{"id":96,"date":"2017-05-31T09:49:34","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T09:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/cyprus\/?page_id=96"},"modified":"2026-04-05T11:27:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T11:27:22","slug":"who-can-apply-for-asylum","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/cyprus\/applying-for-asylum\/who-can-apply-for-asylum\/","title":{"rendered":"Who can apply for asylum?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you have left your country of origin or habitual residence (the country where you normally lived) and you cannot safely return because you fear persecution or other serious threats to your life or freedom, you may seek international protection by applying for asylum in Cyprus.<\/p>\n<p>Applying for asylum is a human right. Everyone has the right to apply for asylum and the application is <strong>free of charge<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>You may apply for asylum in Cyprus if:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>you are outside your country of origin or habitual residence and<\/li>\n<li>you are present in Cyprus, including at a border, and<\/li>\n<li>you cannot or do not want to return to your country because you are afraid of being persecuted , for example, you may face harm such as violence, arrest, torture or threats, based on your:\n<ul>\n<li>race, and \/ or<\/li>\n<li>religion, and \/ or<\/li>\n<li>nationality, and \/ or<\/li>\n<li>membership of a particular social group, and \/ or<\/li>\n<li>political opinion;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>OR,<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>you cannot or do not want to return to your country because you are afraid you will suffer serious and unjustified harm, such as:\n<ul>\n<li>the death penalty or execution;<\/li>\n<li>torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;<\/li>\n<li>a serious and individual threat due to indiscriminate violence in situations of international or internal armed conflict.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You can apply for asylum <strong>regardless<\/strong> of:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>whether you entered Cyprus with or without documents;<\/li>\n<li>whether you arrived by boat or irregularly;<\/li>\n<li>whether you have a passport or not;<\/li>\n<li>your age, including if you are a child.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If your application is accepted, and you are granted international protection, you will receive a recognition letter that either:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>recognises you as a refugee, or<\/li>\n<li>grants you subsidiary protection.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you have left your country of origin or habitual residence (the country where you normally lived) and you cannot safely return because you fear persecution or other serious threats to your life or freedom, you may seek international protection by applying for asylum in Cyprus. Applying for asylum is a human right. Everyone has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":94,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/sectioned.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-96","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/cyprus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/96","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=96"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/cyprus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/96\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2804,"href":"https:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/cyprus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/96\/revisions\/2804"}],"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=96"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}