Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07NICOSIA125
2007-02-13 05:10:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Nicosia
Cable title:  

NEW LAW BRINGS CYPRUS INTO COMPLIANCE WITH EU

Tags:  PGOV PHUM CY 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO5573
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RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHNC #0125/01 0440510
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 130510Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY NICOSIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7517
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 4865
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 0149
RUEHML/AMEMBASSY MANILA 0060
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 1032
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0775
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NICOSIA 000125 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

FOR EUR/SE MCLEGG-TRIPP AND EMELLINGER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM CY
SUBJECT: NEW LAW BRINGS CYPRUS INTO COMPLIANCE WITH EU
MIGRATION POLICY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NICOSIA 000125

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

FOR EUR/SE MCLEGG-TRIPP AND EMELLINGER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM CY
SUBJECT: NEW LAW BRINGS CYPRUS INTO COMPLIANCE WITH EU
MIGRATION POLICY


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Cyprus's Parliament passed February 1 a new
immigration law to bring the nation into compliance with
European Union norms. Under the legislation, legally
employed foreign workers who have been on the island for five
years can apply for long-term residency. That many officials
had fought the law for years calls into question the
government's commitment to implement and enforce its
pro-immigrant spirit, however. END SUMMARY.

--------------
In Compliance... Finally
--------------


2. (U) A year behind schedule, Cyprus adopted immigration
legislation February 1 that brings the country's laws on
long-term residence into compliance with EU Directive
2003-109-EC. Third-country nationals who have been on Cyprus
legally for more than five years -- dating back before
Cyprus's EU accession on May 1, 2004 -- and who are gainfully
employed will now be able to adjust to long-term residency
status (similar to our LPR arrangement).


3. (U) The ROC estimates that nearly 5,000 foreign workers
and family members will be eligible to apply for long-term
residency. Filipino and Sri Lankan domestic, service and
construction workers are expected to be the largest
beneficiary groups. Chairman of the immigrant support
organization KISA Doros Polykarpou told Poloff February 8
that another 3,000 immigrants may also be eligible if the
"Migration Committee" -- a small, high-level review board --
resists a to-the-letter interpretation of the new legislation.

--------------
More Than Wishing Away a "Problem"
--------------


4. (SBU) Polykarpou further asserted that this figure could
have been twice as high, had the GOC not actively been
preventing foreign workers from staying legally on the island
for longer than five years. Soon after Brussels issued the
directive, he claimed, the GOC's Council of Ministers
decreased the maximum-length employment permit from six to
four years, expecting that this change would "solve the
problem" of foreign workers seeking long-term residence. Of
course, those who had already accrued five years on Cyprus or
had received a permit extension "did not just disappear, as
the government had hoped," Polykarpou jabbed.


5. (SBU) KISA also had received reports of the GOC lobbying

Cypriot business associations to fire foreign workers before
they could reach the five-year finish line. According to
Polykarpou, government officials had asked employers why they
wanted "to damage the country by allowing foreign workers to
permanently stay on Cyprus?" To assist them to meet their
demands for labor, the government would continue to allow the
hiring of foreigners on short-term work contracts, regardless
of the EU directive's mandate. In fact, the Ministry of
Interior had begun to charge only a CyP75 (approx. $170) fee
for each of the first four years of an employment permit but
increased the fee to CyP300 ($675) for any extension after
that. Such tactics were consistent, Polykarpou stated, with
those of successive Cypriot governments that "never thought
Cyprus needed a migration policy," preferring to issue
permits to temporary workers to keep labor costs down and to
weaken local trade unions.


6. (SBU) Meanwhile, foreign workers have charged Migration
with trying to intimidate and/or trick them into leaving the
country; Migration has cited staffing gaps and an increasing
caseload. While Emboffs have observed understaffing at
Migration, Post has also received reports from KISA and other
sources of migration officials providing incorrect
information depending on applicants' nationality, sending
them on spurious paper chases and delaying processing for
migrants already "on the clock." Emboffs have even heard
accounts that migration officials blatantly lied, telling
foreign nationals that, in order to obtain Cypriot residency,
they first had to return to their home countries to file
applications.

--------------

NICOSIA 00000125 002 OF 002


"A Fairly Good Law"
--------------


7. (U) Brussels had given member states great latitude in
implementing the immigration directive, Polykarpou revealed,
as long as its basic principles were met. Early GOC drafts
contained provisions that worried immigration activists,
however. The KISA chief was thankful that Communist party
AKEL and right-wing DISY were able to roll back the bill's
most onerous requirements, including a mandatory, strenuous
Greek-language exam. "The MOI clearly intended to impose
standards that most applicants could not meet," Polykarpou
charged. AKEL successfully argued, however, that long-term
residency applicants needed only a good, basic knowledge of
Greek that living and working in Cyprus for five years would
provide. Also dropped from the new law were exams on Cypriot
history and culture. Lastly, MPs reduced the burden on
applicants from showing irrefutable proof of long-term legal
employment.


8. (U) Though "a fairly good law," Polykarpou argued, there
was one issue of particular concern, i.e., the new law still
included an "officially limited permit" disqualification.
Using this loophole, Migration could deny an otherwise
eligible applicant if that foreign worker originally entered
on a four-year permit. Polykarpou claimed this measure would
not only contradict the spirit of the law but would violate
the EU directive. Minister of Interior Neoclis Sylikioutis
and Attorney General Petros Clerides had assured KISA that
the government would not exploit this loophole in an attempt
to reject additional applications, however. Optimistically,
Polykarpou thought the "Migration Committee," which was
scheduled to review all cases in the next six months, would
give eligible workers the benefit of the doubt instead of
"trying to find an excuse to say no." KISA would be ready to
challenge this provision in the European Court of Justice,
however, which could affect up to 3,000 applicants.

--------------
COMMENT: An Enlightened Few
--------------


9. (SBU) Economic growth and increased prosperity has changed
Cyprus like it did Spain and Ireland, turning a country that
once exported human capital into a net importer. As a
result, an island that 30 years ago was almost exclusively
Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot now features a per capita
immigrant population similar to Germany's or France's, with
all the pros and cons that brings. Although the new
immigration law's passage did not receive wide media
coverage, a few columnists did highlight the government's
responsibility to integrate these new residents into Cypriot
society. By offering free Greek language instruction, they
argued, the ROC could help immigrants avoid isolation in
linguistic and concrete ghettos. Polykarpou even believed
that many successful applicants would stay on Cyprus rather
than seeking greener pastures elsewhere in the EU.
Confronted with this seeming fait accompli, GOC decision
makers can seek to craft a more diverse Cyprus made stronger
by willing, integrated newcomers, or, by doing nothing, can
create pockets of resentment and isolation. If implemented
smartly, this new immigration legislation appears a fine
first step on the path of the former.

SCHLICHER