Workforce Mobility & Immigration in Cyprus

EU Blue Card coordination for non-EU hires, and Non-Dom residency planning for individuals relocating dividend- and interest-earning income to Cyprus.

Cyprus Reviewed September 2026

Currency

EUR

EU/EEA/Swiss nationals

No visa or work permit required

Main non-EU route

EU Blue Card threshold is €43

Registration deadline

Typically within 1–2 weeks of arrival

Housing — single employee

~€1,200–1,800/month (1-bed, city centre; Nicosia significantly lower at ~€600–900/month)

Housing — family of four

~€2,200–3,000/month (3-bed, Limassol city centre)

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Moving workforce into Cyprus

Cyprus applies a 15% standard corporate income tax rate as of 1 January 2026 (up from 12.5%, unchanged since 2013), alongside a 19% standard VAT rate and employer social contributions of roughly 15.4% of gross salary across Social Insurance, GESY (the national health system), the Social Cohesion Fund, the Redundancy Fund and HRDA. A private limited company (Ltd) has no statutory minimum share capital — €1,000 nominal is common market practice — while a public company (Plc) requires €25,629. Special Defence Contribution (SDC) on dividends paid to domiciled tax residents fell from 17% to 5% for profit earned from 2026 onward, though pre-2026 retained profit distributed on or before 31 December 2031 remains taxed at the old 17% rate.

Discuss your Cyprus relocation plan

Freedom of movement, and the route for everyone else

Nationals of EU and EEA member states, and Switzerland, have full freedom of movement into Cyprus: no visa and no work permit are required, though address and tax registration is still expected shortly after arrival.

For third-country nationals, EU Blue Card threshold is €43,632/year (2026), reduced to 80% of that for high-demand professions (ICT, pharmaceutical research, shipping) and recent graduates; Non-Dom status is the primary route for relocating individuals with dividend- and interest-earning income

Confirm the right route for a hire

What sits with the company

Once the right to work is confirmed, payroll registration follows — see our Payroll & Workforce Management in Cyprus guide for the employer registration steps that come next.

Set up a relocation process

What it costs to house a relocating employee

Figures below are indicative for Limassol, Cyprus's primary market for relocating employees — a company relocating multiple staff should budget by destination city, not a single national number.

Item	Single employee	Family of four
Typical apartment	1-bedroom	3-bedroom
Rent (Limassol)	~€1,200–1,800/month (1-bed, city centre; Nicosia significantly lower at ~€600–900/month)	~€2,200–3,000/month (3-bed, Limassol city centre)
Security deposit	Typically 1-2 months' rent by convention, paid in full at signing	Typically 1-2 months' rent by convention, paid in full at signing

Get a city-specific relocation estimate

Frequently asked questions

Did the Cyprus corporate tax rate really change in 2026?

Yes. The standard corporate income tax rate rose from 12.5% — unchanged since 2013 — to 15% effective 1 January 2026, as part of a wider reform aligning Cyprus with the OECD's global minimum tax under Pillar Two.

Does the IP Box regime still apply after the 2026 reform?

Yes, unchanged in structure: 80% of qualifying intellectual property profit remains exempt under the BEPS Action 5 modified nexus approach. Because that exemption is now calculated against the higher 15% headline rate, the effective tax rate on qualifying IP profit moved from approximately 2.5% to approximately 3%.

What is Cyprus's Non-Dom regime and does it still work?

Qualifying new tax residents who are not domiciled in Cyprus are exempt from Special Defence Contribution on dividend and interest income for up to 17 years. This exemption was not altered by the 2026 corporate tax reform; domiciled residents, by contrast, now pay 5% SDC on dividends from post-2026 profit, down from 17%.

Is a statutory audit really mandatory for every Cyprus company?

Yes. Every registered private or public company must have audited annual financial statements, including companies that never traded. Small companies — turnover below €200,000, rising to €300,000 from 6 February 2026, and gross assets below €500,000, for two consecutive years — may opt for a lighter ISRE 2400 review engagement instead of a full audit.

Talk to a Cyprus mobility expert

Companies already using Cyprus for IP or holding structures should re-test each qualifying asset against the IP Box rules under the new 15% headline rate, since the 2026 reform changed the baseline against which the 80% exemption is measured — the regime is unchanged, but what it now saves is not.

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