The Civil Registry and Migration Department (CRMD) will close all public counters and online portals from 13:00 on 1 November 2025 for scheduled IT upgrades, the Interior Ministry confirmed late on 30 October.
During the half-day outage, no passport, identity-card or residence-permit applications will be processed. Appointments originally booked for the afternoon have been automatically rescheduled, and same-day expedited passport submissions will only be accepted until 10:30.
CRMD says the upgrade is essential to integrate biometric enrolment for the new EU Entry/Exit System. The department will also roll out an SMS notification service that alerts applicants when documents are ready for collection—a feature long requested by immigration lawyers and relocation firms.
Service is expected to resume at 08:00 on Monday, 3 November. Mobility managers with assignees awaiting permit renewals should adjust timelines; failure to collect biometric data before travel could lead to re-entry issues once EES goes live in mid-October 2026.
The ministry apologised for the inconvenience and advised customers to consult the gov.cy portal for real-time status updates.
During the half-day outage, no passport, identity-card or residence-permit applications will be processed. Appointments originally booked for the afternoon have been automatically rescheduled, and same-day expedited passport submissions will only be accepted until 10:30.
CRMD says the upgrade is essential to integrate biometric enrolment for the new EU Entry/Exit System. The department will also roll out an SMS notification service that alerts applicants when documents are ready for collection—a feature long requested by immigration lawyers and relocation firms.
Service is expected to resume at 08:00 on Monday, 3 November. Mobility managers with assignees awaiting permit renewals should adjust timelines; failure to collect biometric data before travel could lead to re-entry issues once EES goes live in mid-October 2026.
The ministry apologised for the inconvenience and advised customers to consult the gov.cy portal for real-time status updates.
