The increasing necessity for ID verification documents...

When we lived in the UK - nearly three decades ago! - we had a joint sterling bank account which we used for all our income and outgoings. We did have a 'savings' account too, but it rarely had anything much in it. And a credit card, which was useful when there was a cash flow problem.

When we moved to Cyprus towards the end of 1997, we opened a joint account at a local bank here. It was originally in Cyprus pounds, but then, seamlessly, moved to euros at the start of 2008. Each month we had an automatic transfer set up from our UK account to our Cyprus account via one of the reputable online transfer places. And the amount we transferred, which was the majority of our regular income, just about covered bills, utilities, insurances etc in Cyprus. Extra generous gifts and donations allowed us to travel to the UK once a year, and a few other luxuries. 

When we arrived here, colleagues told us that we shouldn't have mail sent to our street address, as the postal system was notoriously unreliable. They all used a PO Box address instead. For a while we used that one too, and then we started to lease our own. And we made sure that our bank statements and utility bills went to the PO Box. 

Early in 2004, my last grandparent died. She was 96. Some months later we received a generous legacy from her. That, and other circumstances during that year, and 2005, made us decide that we would sell our house in the UK which had been used by one of the local churches. The lady living there at the time wanted to buy it, so the timing was perfect. And we had my grandmother's gift to use as a deposit on a house here. 

In 2006, we sold our house in the UK, after some months of uncertainty, and bought the house in Cyprus where we are still living. And since it was Richard who met the vendor to transfer our utility bills, it was Richard's name that was associated with them. It was still quite a patriarchal society, and he was much more comfortable dealing with utility board officials than I was. 

Fast forward to 2020. A year that stands out in most people's memories, when there were lockdowns, and uncertainties, and nobody knew what was going to happen. Our UK debit cards expired, and they wouldn't send new ones to Cyprus. We had used various family members' addresses in the UK for mailing, and collected them when we visited. But in 2020, no travelling was allowed. International post was either non-existent or delayed. We could access our bank account online, and make transfers, but we didn't have a card to make online payments in sterling. And sometimes we needed to do that. 

Richard had already opened a multi-currency online account for times when he travelled for his ministry, and he suggested I open one too, at least as a temporary measure. The process was easy, and while I didn't use it much at first, I gradually realised that it was quite convenient to have a separate account where I could move money between currencies at an excellent rate, and which allowed text 'notes' added to each transaction, to help me keep track. 

A couple of years ago Richard started receiving his UK state pension. We were able to stop relying on gifts from churches and friends. We found, for the first time in our lives, that we had what is sometimes called 'disposable income'. We give some away, of course, but we also transfer an amount every month to each of our multi-currency accounts. 

Then...

On Saturday morning a week ago, the multi-currency account sent me an email, and also notified me in the account when I logged in, that they needed to verify my street address. They didn't say why.  They wanted me to upload a recent utility bill or bank statement, with my full name and street address. They told me I had until June 28th to do this. 

But I didn't have any of the documents they wanted. As explained above, our utility bills were all in Richard's name, as is our equivalent to council tax. Our Cyprus bank account still had the PO Box address on statements, even though everything now comes via email rather than in the post. 

So I uploaded the annual sewage bill, which, for some reason, is in my name. 

But that was rejected because it was dated November 2024. 

So then I uploaded a recent Cyprus bank statement.

That was rejected because it didn't have our street address. 

Then I uploaded an electricity bill which has our street address, and that was rejected because it wasn't in my name. 

So I emailed customer support, uploading all three of these documents again, plus my 'yellow slip' which has my full name and street address. I explained what the problem was, and asked if a human could put together the information on these four documents, and verify manually rather than relying on the automated requirements.

The customer support person was very friendly, and seemed to understand the issue. They said that what I needed to do was take a photo of the electricity bill next to my husband's ID, and send them that. And they would forward it on to the verification department. 

It didn't quite make sense - I didn't see how that could verify who I am! -  but I did what they asked. They thanked me, and said that if there was still any problem, they would get in touch again, and make some more suggestions.

 
We realised that this issue was likely to come up again, so we decided to change one of our water bills into my name, to preempt future problems of this nature. Since our house is in two parts, we have two sets of both water and electricity bills. So on Monday morning we went into the Water Board. 

It's greatly updated since the last time we were there, which was probably nearly twenty years ago. Instead of queueing, we were given a ticket with a number, and sat down in the air conditioned waiting area. Eventually - after about half an hour - our turn came up. After checking the IDs we took in, and our house deeds,  the helpful lady on the desk changed the account over from Richard's name to mine. 

Not that it was any use for the current issue, as we paid the last water bill and the next one isn't due until August. But she printed out a sort of non-invoice, saying we owed them nothing, but giving my name and the street address.

On Tuesday morning at 8.00am I had an email saying that the latest upload - the one showing Richard's ID next to our electricity bill - was also rejected, though they didn't say why. As before, it gave a link to upload something else. So I tried to do so... 

And saw a rather terse notification that my account was closed. It said that they thought I had been using it in inappropriate ways, whatever that means.

So much for having until 28th June! They did say they would refund all the money, but it has been so very convenient having this multi-currency account. I was not happy. I was, in fact, extremely stressed. I hated the idea that I had done something wrong and didn't even know what it was. 

Feeling frustrated, I opened the 'YouBible' app on my phone, and saw the verse of the day:

'Cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you' (I Peter 5:7). 

The verses of the day often seem quite random, but this one felt as if it was specifically for me. Not that it was easy to cast my anxieties, but I did feel slightly more peaceful, and tried to trust that, whatever happened, God was in charge.

 
I emailed customer support again. I sent them the non-invoice from the Water Board. 

I could see that I had the option to appeal my account closure. But when I clicked the link to appeal, the first thing I had to upload was... a document that I didn't have. As I had already explained. 

Given that banks have worldwide reporting, I was also a bit concerned that this might put our other accounts at risk. Although I was doing my best not to be too anxious. 

I didn't hear back from customer support until some hours later, and they said they were sorry to hear that this had happened, they didn't know what had triggered it, and they recommended that I appeal and upload whatever documents I thought might help, including the non-invoice from the Water Board.

I didn't want to rush into it. And Richard thought it would be a good idea to get our bank statements showing our street address. I also remembered that our house insurance bill is due around now, and that has both our names on it. 

So on Thursday morning, we walked to the bank. A helpful, friendly man on the desk examined our documents, understood our problem, and - after filling in a lot of different fields on his computer - told us that future statements would show our street address rather than the PO Box. But nothing will change on statements until the next one is generated... at the end of June.  However, he did print out some of the relevant documentation that showed our names and address. He and Richard were chatting like old friends by this stage, and would probably have continued doing so if I hadn't pointed out that a queue was starting to form behind us. 

When we got home, Richard phoned the insurance brokers. They said that, yes, they could generate a new invoice, but for some reason they couldn't email it to him. But if we were willing to go there, we could sign and collect it. So off we went in the car, and eventually found the right office. For the first twenty years or so that we lived in Cyprus, the broker came to our house, and we signed the papers here, and wrote him a cheque. For the past few years, it's all happened via email and online payments. So this was the first time we had actually been to the office.

Once again it was quite slow, punctuated by general chat, and without the benefit of air conditioning. But eventually we left, with an invoice that showed both our names, our street address, AND a recent date. Insurance wasn't mentioned as one of the possible documents that the appeal accepted, but I wanted to upload as many possibilities as I could manage. 

The insurance brokers' office is very close to where the Electricity Board used to be. And Richard thought we might as well get my name changed on one of those bills, too. So we found where the new offices are, and they had a similar process to the water board. Our ticket said we should expect to wait 17 minutes. In the event it was over 40 minutes, but eventually we were seen. Again it seemed to take a long time to do something which seemed quite straightforward to us. But at last it was done. And

they gave me a stamped verification that one of the electricity bills is now in my name. 

That afternoon, I scanned the new documents, and clicked the 'appeal' button. It allowed me to upload up to ten documents, which is good, as I had eight of them to send. There was a brief hiatus where everything appeared to upload, and then crashed. But Richard pointed out that some of the scanned documents were quite large, and the total upload was over 30 megabytes. So I scanned the larger ones again, and this time they were taken. None of the documents was exactly what was asked for, and I didn't hold out a whole lot of hope. It said that they would take up to 15 days to process them. 

Half an hour later, I received an apology email saying my account was reinstated. 

Alleluia!

But... there was still a red notification in my account telling me I needed to upload a recent utility bill in my name, and that I must do so by the end of June. Which, of course, I could not do. 

So I got in touch with customer services again. And I also made sure to download all the statements from the account, and details of exactly how much I had in each currency, and other information which I thought I might have lost. 

To my tremendous relief, about twelve hours later I had another message from customer support saying my documents were accepted, and the red notification should have gone. Which, indeed, it had. 

I was very thankful. 

As Shakespeare put it, all's well that ends well....

Except that, just after my bank account was reinstated, I had an email from GESY, the Cyprus equivalent of the NHS. It said they need to recheck that I'm still eligible, and that they do this routinely every few years. 

The email said I had to print out a form, and fill it in, and scan it, and send it back, along with my ID, Richard's ID, our marriage certificate....and a year's worth of utility bills that show my name.

Sigh. 

Immigration and Yellow Slips in Cyprus

Six years ago, we applied for 'yellow slips'. These are official papers which verify that someone is a European citizen who has the right to live in Cyprus. Rather than going over the reasons why we only applied six years ago (when we had already been living here for fourteen years), anyone interested could read this post about the requirements to apply for residency or yellow slips, as I went into the background in full. Indeed, until I re-read it a few minutes ago, I had forgotten why we didn't apply sooner.

However, as I wrote in this update about our experiences with Immigration, the authorities refused to grant us yellow slips. The lady behind the desk and her colleagues assured us that we could stay in Cyprus, as Europeans, and that we didn't need yellow slips. We already had ARCs (Alien Registration Cards) which we were given a few months after we arrived in the country, and those were all we needed.

Or so we thought.

A couple of people commented on that post, telling us that we should talk to the British high commission, since we might, at some point, require yellow slips. But we had the ARCs, and didn't really want to expend yet more time and effort trying to convince the authorities to grant us residency, since we had the right to live here anyway.

Fast forward nearly six years, and the situation is - or will be - different, since the UK will be leaving the EU in just over a year. Probably, people tell us, Brits living in European countries (and EU citizens living in the UK) will be able to stay. But nobody really knows, and we've heard of several people having trouble getting permanent residency, or settled status, or whatever is needed to guarantee their right to stay in the UK.

So Richard decided to apply for Cyprus citizenship. I'm less worried; if we had to go back to applying for yearly pink slips, or even if I had to leave the island every three months, I wouldn't be too worried. But Richard loves being here, and is involved in his ministry work, and sailing at the marina, and has no desire ever to leave.  People are eligible for citizenship after living here for seven years, and we've been here for twenty.  So it should be reasonably straightforward...

Except that this kind of thing is always remarkably complex.  The list of what he needs is huge. He has, for instance, photocopied seven years' worth of bank statements (both Cyprus and UK), electricity bills and phone bills.  These are to demonstrate that he really has lived here for all that time. He's had to go through every one of his passports to list his entries and exits, and how many days he was here - and he travelled quite a bit when we first moved here.

He had to get newly certified copies of his birth certificate and our marriage certificate, and the deeds of our house. He's had to find three Cypriots to agree to recommend him, and also had to advertise in the local paper that he's applying for citizenship. And a great deal more which I've forgotten.  He's done these things in odd moments when his busy schedule allowed and it's taken several months to gather everything together.  He needed just a few more things, one of which was a 'police check' in Nicosia, to guarantee that he hasn't committed any crimes while living here.

A few weeks ago, he drove up to Nicosia. The police said that they couldn't do a criminal record check without him having a yellow (or pink) slip. Even though they clearly had a record of his existence, based on his ARC. When he said that we had been refused yellow slips six years ago, and told we didn't need them, they said that Larnaka Immigration were wrong, and we needed to have them.

So he went to Immigration, and they said we could have a regular appointment at the end of March, or an 'extra' appointment on February 23rd.  There are so many people going to Immigration at present that they're slotting in an extra appointment every week day, at 1.00pm or later... but anyone having an 'extra' appointment is advised to arrive at 10.00am and wait, because if anyone else doesn't turn up, then they'll get seen earlier.

And they gave us the same form we had to fill in last time, along with the same poorly written instructions, badly photocopied and almost unreadable in places.

So, over the last week, we have gathered together the same documents we needed last time. We had our bank statements stamped, and copied; we made sure we had up-to-date medical insurance records. We printed the information about the pension Richard gets from the BBC, which he started receiving a couple of years ago. Then we checked and double-checked that we had originals and copies of everything current, including our passports and the ARCs.

This pile of paperwork, organised into originals and copies, is only about a third of the size of the pile of paper that Richard needs for citizenship.  At least Immigration only want the most recent three months' worth of bank statements, not six years' worth, and they don't need to see utility bills.

We were both quite stressed about it. And whereas, last time, we assumed everything would go smoothly, we were a lot more concerned this time. We asked people to pray for us, and were assured that many were doing so.

The sun was shining and it wasn't too chilly when we arrived at Immigration a little before 10.00am yesterday.  We went to the secretarial office, and said that we were the 'extra' appointment, and the lady there called out to the next-door office in Greek, with the word 'extra' rather prominent.

We sat outside and chatted a bit.  I read a chapter or two of the book I'd brought with me, and we watched the other applicants coming and going. Most of them looked like Eastern Europeans, with a few Asians - probably maids or other domestic workers. Some of them were with a Cypriot, who was probably their boss.

Some people relaxed on the hard benches with books and snacks, enjoying the sunshine.  Some paced about.  Lots of them smoked.  They evidently had appointments at fixed times; as one person or couple came out, others went in. Occasionally one of the Immigration officers came out and called someone's name.  Many other people went into the secretarial offices, probably making appointments for weeks ahead.  Some folk left and returned half an hour later, perhaps with paperwork they had forgotten.

And we sat on the bench at the end of the porch, as far away from the smoking as we could be, wondering if we would really have to wait until one o'clock...

Around 11.30 there was only one other person waiting outside.  An Immigration officer came out and called a name a few times, but there was no response. Someone came out of the secretarial section and chatted to her, and then she went back inside. Then she came out again, and asked us if we had an appointment. We said we were the 'extra' appointment, so she asked our names, and then invited us in.

She quickly realised that we had all our paperwork well-organised, so after taking our passports and ARCs, she simply requested the copies of all our documents. She didn't even look at the originals. When she got to the bank statements, she asked about Richard's pension and he showed her where it was credited. We said that we receive other income - gifts from supporters - but she didn't ask anything about those, just nodded.

When she started typing information into her computer, we became hopeful. When she printed and handed us receipts for our payments (twenty euros each - it's gone up in six years!) we knew everything was almost certainly okay. Then we had to have our photos taken, and within about ten minutes of going into the office, our yellow slips were printed and handed to us.  No expiry, the lady told us, because we are Europeans.

I asked what would happen when the UK is no longer part of the EU, and she said that she wasn't sure, but thought the yellow slips would still be valid. We could apply for permanent residency for extra security, she said, but told us not to do so until they know what's happening, and what they are supposed to do. Richard told her that he's applying for naturalisation/citizenship, and she said that yes, that would mean he didn't need to do anything else. But she didn't think there would be a problem anyway.

We decided to have lunch out to celebrate.  We went to Gloria Jeans after walking along the sea-front deciding against most of the other places, and had paninis and coffee... they even had coconut milk.

So at last, after twenty years in Cyprus, we have yellow slips. We are extremely thankful and relieved.  Next week, Richard can have his criminal record check.

Cyprus Immigration update

Two and a half weeks ago, we went to Immigration and made an appointment for today. I explained in that post what our situation is, and why, despite having lived here for 14 years (and owning a house) we need to apply, again, for permits.

They gave us a check-list of documents we needed. We had most of them with us - and the required photocopies - but not everything. So in the intervening time, we sorted out basic medical insurance - time-consuming, and an extra expense we really didn't want, and rather pointless as we already have coverage for hospital care and operations. We got new copies of the deeds of our house and found our marriage certificate. Richard went to the bank and got them to stamp the statements which we print at home, before photocopying again.

This morning Richard had some new passport-style photos done - it's always useful to have some spare - and we printed out the statements we get from the agencies that support us in the work Richard does here.

We arrived at Immigration at 10.45, allowing plenty of time before our 11.00 appointment. We had barely sat down outside before 'Mr Richard' was called, and we went in.

The young woman behind the desk was friendly in a reserved kind of way, and spoke very good English. She asked for our passports, marriage certificate, house deeds, and so on - we produced them to show her and handed her the photocopies, and all was going well until we reached the 'proof of income'. We had six months' worth of bank statements, and the evidence of income in the past four months, as well as spreadsheets from last year.

However, there was no 'contract'. No 'proof' that our income will continue. And while she accepted that we own a house, and that we've had sufficient income over the past many years, the yellow slips are 'forever' - and so she can't authorise them without either a contract or evidence of a pension. So we reached an impasse.

'What can we do?' we asked. She shrugged, and said that we could go to Nicosia and talk to an Immigration lady there (she gave us the name) and persuade her that we had enough income to live here, and then if she agreed (and, presumably, stamped something to say so) then everything would be fine. All our other documents were in order.

We said that we didn't really have any way to prove anything. It doesn't even make sense to do so - if we were employed in Cyprus, we might become redundant at any point. I don't see how one can prove anything, income-wise, other than what one has received in the past. But the lady was adamant. She did ask another lady in the same office, and they had quite an animated discussion in Greek - but both were agreed: they had never before come across a case like ours, and did not have the authority to grant a permanent yellow slip. There are no longer any temporary ones available.

Then she said, 'But you are legal anyway. You don't really need a yellow slip; you are Europeans.'

I felt as if my jaw dropped several centimetres.

'But...' we said, 'the papers said that we might be fined...'

She shook her head. 'Don't believe them!' she assured us. 'Nobody will arrest you, there are no fines.'

So we thanked her, and left. Who knows what we should believe. Obviously she didn't tell us in writing that we are legal and don't need yellow slips. But since we do have Alien Registration Cards we're not unregistered. We have a house, we pay car tax (using the ARC number). And we're Europeans....

We're not entirely sure what to do. It's annoying to have taken out extra medical insurance if we didn't need to (we hope, of course, that we won't have any reason to use it) and frustrating to have wasted so much time on gathering the documents together and double-checking that we had all we need, as well as the appointments. Without any further 'evidence' of income, there doesn't seem much point going to Nicosia, only to be refused.

So... our status has not changed. It's encouraging to have been told unofficially that we're living here legally, and it's certainly never caused any problems not having current yellow slips. But it would have been nice to have some closure!