Three things that get treated as one
Anyone moving to Cyprus hears three terms, often in the same sentence: yellow slip, tax residence, non-dom. They sound like three names for one thing. They are three applications at three different offices with three different sets of conditions.
| What it is | Where | Condition | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yellow slip | Registering your stay | Migration department | Arrival, then a four-month deadline |
| Tax residence | Being tax resident | Tax department | 183 days or the 60-day rule |
| Non-dom | Exemption from the defence contribution | Tax department | presupposes residence |
The order is not arbitrary. There is no non-dom without residence, and residence does not arise from holding the yellow slip.
Step one: register your stay
As an EU citizen you may stay up to three months with no conditions at all. A longer stay requires work, self-employment or sufficient means together with health insurance.
The application for the registration certificate is due within four months of arriving, under law 7(I)/2007. The fee is 20 € per person, including every family member. Missing the deadline risks a fine of up to 2,500 €, a ceiling rather than a fixed rate.
The certificate has no expiry date and is not renewed. Everything else, down to which version of the form is current, is in the guide to the yellow slip.
Step two: tax residence
This is where a move becomes a tax matter, and where the difference lies between living in Cyprus and being tax resident in Cyprus.
There are two routes:
Through 183 days. More than 183 days of stay in the tax year and residence follows. No further conditions.
Through the 60-day rule. It requires three things at once: at least 60 days in Cyprus, a business activity, employment or an office in a person resident in Cyprus, and an owned or rented permanent home. On top of that you may not spend more than 183 days in any single other state.
Two traps here: if the activity ends during the year, residence falls away for the whole year, not pro rata. And the former condition of not being tax resident in any other state fell away on 1 January 2026. Older texts still list it.
The full route with the statutory wording is in the guide to tax residence.
Step three: non-dom, and what it actually gives you
Non-dom means tax resident in Cyprus but without a domicile there. The special defence contribution requires both at once, which is why a non-dom does not pay it on dividends and interest, and since tax year 2026 not on rent either.
What remains is the GESY contribution of 2.65 %, levied on the first 180,000 € of annual income. The health law does not mention domicile anywhere; the contribution hangs on residence alone.
So the figure the status is sold with is wrong: on a dividend of 100,000 € it is not zero but 2,650 €. The full calculation, including the rule that ends the status after 17 of 20 years, is in the guide to non-dom status.
When a company comes into it
Many people need a Cyprus limited not for the residence permit but for the 60-day rule: it requires an activity in a person resident in Cyprus, and for many that is their own company.
The state charges at least 175 € for it, namely 10 € for the name check and 165 € for registration. There is no minimum share capital. After that two deadlines start at once: 60 days for the tax register and 90 days for the register of beneficial owners, at two different offices, neither of which reminds you about the other.
The whole sequence, with the roles that have to be filled, is in the guide to company formation.
What stays open in the old country
The most expensive item of a move often arises not in Cyprus but where you came from.
Anyone holding shares in a company should have it checked before leaving whether exit taxation applies. The tax arises on departure, not on a sale, and it can fall due without a single euro having changed hands. What that means in detail is in the guide to exit taxation.
Anyone still choosing the country rather than the order will find the two systems side by side in the comparison of Cyprus and Malta, where what decides it is mostly how many days a year someone actually wants to be there.
The order at a glance
- Arrive, up to three months with no conditions
- Apply for the yellow slip, within four months, 20 € per person
- Sort out a home and an activity, if the 60-day rule is to apply
- Form a company, if needed, then watch the 60- and 90-day deadlines
- Tax residence through 183 or 60 days
- Non-dom, only after that
What we could not verify
- How long the yellow slip takes in practice. The law gives the authority one month from a complete application; what comes before that hangs on the appointment.
- A minimum income for the stay. The official tests are worded qualitatively, and no source we found names a figure.
- Which documents the non-dom application requires in detail. The accounts vary and we found no official list.
If you would rather not sort it out yourself
The six steps touch three authorities, a lawyer and at least one tax adviser. If you would rather not coordinate that yourself, tell us in five questions where you stand: Cyprus setup from one place. We give no advice ourselves, we put the partners on it and stay your point of contact.