Remote Employment in Cyprus
How Overseas Companies Can Recruit International and Local Staff in Cyprus.
A remote employer is a company which recruits employees in other countries. So we could have a German company which may have or may not have any employees in Germany. When this company employees additional employees in other countries, this company is then called a remote employer.
Remote employers are becoming increasing popular in Cyprus primarily because Cyprus is such a lovely place to live in and work that talent is willing to relocate to Cyprus and work remotely for these employers. In addition, Cyprus is also a centre of tech people and talent and as a result local expats but also local Cypriots are willing to work for these remote employers.
For European companies, the processes in now streamlined and straight forward. The company does not need to have physical presence in Cyprus and can become registered with local social securities office and become an employer of local staff.
On the other hand, for non EU companies, called “3rd country companies” the process is relatively more complex as they need to demonstrate substance in Cyprus. Substance can be demonstrated via the existence of a local branch or the creation of a Cyprus Company. The local employees will then be employed by the branch or the Cyprus Company (the latter is usually a subsidiary of the overseas Company).
1) Local Cypriots hired by a Remote Employer
The remote employer will hire the local personnel by registering them as employees of the foreign employer and will contribute towards the social securities system. The remote employer will be deducting PAYE as considered appropriate.
2) Overseas EU employees relocating to Cyprus to work for the remote employer
These employees will require a yellow slip to be able to be registered with the Cyprus social insurance system. This a streamlined service we offer to our clients and it has nowadays become rudimentary. It takes approximately 2 months to obtain a yellow slip and to register an EU employee under the payroll of the remote employer.
Once the remote employer register the employee, then then remote employer will be contributing towards the social securities and be deducting the PAYE of the employees on a monthly basis.
3) Overseas Non EU employees relocating to Cyprus to work for the remote employer
In this scenario these employees will require a special type of visa in order to be able to live and work in Cyprus. We have written numerous articles on visa requirements which can be obtained by visiting the below links.
As immigration is progressive it is always to double check with us to inform you of the latest applicable immigration laws depending always on the applicants personal circumstances.
The timeframe to obtain a visa for non eu nationals is signifanclty longer than for EU applicants being 3 months at best. Again, as immigration is progressive the information provided in this article is applicable at the time of writing it.
So the overseas, 3rd country company needs to plan ahead and to understand that relocating overseas staff to Cyprus will take time due to their visa requirements. On the other hand the actual company or branch (mentioned above) will take approximately 3 months to be established but will not be able to register the 3rd country nationals until they legalise all paperwork and work out their visas.
