Parliamentarians have tabled legislation enabling the government to revoke international protection status from foreign nationals or reject asylum applications on grounds of national interests, public order, or serious criminal offences.
The bill, submitted to the House Interior Affairs Committee, allows authorities to pursue deportation of protection holders or asylum seekers to their home countries unless courts rule otherwise. Judicial decisions regarding deportation would not automatically overturn authorities’ rejection of protection requests unless specifically ordered by the court.
The legislation transfers certain powers from the Interior Minister to the Deputy Minister for Migration and International Protection under the President. The Council of Ministers may restrict asylum seekers’ freedom of movement within government-controlled areas or determine their place of residence for public interest or public order reasons.
Under the proposed changes, the Asylum Service would conduct research and preliminary assessments for designating or removing countries from the safe country of origin list, with final decisions taken by the Council of Ministers. The Deputy Minister must review such designations when significant human rights changes occur in previously designated safe countries.
The government bypassed public consultation, citing exceptions in the Finance Ministry’s consultation guidelines. Officials classified the amendments as addressing national interests and external relations, and as purely corrective measures that do not substantially alter existing regulations.
The explanatory memorandum states the legislation aims to ensure “effective implementation of exclusion/revocation provisions based on reasons directly related to the country’s national interests and maintenance of order and security, such as the commission of serious crimes by applicants/beneficiaries of international protection.”
Discussion of the law will begin today before the House Interior Affairs Committee.
Crackdown on migration, violence
This new legislation appears to be part of Cyprus’s broader hardening of asylum policies. In April 2024, Cyprus suspended examination of Syrian asylum applications, leaving over 14,000 Syrians in limbo.
Human rights organisations have raised concerns about Cyprus’s treatment of asylum seekers. UNHCR has alleged that Cyprus forcibly removed 25 migrants from government-controlled areas and pushed them into the UN buffer zone, preventing access to asylum procedures. Dozens of asylum seekers, including children, remained stranded in the buffer zone for months, with lawyers filing suits for illegal pushbacks and the Council of Europe reporting that two women attempted suicide due to poor conditions.
Cyprus has also faced allegations of maritime pushbacks, with advocacy groups reporting that refugees were blocked at sea without food or water, and Human Rights Watch documenting collective expulsions of Syrian asylum seekers back to Lebanon. In the most recent incident, seven migrants died and at least eleven went missing when their boat sank off Cyprus on March 17, 2025. The NGO “Alarm Phone” said it had alerted Cypriot authorities about people in distress at sea. However, the government maintains that it does not carry out pushbacks.
Cyprus also saw a significant surge in violence against migrants in 2023, including pogrom-like riots and violent attacks against racialised people in Chloraka and Limassol. The government has extended the waiting period for asylum seekers to access the labour market from one month to nine months and made naturalisation requirements extremely difficult for protection beneficiaries.
According to official figures, Cyprus has deported over 18,000 people since the Christodoulides administration took over in 2023 and has the European Union’s highest return-to-arrival ratio at 179%.
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