Cyprus offers money for migrants to return to Syria, minister says
Cyprus will offer Syrians money to help them resettle back in their home country, while allowing each family's main earner to remain on the island to work for up to three years, a Cypriot minister has said.
Deputy Minister for Migration Nicholas Ioannides said Syrians would qualify for the voluntary repatriation programme if they drop their asylum claims or rescind international protection status already granted to them before 31 December 2024.
Unveiling the scheme, Ioannides added that families who agree to return will be given a one-off sum of €2,000 for one adult and €1,000 for each child. Childless couples are also eligible to apply.
The application period will run from 2 June to 31 August.
The family's main earner — either the father or mother — will be granted a special residency and work permit allowing them to stay in Cyprus for a minimum of two years and a maximum of three years.
They will be allowed to travel back and forth to Syria while their residency and work permit are valid.
Ioannides said that many Syrians have expressed their willingness to return and help rebuild their country, following the ousting of the dictator Bashar al-Assad in December.
However, they are reluctant to do so because of the uncertainty around the jobs market in their home country, he said.
The Cypriot programme aims to help families overcome such concerns by giving them some financial guarantees, according to Andreas Georgiades, the head of Cyprus' Asylum Service.
Syrian nationals make up the largest group of asylum-seekers in Cyprus by a significant margin.
According to Asylum Service figures, 4,226 Syrians applied for asylum last year, almost 10 times as many as the next largest group.
"This new programme is a targeted, humanitarian and realistic policy that bolsters Syria's post-war transition to normality," Ioannides claimed.
Ioannides repeated that a 2009 search and rescue agreement between Cyprus and Syria enables Cypriot authorities to send back boatloads of Syrian migrants trying to reach the island.
Ioannides said that two inflatable boats each carrying 30 Syrian migrants were recently turned back in line with the agreement.
Cyprus denies suggestions from both the UN refugee agency and Europe's top human rights body that is engaged in pushbacks.
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