Cyprus has added a medical file to its permanent residence application. Since 1 September 2026, any application for an Immigration Permit under Categories A–F must arrive with original blood test results certifying that the applicant and every dependant is free of hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV and syphilis, together with an original chest X-ray screening for tuberculosis. The Migration Department announced the requirement on 25 June 2026 and applies it to all relevant applications submitted from 1 September onwards. Where the tests have to be done is the part that reshapes a relocation timeline: the blood work must be conducted abroad, and the X-ray must be issued in the applicant's country of origin or their last country of lawful residence. This is not a check you can complete after landing in Larnaca.
Background
The Immigration Permit is the Cypriot permanent residence status for third-country nationals, granted under Categories A to F depending on the basis of the application. Category F, for people of independent means with a secure income from abroad, is the one most often used by retirees and by families relocating without a Cypriot job. Until now the supporting-document list was financial and administrative: proof of income, proof of accommodation, a clean criminal record, health insurance. Health screening sat with the temporary residence process rather than with the permanent one. The Migration Department's June press release closes that gap by requiring the same medical evidence at the permanent residence stage, in addition to the documents already prescribed rather than in place of any of them.
What exactly changed
Two documents are added. The first is original blood test results, conducted abroad, certifying that the third-country national and their dependants do not suffer from hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV or syphilis. The second is an original chest X-ray for tuberculosis screening, issued in the applicant's country of origin and/or their last country of lawful residence. Both must be duly certified or legalised, unless a bilateral intergovernmental agreement between Cyprus and the country concerned provides an exemption from that requirement. There is one exemption, and it is narrow: an applicant who already holds a temporary residence permit in the Republic, submitted the required medical examinations for it, and whose results are still retained in the relevant administrative file does not have to submit them again. Everyone else does. The department states that the provisions apply to all relevant applications submitted from 1 September 2026 onwards.
Before vs after
- Old: Immigration Permit applications required financial, accommodation, criminal-record and insurance documents; medical screening sat with the temporary residence process
- New: original blood tests for hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV and syphilis, for the applicant and every dependant
- New: an original chest X-ray for tuberculosis screening
- Where: blood tests conducted abroad; the X-ray issued in the country of origin and/or last country of lawful residence
- Formalities: both must be certified or legalised, unless a bilateral intergovernmental agreement exempts them
- Exemption: existing Cypriot temporary residence permit holders whose medical results are already on file
- Applies to: all relevant Category A–F applications submitted from 1 September 2026
Who it affects
Anyone applying for Cypriot permanent residence from outside the country, and their whole household. A British couple applying under Category F on retirement income now needs four documents they did not need in August: two sets of blood results and two X-rays, each obtained in the UK and each legalised. An Indian family of five needs ten. Because the requirement extends explicitly to dependants, the cost and the scheduling burden scale with family size rather than being a single administrative step. The group that escapes it is well defined but small: people already living in Cyprus on a temporary residence permit who submitted these examinations for that permit and whose results are still held in their file. Someone who has been in Cyprus for years on a permit issued before medical screening was collected, or whose file no longer holds the results, is back in the general rule and faces the awkward problem that the tests are specified as being done abroad.
What to do about it now
Sequence this before you book anything. The tests have to be taken and legalised in your country of origin or last country of lawful residence, so the medical step now sits at the front of the timeline, and legalisation is usually the slow part. Find out first whether Cyprus has a bilateral agreement with your country that removes the certification requirement, because that single question can change the timeline by weeks. If your relocation plan involved leaving your home country first and filing from Cyprus afterwards, revisit it: obtaining a compliant X-ray becomes considerably harder once you have left. If you already hold a Cypriot temporary residence permit, contact the Migration Department to confirm whether your earlier results are still in your file before paying for new ones. Our Cyprus country guide (/country-guides/cyprus) covers the Immigration Permit categories and the residence steps around them.
When it takes effect
The Cyprus Migration Department published the requirement on 25 June 2026 and applies it to all Immigration Permit applications under Categories A–F submitted from 1 September 2026 onwards.
What the notice does not say
The press release does not state how recent the tests must be, which laboratories or report formats are accepted, or whether "certified/legalised" means an apostille or full consular legalisation. It does not list the countries whose bilateral agreements exempt the certification step, does not say how applications already pending on 1 September are treated, and does not mention the Regulation 6(2) fast-track permanent residence route, so whether that route is covered is unclear. Confirm the current document list with the Migration Department before arranging tests.
Key Takeaway
A Cypriot permanent residence application filed from 1 September 2026 needs legalised blood tests and a chest X-ray for every applicant and dependant, obtained before you leave your home country. Plan the medical step first, not last.