{"id":104,"date":"2017-05-31T09:54:08","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T09:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/cyprus\/?page_id=104"},"modified":"2026-04-01T11:46:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T11:46:49","slug":"if-you-are-under-18","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/cyprus\/applying-for-asylum\/if-you-are-under-18\/","title":{"rendered":"If you are under 18"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you are under 18 years old in Cyprus and you wish to apply for international protection or have already applied and you are not accompanied by a parent or legal guardian, <\/strong>you should immediately inform the authorities of your age. You will be taken under the care of the Social Welfare Services who will assign a legal guardian for you. The Social Welfare Services will assess whether you will be placed in suitable accommodation for unaccompanied children or under the foster care of a relative. Please visit the website of the Social Welfare Services<\/a> to find more details about the protection services they offer.<\/p>\n

If you have no documents<\/strong> showing your age, the Asylum Service may request you are given some tests to assess your age.<\/p>\n

If you are in detention<\/strong> you must inform the police officers about your age. While in detention, the Welfare Services are responsible to represent and assist you. Please note that the detention of asylum-seeking children is prohibited.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you have family in another EU Member State<\/strong> you must immediately inform the Asylum Service and the Welfare Services as you are eligible to apply through the Dublin Procedure to jon your family abroad. The application for family reunification must be submitted no later than three months after you applied for international protection.<\/p>\n

The Welfare Services<\/strong> will be responsible for your needs, including access to healthcare, accommodation, basic needs, education, as well as your right to safety and well-being. Anything you say to your welfare officer is confidential.<\/p>\n

The Welfare Services are responsible for representing you during the asylum procedure. A welfare officer must represent you and this includes giving you information about the whole procedure and all your rights and obligations throughout the procedure. Your representative must also prepare you for the interview at the Asylum Service and escort you to this interview. Your representative must explain the consequences of the examination of your asylum application should it be refused, and if you are refused your welfare officer must explain to you your right to submit an appeal.<\/p>\n

If you are under 16, you are obliged to go to school. If you are 16 or over, it is not mandatory to go to school, but it may be in your best interests to continue your education. For more information on primary and secondary education in Cyprus, please visit the relevant page on this website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you are under 18 years old in Cyprus and you wish to apply for international protection or have already applied and you are not accompanied by a parent or legal guardian, you should immediately inform the authorities of your age. You will be taken under the care of the Social Welfare Services who will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":94,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/sectioned.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-104","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/cyprus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/cyprus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/cyprus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/cyprus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/cyprus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/cyprus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2668,"href":"https:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/cyprus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/104\/revisions\/2668"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/cyprus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/94"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/cyprus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}