ANNEX III ATTACHMENT 4: FEDERAL LAW ON CITIZENSHIP OF THE UNITED
CYPRUS REPUBLIC
[insert agreed
text by no later than 25 March 2003. If agreement is not
reached on
indispensable provisions of this law by that date, the United
Nations
Secretary-General shall insert his suggestion for completing such
provisions, which
shall be put to referenda with the rest of the Foundation
Agreement.]
Article 1 General provisions
This Law
determines the conditions for the acquisition [and loss] of Cypriot
citizenship, in
accordance with the terms of the Foundation Agreement, the
Constitution and
international and European Union standards.
Article 2 [Dual citizenship]
[insert article,
if any.]
Article 3 Cypriot citizenship upon entry into force of
the Foundation
Agreement
Upon entry into
force of the Foundation Agreement, the following persons
shall be
considered citizens of the United Cyprus Republic:
a. Any person who
held Cypriot citizenship in 1963 and his or her
descendants and
the spouses of such citizens; and
b. Any person
whose name figures on a list handed over to the
Secretary-General
of the United Nations by each side no later than
25 March 2003.
Each side’s list may number no more than 45,000
persons, inclusive of spouses and children, unless
there are specific
reasons preventing
such spouses and children from being
considered Cypriot
citizens. The list shall contain the name of each
person and the
basis for their inclusion on the list, as well as, where
relevant, the date
of their entry into Cyprus. Applicants shall be
included on the
list based on the following criteria and in the
following order of
priority:
i) persons 18
years of age or older who enjoyed
permanent
residence in Cyprus25 for at least seven
years before
reaching the age of 18 and for at least
one year during
the last five years and their minor
children who enjoy
permanent residence in Cyprus;
ii) other persons
who have enjoyed permanent
residence in
Cyprus for more than seven consecutive
years, based on
the length of their stay.
Should one side
fail to produce a list in time, it shall be prepared by the
Citizenship Board.
A person living under the administration of the
relevant
constituent state may apply to the Citizenship Board to be
included on the
list within one month of publication of a notice in the
federal Official
Gazette, which notice shall also be published in the
main newspapers of
the relevant constituent state.
The lists shall be
published in the federal Official Gazette. Any person
who can
demonstrate that s/he was wrongly omitted from a list or that
someone else was
wrongly included may submit a complaint with
evidence to the
Citizenship Board within three months of publication of
the relevant
Official Gazette. The Citizenship Board shall determine
any such disputes
without delay and be empowered to rectify the lists
in accordance with
the above criteria and order of priority with
retroactive
effect.
Article
4 Acquisition of Cypriot citizenship
Cypriot
citizenship is acquired in accordance with the provisions of this law:
a. Automatically
by birth, where either parent is a Cypriot citizen;
b. By
naturalisation; or
c. [insert
additional articles, if any].
Article
5 Acquisition by naturalisation
A foreigner may
submit a request for acquisition of Cypriot citizenship if s/he
fulfils the
following conditions:
a. S/he has
reached 18 years of age;
b. S/he has
enjoyed permanent residence in Cyprus for at least nine
consecutive years,
including for no less than four years after entry
into force of the
Foundation Agreement, before submitting a request
(time
spent in Cyprus on the basis of a permit as a student or
temporary
academic staff of a university shall not be counted
for the
purpose of this paragraph);
c. S/he has some
knowledge of one of the official languages of Cyprus;
d. S/he is not the
object of a security measure or a protective measure
to remove him/her
from the territory of the United Cyprus Republic
undertaken by an
authority of the federal government or the
constituent states
in accordance with their respective laws; and
e. S/he was not
sentenced to a term of imprisonment for a premeditated
criminal act for
longer than one year within seven years of the
submission of the
request.
Article 6 Acquisition by facilitated naturalisation
Cypriot
citizenship may be acquired through facilitated naturalisation:
a. Upon request,
by spouses of persons who have or acquire Cypriot
citizenship in
accordance with these provisions, provided they have
been married for
at least two years; or
b. Automatically
by minor children of persons who acquire Cypriot
citizenship in
accordance with these provisions.
Article 7 Loss of Cypriot citizenship
[insert article,
if any]
Article 8 Passports
1. The Citizenship
Board shall issue passports to Cypriot citizens in
accordance with
these provisions.
2. During an
interim period of six months, the Citizenship Board shall stamp
travel documents
of citizens issued prior to entry into force of the
Foundation
Agreement, testifying to the recognition of these documents
by the United
Cyprus Republic.
Article 9 The Citizenship Board
1. The Citizenship
Board shall be composed of six persons, three hailing
from each
constituent state, and the chair shall rotate on an annual
basis.
2. For the first
two years of its operation, the Citizenship Board shall, in
addition, comprise
two non-Cypriots who are not citizens of Greece,
Turkey or the
United Kingdom. The non-Cypriots may simultaneously
serve on the
Aliens Board.
3. The members of
the Citizenship Board shall be appointed by the
Presidential
Council and confirmed by Parliament by special majority.
Article 10 Implementation of this law
1. The Citizenship
Board shall be entrusted with the implementation of this
law and shall
adopt rules and regulations for this purpose.
2. The Citizenship
Board shall appoint and supervise agents who shall
process requests
relating to Cypriot citizenship, in accordance with this
law and its rules
and regulations.
Article 11 Review of decisions on citizenship
1. There shall be
a right of appeal to the Citizenship Board from decisions
by agents of the
Board regarding citizenship.
2. Decisions of
the Citizenship Board are subject to review by the Supreme
Court.
Article 12 Transitional rules and regulations
Until the federal
Parliament adopts detailed rules and regulations governing
citizenship, the
Citizenship Board shall adopt such rules and regulations in
accordance with
these provisions and the abovementioned international
instruments,
bearing in mind the obligations of Cyprus under the Treaty of
Accession to the
European Union.
25
Observation:
The term Cyprus here is to be understood in the sense of the island of
Cyprus
excluding the Sovereign Base Areas and in light of Main Article 12 of the
Foundation
Agreement.