A regular session of the Cypriot Parliament was held on Monday 27 January. The main topic of discussion was the numerous complaints about the increasing number of cases in which Cypriot children are being denied citizenship.
In particular, Akel MP Yorgos Koukoumas said that problems arise in cases where one parent is Cypriot and the second is a third-country national living illegally on the island. This category includes: applicants for international protection or asylum, illegal immigrants or those with an expired residence permit in Cyprus and other similar categories.
According to Koukoumas, local legislation also allows children to apply for a Cypriot passport if one of their parents is a Cypriot citizen. However, if the other parent is an illegal immigrant, citizenship is not automatically granted. A passport is only issued after the application has been considered by the Cabinet of Ministers.
The main issue is whether the Cypriot Ministry of Interior refers these applications to the Cabinet for consideration. The Commissioner for Human Rights in Cyprus is confident that this is not happening. There is a 'huge delay' in processing the cases, the ministry is knowingly condemning these children to uncertainty,' Koukoumas said.
It is worth noting that there are currently more than 3.7 thousand children living in Cyprus who have one parent who is Cypriot and the other who is a third country national. Last year, 30 complaints were received from parents who never received passports for children born and brought up in Cyprus. Many have been waiting for years for their applications to be processed. One applicant said he had not received a reply since 2008. Interestingly, it is not possible to take legal action against the state in this case, as the application is frozen rather than rejected. The Human Rights Ombudsman's office tries to help people, but often receives standardised replies from the registry offices, without any indication of approval or rejection. The main problem is that applicants are put on a waiting list. This does not give them the right to appeal.
For his part, a spokesman for the Cypriot Interior Ministry said that the law stipulates that all children whose parents are Cypriot citizens are entitled to citizenship, unless one of the parents is in Cyprus illegally. The criteria were set in 2007 and revised in 2024, mainly for Turkish settlers.
Since the opening of the checkpoints in 2003, 500 applications have been approved and 96 applications have been sent to the Cabinet since 2024, the majority of which are for Turkish Cypriots. In addition, 760 eligible Turkish Cypriot applications and 2,885 ineligible Turkish Cypriot applications are still pending.
Of the total number of cases as discussed in Parliament, 25 were submitted to the Cabinet and approved in 2024 despite not meeting the criteria, while 20 cases are still pending, where one parent is a Greek Cypriot and the other is an illegal immigrant.