Between 06:00 and noon on 18 January, special units from Cyprus’s Aliens & Immigration Service and Green-Line Surveillance Directorate fanned out across construction sites, farms and urban apartment blocks that intelligence analysts had flagged as high-risk. By midday, 31 third-country nationals of seven different nationalities had been detained; seven were placed on the first available removal flight and the rest transferred to Menoyia Detention Centre for fast-tracked deportation hearings. (visahq.com)
The large-scale raid forms part of the Christodoulides government’s aggressive returns strategy. Police data show Cyprus repatriated 11,742 migrants—voluntary and forced—in 2025, up from 10,092 the previous year, while irregular arrivals fell to 2,444, compared with more than 17,000 at the height of the 2022 crisis. Officials attribute the reversal to daily street checks, carrier-sanction rules for airlines and a new 10-day fast-track asylum procedure. (visahq.com)
For multinationals the clampdown raises compliance stakes: identity inspections around airports, bus stations and the UN-monitored Green Line are now both more frequent and more rigorous. Expatriate staff who hold older paper residence permits—or whose passports carry expired entry stamps—face a tangible risk of detention until status is clarified.
![Nationwide Dawn Sweep Nets 31 Undocumented Migrants as Cyprus Tightens Returns Policy]()
In this environment, VisaHQ’s Cyprus desk (https://www.visahq.com/cyprus/) can act as a rapid-response ally, offering online visa assessments, document validation and concierge filing services that help companies and their international employees stay fully compliant with the island’s tightening immigration rules.
Employers are advised to conduct immediate audits of employee documentation, circulate reminders on 90-day visa-free limits, and supply dependants with photocopies of residence cards. Companies facilitating voluntary returns can, in certain cases, avoid administrative fines that normally apply for the illegal employment of third-country nationals.
Human-rights groups have expressed concern over due-process safeguards, but the government says that strict enforcement is essential to ease pressure on reception centres and to strengthen its argument for Schengen accession. EU migration evaluators will audit Cyprus’s return procedures next month. (visahq.com)
The large-scale raid forms part of the Christodoulides government’s aggressive returns strategy. Police data show Cyprus repatriated 11,742 migrants—voluntary and forced—in 2025, up from 10,092 the previous year, while irregular arrivals fell to 2,444, compared with more than 17,000 at the height of the 2022 crisis. Officials attribute the reversal to daily street checks, carrier-sanction rules for airlines and a new 10-day fast-track asylum procedure. (visahq.com)
For multinationals the clampdown raises compliance stakes: identity inspections around airports, bus stations and the UN-monitored Green Line are now both more frequent and more rigorous. Expatriate staff who hold older paper residence permits—or whose passports carry expired entry stamps—face a tangible risk of detention until status is clarified.
In this environment, VisaHQ’s Cyprus desk (https://www.visahq.com/cyprus/) can act as a rapid-response ally, offering online visa assessments, document validation and concierge filing services that help companies and their international employees stay fully compliant with the island’s tightening immigration rules.
Employers are advised to conduct immediate audits of employee documentation, circulate reminders on 90-day visa-free limits, and supply dependants with photocopies of residence cards. Companies facilitating voluntary returns can, in certain cases, avoid administrative fines that normally apply for the illegal employment of third-country nationals.
Human-rights groups have expressed concern over due-process safeguards, but the government says that strict enforcement is essential to ease pressure on reception centres and to strengthen its argument for Schengen accession. EU migration evaluators will audit Cyprus’s return procedures next month. (visahq.com)
