Article 14 of the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus states that "(n)o citizen shall be banished or excluded from the Republic under any circumstances". The Republic of Cyprus Citizenship Law of 1967 makes provision for the acquisition and renunciation and deprivation of citizenship.

More

A person acquires citizenship of Cyprus by birth - if any of his or her parents was a citizen at the time of the birth; by registration - if he or she is married to a citizen of the Republic and the two have lived together for at least two years; or by naturalization - if certain qualifications are satisfied including continuous residence for seven years.

A citizen may renounce citizenship by making a formal declaration which must be registered; the registration may be withheld if the reason for the renunciation is to avoid military service or to evade criminal prosecution.

The citizen may be deprived of citizenship by a decision of the Council of Ministers in cases where citizenship was first acquired by registration or by naturalization. Section 8 of the Law states that the Council of Ministers may deprive a citizen of citizenship where it was obtained by fraud, false representation or by the concealment of any material fact; if a naturalized person shows himself or herself to be disloyal or disaffected towards the Republic; if the naturalized person had dealings with the enemy in time of war; if a naturalized person was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 12 months within five years from naturalization; if a naturalized person has been ordinarily resident in a foreign country for a period of seven years and during that period has neither (i) been at any time in the service of the Republic or of an international organization of which the Republic was a "member", or (ii) registered annually in the prescribed manner at a consulate of the Republic an intention to retain citizenship of the Republic.

Section 8 (5) of the Law states however that "the Council of Ministers shall not deprive a person of his citizenship under the above section unless it is satisfied that it is not conducive to the public good that that person should continue to be a citizen of the Republic".

The Council of Ministers, before depriving any person of Cyprus citizenship, gives notice to him or her and affords the person the opportunity to request an inquiry. If the person requests the inquiry, the Council of Ministers will establish a committee of inquiry consisting of a chairman possessing judicial experience and other members that the Council thinks proper to appoint.

There is no provision in the Law allowing the deprivation of the citizenship on grounds of nationality, ethnicity, race, religion or language.

Source : United Nations – Economic and Social Council – Commission on Human Rights Commission, Fifty-sixth session, Item 11 of the provisional agenda, E/CN.4/2000/56, 13 January 2000, Civil and Political Rights, Human rights and arbitrary deprivation of nationality, Report of the Secretary-General, Addendum, Information submitted by the Government of the United States of America

Hide