Wednesday, 25 March 2026 marks Greek Independence Day, a public holiday observed in the Republic of Cyprus. As a result, all Cypriot government departments—including Migration offices, district Aliens & Immigration Units and overseas consulates—are closed. VFS Global has also confirmed that its outsourced Cyprus Visa Application Centre in Doha, Qatar will not accept applications or biometrics today.
![Greek Independence Day shuts Cypriot visa services worldwide]()
Should you need an alternative route to keep cases moving during the shutdown, VisaHQ can step in by pre-screening documentation, securing the next available slots and providing real-time updates through its dedicated Cyprus page (https://www.visahq.com/cyprus/). This concierge support allows HR teams and travelers to line everything up now so that filings can be lodged the moment the offices reopen.
Routine closures on a mid-week holiday can easily slip under the radar for mobility managers, yet the impact is tangible: appointments missed on 25 March are automatically pushed into April because most posts are already fully booked. Applicants in high-volume markets such as Lebanon, India and the United Kingdom face an additional 7-to-10-day delay in passport return, which could derail start dates for assignees due to join Cypriot companies in early April. The delay coincides with the end-of-quarter surge in applications for Category D work permits and family reunification visas, compounding backlogs caused by last month’s system outage at the Civil Registry and Migration Department. Employers sponsoring new hires are advised to build at least a two-week buffer into mobilisation timelines and to leverage the fast-track services available at select missions (notably London and Tel Aviv) once offices reopen on 26 March. Legal advisers also remind travellers whose 90-day visa-free stay ends this week that exit controls at airports will still apply, irrespective of the holiday; overstays of even a single day can trigger re-entry bans. Where essential business travel cannot be postponed, practitioners suggest entering on an alternative Schengen visa and completing Cypriot formalities after arrival under the visa-waiver arrangement, which remains valid for most non-restricted nationalities.
Should you need an alternative route to keep cases moving during the shutdown, VisaHQ can step in by pre-screening documentation, securing the next available slots and providing real-time updates through its dedicated Cyprus page (https://www.visahq.com/cyprus/). This concierge support allows HR teams and travelers to line everything up now so that filings can be lodged the moment the offices reopen.
Routine closures on a mid-week holiday can easily slip under the radar for mobility managers, yet the impact is tangible: appointments missed on 25 March are automatically pushed into April because most posts are already fully booked. Applicants in high-volume markets such as Lebanon, India and the United Kingdom face an additional 7-to-10-day delay in passport return, which could derail start dates for assignees due to join Cypriot companies in early April. The delay coincides with the end-of-quarter surge in applications for Category D work permits and family reunification visas, compounding backlogs caused by last month’s system outage at the Civil Registry and Migration Department. Employers sponsoring new hires are advised to build at least a two-week buffer into mobilisation timelines and to leverage the fast-track services available at select missions (notably London and Tel Aviv) once offices reopen on 26 March. Legal advisers also remind travellers whose 90-day visa-free stay ends this week that exit controls at airports will still apply, irrespective of the holiday; overstays of even a single day can trigger re-entry bans. Where essential business travel cannot be postponed, practitioners suggest entering on an alternative Schengen visa and completing Cypriot formalities after arrival under the visa-waiver arrangement, which remains valid for most non-restricted nationalities.
