A foreign spouse of a Cypriot citizen has the right to obtain Cypriot citizenship. At present this requires living on the island together with the spouse for at least three years; a new bill would allow that period to be reduced to six months. The Interior Ministry document was put out for public consultation on 10 September 2026, Dialogos reports, citing the newspaper Phileleftheros.
This concerns citizenship itself, not a residence permit. For spouses of Cypriots there is a procedure separate from ordinary naturalisation — registration as a citizen of the Republic. It is set out in Article 110 of the Civil Registry Law 2002–2025; what is being amended now is specifically its second paragraph. Comments on the text are accepted until 25 September 2026 via the public consultation platform.
Who will be able to meet the six-month threshold?
Six months will not become the new general rule for everyone. The Minister of the Interior will be able to shorten the three-year period at his discretion, in the special circumstances of a particular case, and only if the marriage has already lasted at least three years by the time the application is filed. In other words, three years will still be required — but what will count is the duration of the marriage itself, not residence in Cyprus.
A five-year threshold is introduced for couples living abroad
A second amendment concerns those who do not live in Cyprus. If the Cypriot spouse and his or her foreign husband or wife reside permanently abroad, their cohabitation there must have lasted at least five years. Until now the law did not describe this situation in detail; the amendment closes that gap.
What else is required besides the residence period?
Marriage alone is not enough. The applicant must be an adult and fully legally capable, be married to a citizen of the Republic or be the widow or widower of such a person. A good reputation and an intention to continue living in Cyprus or to serve in the public, educational or police service are required. The application is considered by the Minister of the Interior, and citizenship is granted after an oath of allegiance to the Republic.
The same rules cover the spouse of a person who, during his or her lifetime, would have become a citizen of Cyprus or would have been entitled to it.
Separately, the bill explains what “resides with the spouse in Cyprus” means. For a year to count, the spouses must have spent at least six months together on the island in that year. There is also an overall requirement: in the three years before the application the couple must have accumulated at least two years in Cyprus; this rule does not apply only in cases that the law expressly carves out.
Illegal stay bars access to the procedure
The rules do not apply to foreigners who entered the Republic or remain there unlawfully. The Minister of the Interior may make an exception for the foreign spouse of a Cypriot citizen who was present without legal status in areas under the control of the Republic.
There is a further restriction. A person who obtained citizenship under these provisions cannot pass on the same right of registration either to a child who is not the child of the same spouse, or to a subsequent foreign spouse.
Where in Europe is this stricter, and where more lenient?
The strictest rules are in Denmark — six years of marriage and six years of residence in the country. Austria requires six years of residence. The most lenient are Spain, where one year of legal residence after marriage is enough, and Portugal, where three years of marriage suffice without a mandatory residence requirement in the country.
Source: https://lenta.cy/kipr-sokrashhaet-srok-prozhivanija-dlja-suprugov-inostrancev-s-3-let-do-6-mesjacev/
