THE GOVERNMENT has been told it has three more months in which to implement an EU directive that allows long-term resident third-country nationals to apply for European resident status.
This is the second time since the directive was enforced in January that the government has had to receive an extension. The first extension ended on September 4.
The second one was announced at the House Interior Committee meeting on Monday, when deputies convened to discuss the law. At the end of the meeting, the Civil Registry and Migration department asked that it have until the end of the month to make some changes to it.
But immigrant support group KISA president Doros Polycarpou yesterday complained that although the law had yet to be implemented, the Interior Ministry’s migration department was making decisions as if it had.
He said: “We’ve asked that people who have been working in Cyprus legally for the past five years be granted extensions on their residency permits until the law is implemented, but the migration department is refusing to do this and is deporting people. By the time the law is passed no one will be left to apply.”
Council Directive 2003/109/EC grants European resident status to third-country nationals who have resided legally and continuously within the territory of a member state for five years. According to EUROPA, an official EU website, “the Directive also approximates national legislation and practices regarding the terms for conferring resident status and lays down the conditions for residence in member states other than the one which conferred resident status.”
The government estimates 7,000 people are currently eligible to apply. These include people with no limitations on their residency permits, with stable resources and medical insurance for themselves and their family.
According to the directive, a member state also has the option to require that third-country nationals comply with further integration conditions, such as language proficiency.
Refusal to grant long-term resident status on grounds of public policy or public security is also possible.
Civil Registry and Migration director Anny Shakali told the Cyprus Mail it was unfair to accuse Cyprus of deliberately thwarting the directive’s implementation.
“Belgium, France and Holland are countries with much more experience than Cyprus in immigrant issues and they have not yet managed to implement it. I think it’s unfair to accuse Cyprus of deliberately not implementing it just to get rid of all the immigrants,” she said.
Nevertheless Polycarpou maintained the government was negatively predisposed towards the law, which was trying to limit the number of immigrants eligible for long-term status, and that in the meantime the Interior Ministry was acting as if it had already been passed.
The House Interior Committee will meet to discuss the issue again at the end of the month.
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