Officials bid to slash rampant stop list

By Jean Christou

THERE are 50,000 people on the stop list, many of whom should not be there, a top-level Interior Ministry official has revealed.

Permanent Secretary Thanos Michael said a review of the stop list was to be part of a feasibility study that would focus on changing the face of the island’s often-hostile immigration services.

Michael, a relative of whom was a recent victim of airport immigration officialdom, said that the stop list should include undesirables with a criminal record or people prevented from entering the island through a court order.

“But there are other people on the stop list as well,” Michael said, adding that many of these should not be there.

And he cited people using their influence with immigration officials to have others put on the stop list.

He mentioned as an example cases involving foreign women who have been stopped after complaints from the ex-wives of their Cypriot boyfriends.

“The state should not interfere in personal affairs,” Michael said. “This will be one of our major purposes.”

He said the proposal was part of an overall plan to replace immigration officials, who are generally police officers, with other public service personnel.

The proposal was approved by the government over five years ago, but nothing has yet been done to implement it, according to Michael

“The matter is with personnel and we expect a feasibility study,” he said. “But the response as been slow.”

A spokesman for the Cyprus Offshore Enterprises Association (COEA) said things at the immigration department had improved over the past few years, but they could still be better.

“There’s no doubt they are in need of updating and improvement in some areas,” the spokesman said. “There are still times when you are not sure you are in the right place or talking the right person.”

Although he said the immigration department could not be singled out as particularly ineffective, the spokesman said further improvements will be of benefit to offshore personnel, especially when they have to visit the immigration offices to deal with issues like their maids.

“But overall there are no serious problems at all,” he said.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.