Message from our President

Dear Members

At last, CIBA's efforts have been rewarded by having some of its important proposals adopted in the Aliens and Immigration (Amending) Law 2007, approved by the House of Representatives on 14/02/2007.

Not all of CIBA's proposals have been adopted but at least the bill has been modified in the right direction to make it more practical and workable. You will find the full details on this new Law as well as other developments, such as Third Country Nationals' immigration and social insurance matters reported in this Intercom issue in a very lively manner by our Vice President Ronny Verhoeven.

Another important recent development has been the formation of the so called Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency (CIPA), established as a non profit organization limited by guarantee, in order to promote Cyprus as an ideal destination for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and also to encourage and facilitate the export of goods and services from Cyprus .

CIBA has called for the formation of such an organization for years as it recognized the importance of FDI in the new globalized economic environment where countries are fiercely competing to attract FDI as a means of enhancing economic growth and attaining technological and scientific achievements that help them to maintain their competitive advantages.

CIBA has the practical knowledge of the Cyprus business environment from a foreign investor's viewpoint and is therefore ready to extend its support to CIPA in every possible way.

Finally, we are fast approaching our next AGM, which has been set for 13 June 2007. Our Guest speaker will be the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism who has increasingly played a very important role in all matters affecting the International Business Community. Please make a note in your diary and I look very much forward to seeing you there.

Thanking you for your continuous support

Yours truly,

Chris Koufaris

CIBA President

This is the hottest issue in circulation at the moment. The International Business Community is still waiting for the decision of the Council of Ministers, which was announced to be taken before the summer recess.

It is more than a year ago since Circular no. 16, which created the present confusion, was issued by the Director of Social Insurance and we can only express our regrets that the International Business Community has to operate under these uncertain circumstances during such an extended period of time. Not to mention new projects and plans for expansion which may have been put on hold or scrapped all together.

During the past months we have been informed by a number of members that, notwithstanding promises made, a number of Migration Applications were being delayed because of the Social Insurance Issue. On May 21 st 2007 we sent out a circular to our members requesting them to give us all information regarding such cases in order to bring them to the attention of the Minister of Interior.

We have also given documentation and support to a number of members who received claims from their local Social Insurance office to pay contributions for third country nationals employed by them.

It has to be very clear that as long as the Council of Ministers has not taken a final decision, no Social Insurance contributions can be paid for third country nationals employed by International Business Companies.

Submission of applications by IBC's registered in cyprus

On 25 th May 2007 the MOI – Civil Registry and Migration Department informed us as follows:

“We refer to the afore-mentioned matter and we would like to inform you that as of 29 May 2007 applications for Work/Residence Permits for Executive Directors and Executive Staff/Other key personnel employed by foreign companies registered in Cyprus, may only be submitted at the District Offices of the Civil Registry and Migration Department in Nicosia, at Booth 5, between 10:00 hours and 11:00 hours, Monday to Friday.

Applications for all third country nationals employed in other professional, administrative, technical, clerical positions in Cyprus which are classified as non-executive staff, may be submitted following the usual procedure at the District Aliens and Immigration Branches of the Police, except for the Nicosia District where the applications must be submitted at the District Office of the Civil Registry and Migration Department”

We can only add to this message that these new CRMD District Offices are located at 11, Vyzantiou Street, 2064 Nicosia (Strovolos). Telephone 22-804500 and 22-804484.

Immigration fast track in Larnaca Airport

As we might have expected, the summer activities and probably other developments at our national airport have inspired more members to apply for CIBA Membership Cards for their third country national staff in order to allow them to use the fast track procedure at arrival. We have reached a number now which is workable and we will move forward with printing and personalizing the cards. The first cards will have validity until 31/12/2008 and we will only be able to issue additional cards later on in batches. For this reason we suggest our members to read again our circular 2007-04 and to inform us the soonest possible if they wish to receive any (additional) cards.