By decision of the Republic of Cyprus, all applications submitted from here on out by Syrian immigrants will not be considered, exercising the right provided by the relevant European tools in case of increased and extraordinary migration flows, the Director of the Office of the Minister of the Interior told KYPE. Loizos Hatzivasileiou.
These persons, he said, will be able to submit their application and then they will be transferred to hospitality centers where they will be offered in kind the material reception conditions, that is, food and housing, without having the right to benefits. Anyone who chooses to leave the host site will not receive benefits.
Pending completion and EU-level efforts to designate specific areas of Syria as safe, he added, the processing of asylum applications will be suspended.
These people, he said, as is the case in all cases of asylum seekers, will not have the right to access work for the first nine months.
He noted that the decision was taken as a result of increased migration flows from Lebanon and will apply to all new arrivals from the day the decision was made, which was yesterday, Sunday when 22 arrivals took place.
Answering a question, he said that currently ten thousand applications, older as well as recent, are pending and their application will not be processed.
Today, a letter will be sent to the Commission in which Nicosia will inform that it is activating the relevant directive by suspending the examination of applications within the margin provided, i.e. 21 months.
Source: KYPE