The Audit Office of the Republic of Cyprus has uncovered a high-profile case of passport fraud.
A Turkish Cypriot managed to get identity documents issued up to five times using photos of different people.
The fact came to light during an audit of the Civil Registry and Migration Department (CRMD) for the period 2020 to 2023. At the same time, it turned out that this was far from the only problem in the department. In another case, the authorities paid for the departure of a foreigner who had already been deported - another indication of the chaos in the migration control system.
The processing of applications for Cypriot citizenship remains a major problem. In particular, the auditor found that the processing of Cypriot citizenship through naturalisation or marriage to a Cypriot citizen takes up to 37 months, creating huge queues. The department has a backlog of 11,891 cases. Some applications have been pending for more than 15 years. At the same time, applicants are not even informed of the status of their documents, which is against the principles of good administration.
He also took umbrage at the fact that, despite the requirement to have resided in Cyprus for 12 months before submitting an application, the authorities turn a blind eye to the absence of applicants for up to 90 days. This is against local legislation. Once a passport is issued, there is no monitoring of whether a person lives in the country or leaves.
In addition, no one keeps track of the expiry dates of students' residence permits, so it is often unknown whether they have left the country or are here illegally. According to statistics, 12% of students with expired visas remain in Cyprus, while 16% leave the country after their permits expire or are deported.
The Audit Service also found that the Ministry faces difficulties in verifying the authenticity of foreign workers' language certificates and work experience documents, which may affect the legality of the permits issued.
The irregularities identified by the Audit Service therefore point to serious systemic failures. Documents take years to be issued, there is little or no control and loopholes for fraudsters remain open. Ultimately, the key question is: if one person was able to obtain five passports, how many other such cases have gone undetected?