacking valid health insurance. A permit obtained by a false statement, a prison sentence or a conviction for the listed offences, an untreated infectious disease documented by the health ministry, or unregistered work are further grounds. Knowingly misleading the authorities in this process is an offence under Article 12, punishable by up to ten years in prison, a fine of up to fifty monthly minimum wages, or both; on the gross figure, fifty wages are 50 × 70,893 = TL 3,544,650.

Application Steps, Renewal and Overstay

The application process in the North Cyprus residency program is written into Article 22. Where the Immigration Department offers the online system, the applicant registers with a personal mobile number and e-mail, receives an appointment and a list of the documents required for the chosen permit type, and is directed to the police unit. The table follows the order in which the steps arise.

Article 22(6) sets the start date of the new permit. If the application is made within the visa period, the lawful-stay period or the renewal window, the new permit starts when the previous visa or permit ended, so no gap opens in a chain of permits. If it is made later, the new permit starts on the application date. After the renewal window, the police units do not accept a direct application; a person entitled to a retroactive permit pre-applies to the Department for a letter that allows the police to take the application, and where that right does not apply, no application is accepted. The same article provides that where one or more conditions are not yet met but can be met within ninety days, a permit of up to ninety days may be issued on the applicant’s undertaking.

The renewal calendar can be worked out for a permit that ends on 30 June 2027. Forty days from the end date is 9 August 2027 (31 days in July plus 9 days in August), so a renewal filed by that day starts on 30 June 2027. If the police confirm receipt on 9 August, the lawful-stay period of up to 60 days runs to 8 October 2027, the police forward the file by 19 August 2027, the health report is due by 8 September 2027 (30 days after the application), and a positive SMS received on 1 September 2027 leaves until 1 October 2027 to pay and collect. A renewal after 9 August is not taken by the police unit directly.

Article 23 lists when a permit is refused, cancelled or not renewed: an application condition is not met or stops being met; a false statement or an unreliable document was submitted; the permit was used outside its purpose; the person is subject to a valid deportation or entry-ban decision; for a family permit, the marriage was made to obtain a permit or citizenship, or the sponsor’s permit was cancelled; for a student permit, evidence shows that study cannot continue; the holder is wanted by the police or the police have issued an adverse report; or the holder was found working while holding only a residence permit. The decision is notified by SMS or to the legal representative or lawyer, and unless another period is set the person must leave within five days of notification. A person refused or revoked who applies again within six months must show that the relevant conditions have changed (Article 23(3)). A person who stays without lawful status is treated under Article 25(1)(a) as present without permission, and the fines are set in the Aliens and Immigration Law, not in the regulation. Holders of work or business permits whose permit ends or is cancelled are treated as lawfully present for forty days (Article 25(2)(a)).

Fees and a Worked Cost Example for the North Cyprus Residency Program

The First Schedule to the regulation (Article 30) sets the permit fee by length. The schedule, as amended through A.E. 784/2026, applies to short-term and family permits; student permits have lower fees, and a retroactive-permit fee of TL 1,000 per month of lateness applies where Article 25(4) lets a person obtain a permit for a past period, with part-months counted as full months.

Each row from six months upward equals TL 4,000 for each year of the longest term in that row (TL 8,000 for two years, TL 12,000 for three, TL 16,000 for four and TL 40,000 for ten). The regulation charges the ordinary fee, not the late fee, to anyone who applies within the periods of Article 22(2). The examples below combine this schedule with the minimum wage notice of 1 July 2026 and the work permit schedule; each case shows the steps. Health premiums are payable separately under the Health Fund Law and are not included, because the regulation does not state them.

• Owner with a ten-year permit and a spouse. A foreigner holds a title deed for properties worth £320,000, above the £300,000 line, so the owner’s permit is for 10 years. The fee for 120 months is TL 40,000. The spouse applies for a family permit of the same ten years, which cannot outlast the sponsor’s permit, at TL 40,000. The two permits cost 40,000 + 40,000 = TL 80,000. A child under 18 enrolled at a registered school is exempt from holding a permit, so adds nothing to this total.
• Couple over 60 on the rental-contract route. Two applicants each take a permit of three years. The fee for the 24 to 36 month row is TL 12,000 each, so 2 × 12,000 = TL 24,000 in permit fees. If neither has a regular pension, each deposits one minimum wage times 36 months: 36 × 70,893 = TL 2,552,148 gross (36 × 61,677 = TL 2,220,372 net).
• Student on a four-year bachelor’s degree. A student permit is issued for at most one year at a time, and a twelve-month permit falls in the 6 to 12 month row at TL 1,500. Over four years that is 4 × 1,500 = TL 6,000, plus the health insurance for each year.
• Employee on a fixed-term work permit. The employer pays TL 5,020 for a permit of 6 to 12 months and TL 10,040 for one of 12 to 24 months, so the second costs 10,040 – 5,020 = TL 5,020 more but covers a longer period.
• Late renewal for a person entitled to a retroactive permit. For a permit of 12 to 24 months, the ordinary fee is TL 8,000. If the application is three months late under Article 25(4), the late-application fee of TL 12,000 plus 3 × TL 1,000 is TL 15,000, which is TL 7,000 more than filing on time.
• Visa extension. A 30-day tourist visa extended to the 90-day maximum adds 60 days at TL 20 per day, so 60 × 20 = TL 1,200.

The purchase side has its own charges, which are set out with listing prices in the taxes and fees guide. The fees above are the official lira schedules as of the dates stated; they can change by amending regulation, and the Immigration Department’s public fee page may show an earlier schedule than the consolidated regulation.

What a Residence Permit in North Cyprus Does and Does Not Allow

Under Article 2 of the regulation, a residence permit is a permit that gives a foreigner the right to stay in the TRNC. In the North Cyprus residency program, that is the core right: lawful presence for the term printed on the permit, with re-entry without a new entry visa while the permit is valid. Nearly every other activity is regulated by a separate law or authority, and the sourced position is as follows.

Work. A residence permit does not carry the right to work; the work permit rules above apply. Health care. The regulation requires health insurance or a premium in every route. The Public Information Office page for foreign residents states that foreigners with work permits, and their dependent partners and children, can use the state health system at the fee set for insured employees under the Health Institutions Wage Scale Regulations. Schools. The same page states that children of work and residence permit holders can attend school at every age level, and that pupils from schools abroad can move to comparable TRNC schools on presentation of the parents’ permits. Banking. The Money and Foreign Exchange Law 38/1997 makes it free for natural and legal persons to hold foreign currency (Article 5), allows banks to open foreign-currency accounts for natural or legal persons (Article 11) and makes transfers in and out through banks free, with names and addresses recorded and totals reported to the Central Bank (Article 6). The law does not make a residence permit a condition of holding an account. Article 7 leaves cash limits to a Central Bank notice, and the Central Bank’s public announcement of 10 March 2026 states that a traveller may take at most EUR 10,000 or its equivalent in cash out of the country; larger sums can leave only through banks operating in the TRNC. The cash declaration guide covers crossing rules.

Driving. According to the Public Information Office FAQ (footer 2024), a tourist’s foreign licence is valid for 90 days from entry, and people entering for work, study or residence apply for a TRNC licence presenting their own; third-country citizens with a permit pass a test on the traffic rules, take a learner’s licence and complete a course of driving lessons before applying. Citizenship. It does not follow from a permit; it is governed by the Citizenship Law 25/1993, which Law 51/2015 cites for the marriage route.

Outside the TRNC. The permits are national permits of the TRNC. The European Commission states that EU legislation is suspended in the part of the island where the Government of the Republic of Cyprus does not exercise effective control, under Protocol 10 to the 2003 Act of Accession. The UK government’s travel advice states that the Republic of Cyprus does not recognise residence permits issued in the north and that consular support there is limited; it adds that arriving in the Republic through the north, for example at Ercan airport, is treated by the authorities as illegal entry, and that time in the north counts toward the 90-day visa-free total in the Republic. The Government of Canada’s advice, updated on 11 August 2026, states the same on recognition and adds that vehicle insurance bought in the Republic is not valid in the north. A TRNC permit therefore gives no right of residence, work or free movement in the Republic of Cyprus or in other EU states. The Cyprus residence permit guide covers the Republic’s own routes and the comparison of North and South Cyprus sets the property rules side by side.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the North Cyprus residency program?

The North Cyprus residency program is the set of permits that the TRNC’s Residence and Visa Regulation, Law 51/2015 and the Work Permits Law provide: tourist visas, short-term permits for several purposes, family, student, work and business-establishment permits, and permanent residence. There is no single investment scheme under that name; each permit has its own conditions, as the comparison table sets out.

Is there a minimum property value for a residence permit?

Not for applying under the North Cyprus residency program. Article 14(2)(b)(iv) provides a five-year permit without an income condition when the total value on the title deed is below £300,000, and a ten-year permit at £300,000 or more. For a contract-only applicant, a stamped contract value below £300,000 brings an income condition of one monthly minimum wage. The £300,000 line is explained in the property-owner guide linked above.

Which permit lasts longest?

The permanent residence permit under Law 51/2015 has no end date and is checked every two years; among the permits with terms, the regulation provides up to ten years for owners at the £300,000 level and for family permits, up to five years for several other short-term categories, and up to one year at a time for student permits. The North Cyprus residency program therefore ranges from a one-year permit to a permit with no end date, depending on the route.

Can a permit holder work?

No. A residence permit does not carry the right to work. Article 8(1) of the Work Permits Law forbids a foreigner without a work permit from working, the employer applies for the work permit, and Article 23(1)(ğ) of the regulation makes work on a residence permit alone a ground for cancelling the permit. Holders of valid permanent residence permits are treated as holding work and business permits.

How long does an application take?

The texts give time limits rather than an average. The police forward the file within 10 days, the health report is due within 30 days of application, further checks are completed within 30 days, and the applicant has 30 days to pay and collect after a positive SMS. While the file is pending, the applicant is treated as lawfully present for up to 60 days from the police confirmation of receipt.

What does a permit cost in the North Cyprus residency program?

Under the First Schedule, a permit of 6 to 12 months costs TL 4,000, 12 to 24 months TL 8,000, 24 to 36 months TL 12,000 and 120 months TL 40,000. A student permit of 6 to 12 months costs TL 1,500. An employer pays TL 5,020 for a work permit of 6 to 12 months. The permanent residence permit costs TL 25,000 plus TL 10,000 every two years.

Can family members be included?

Yes, on a family permit within the North Cyprus residency program. A foreign spouse or partner, unmarried children under 25 (unless the sponsor holds only a student permit), a disabled adult child and, on conditions, parents can apply for a family permit of up to ten years that never outlasts the sponsor’s. A child under 18 enrolled at a registered school, and any foreigner under 6, is exempt from holding a permit.

When is a permit cancelled, and what happens on overstay?

Article 23 lists the grounds: conditions no longer met, false statements, use outside the permit’s purpose, a deportation or entry-ban decision, an adverse police report and working on a residence permit alone. The holder must leave within five days of notification unless another period is set. Fines for unauthorised stay are set in the Aliens and Immigration Law, not in the regulation.

Does the permit apply in the Republic of Cyprus or the EU?

No. The North Cyprus residency program produces national permits of the TRNC. The UK government states that the Republic of Cyprus does not recognise residence permits issued in the north, and the European Commission states that EU legislation is suspended there under Protocol 10, so a permit carries no EU residence, work or free-movement rights.

Does the 2026 decree-law change the permit rules?

Decree-Law 89/2026, published in Official Gazette No. 147 on 7 August 2026, deals with foreigners’ acquisition of immovable property, not with the permit conditions in the Residence and Visa Regulation. Whether it continues depends on Parliament, so the permit figures on this page are taken from the regulation as consolidated on 5 October 2026.

Last checked: 5 November 2026. Sources: Residence and Visa Regulation (consolidated 5 October 2026); Permanent Residence Law 51/2015; Foreigners’ Work Permits Law 63/2006; Foreigners’ Work Permits Regulation (6 October 2026); E-Vize Regulation (24 August 2026); Official Gazette No. 147 (7 August 2026); Revenue and Tax Department, minimum wage from 1 July 2026; Money and Foreign Exchange Law 38/1997; TRNC Central Bank announcement (10 March 2026); Public Information Office, life in the TRNC for foreigners; Public Information Office, FAQ; YÖDAK, Higher Education Planning, Supervision, Accreditation and Coordination Board; UK government, Cyprus entry requirements; UK government, regional risks; Government of Canada, Cyprus travel advice (11 August 2026); European Commission, Green Line Regulation.