The Republic of Cyprus has officially allowed Belarusian citizens to apply for and renew residence permits using an expired passport. The new rules have been in effect since May 2026. An official announcement by the Migration Department was published on August 26, 2026.
The decision is particularly important for Belarusians who are already legally residing in Cyprus but are unable to replace or renew their national passport. The problem arose after a decree signed by Alexander Lukashenko in September 2023. Under the new rules, citizens of the country living abroad can no longer, in certain cases, obtain or renew a passport through consular offices and must apply for the document in person in Belarus.
Who can benefit from the new rule
The relaxation applies primarily to Belarusian citizens who legally reside in the Republic of Cyprus and are unable to renew their passport. At the same time, the mere fact that a document has expired does not remove the other requirements of Cyprus migration law.
This means that applicants must still meet the conditions of the specific type of residence permit and provide the required documents. The new procedure simply allows migration authorities to consider an application in cases where a person does not have a valid Belarusian passport for objective reasons.
Separate rules apply to children born in Cyprus to two Belarusian citizens. In this case, a birth certificate issued by the Cypriot authorities may be used when applying for a residence permit. If one of the parents is a citizen of another country, the child will generally need a passport issued by the country of their citizenship.
A residence permit does not replace a passport for travel
The new measure solves the issue of legal residence in Cyprus, but it does not make an expired Belarusian passport valid for international travel. A Cypriot residence permit is also not a travel document and does not replace a national passport when crossing borders. Therefore, Belarusian citizens using the new procedure should keep in mind the distinction between the right to stay in Cyprus and the ability to travel freely outside the island.
A separate issue concerns future applications for Cypriot citizenship. At present, there is no clear clarification as to whether the period of residence under a permit issued using an expired passport will count towards the required residence period for applying for Cypriot citizenship. Applicants are advised to clarify this point separately with the migration authorities depending on their individual circumstances.
Who pushed for the change in the rules
An important role in advancing the issue was played by Alesia Parkhomenko from the “Democratic Embassy of Belarus in Cyprus” movement, who has lived on the island since 2018. According to her, for several months she contacted Cypriot government bodies, including the office of the Deputy Minister for Migration, and also discussed the issue with members of parliament.
As a result, Cyprus developed a special administrative mechanism allowing Belarusians facing difficult documentation circumstances to maintain their legal migration status. For Belarusian citizens living in Cyprus, this is a particularly important change: an expired passport in itself should no longer prevent them from applying for or renewing a residence permit, provided that all other requirements of Cyprus migration law are met.