In March - Cyprus opens borders

Cypriots are going to lift the restriction in the spring, as on December 3, 2020, the Minister of Transport announced that the entry of tourists to the island would be allowed from March 1, 2021. This information was confirmed by the ministry in mid-January.

This statement was made on January 15 by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides, the head of the Ministry of Tourism Savvas Perdios and the aforementioned Mr. Karusos. On the official state tourist portal, signed by them, a document has been published, which describes the basic principles of accepting foreigners.

•  EU members;
• members of the European Economic Area (Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, Liechtenstein);

• the states indicated in the document with the recommendations of the Council of the EU (EU 2020/912 of 30 June 2020 on the temporary limitation of non-essential travel in the EU and the possible lifting of such limitation);
•  Great Britain, Russia, Israel, Ukraine, Belarus, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, UAE, and Saudi Arabia.

The countries are divided into groups, according to colors, on which the rules of entry to Cyprus depend.

The most privileged green group, as of now, will include the states of the European Union. Russia, Ukraine, Belarus will remain in the gray group for another month, but from March 1, the countries from the gray zone will move to the red.

The island will remain closed to citizens of the gray group countries. In February, only persons with citizenship or residence permit of Cyprus, as well as specialists with a work permit, will be able to fly to Cyprus from Russia.

It will be possible to come to the island to visit close relatives and in the event of force majeure - in this case, before arrival, you must fill out a form on the website of the Ministry of Transport of Cyprus and obtain a special entry code.

Moving to the red group will really open up the boundaries. For arrival, you will need to pass two PCR tests. The first is a maximum of 72 hours before departure, the second is a 15-minute express test upon arrival in Cyprus. If both results are negative, the visitor does not even have to sit in a 14-day quarantine.