Leaving from Belgium?To the Belgian plan →See the plan for Belgians moving to Cyprus →This plan is for people leaving the Netherlands.
Cyprus · No visa required
Emigrating to Cyprus
For Cyprus, as an EU citizen, you arrange a registration: the yellow slip. For that, an official first has to certify the signatures on your rental contract. Since 2024 there is a tax treaty: above € 15,000 in pension and AOW, the Netherlands may keep taxing. For most Dutch people the advantage of the Cypriot 5% scheme then disappears. This page shows how it really works.
€ 199 one-off · 35 steps · no subscription
- Kind of journey
- EU: register, no visa
- The chain
- Home → certified contract → yellow slip → tax number (TIC) → healthcare (GeSY)
- Note
- Above € 15,000 in pension and AOW, the Netherlands keeps taxing
Last updated: 14 October 2026
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Five phases, from the yellow slip to the annual pension choice
In Cyprus everything turns on the right order, and on one sum from the tax treaty. Your rental contract only counts once an official has certified the signatures. The MEU1, the application for your yellow slip, is due within four months. You arrange your tax number via Tax For All, the tax office's online portal. Then the sum: above a threshold of € 15,000, the Netherlands may keep taxing your whole pension plus AOW, whatever the Cypriot 5% rate calculates. On top of that, the divided island has its own rules, which appear in no brochure.
- Orientation
Limassol, Larnaca or Paphos, and why the north doesn't take part
In this phase you choose your city and get to know the chain. At the counter you speak English. Rents differ a lot by city. Limassol is by far the most expensive city, Paphos the cheapest. The first surprise in the chain is the rental contract: an official has to certify the signatures. You also get the honest story about the divided island. Crossing to the north is simply possible, at the checkpoints. But living there, buying there or entering via Ercan, the airport in the north, is taboo for this route. And you have the conversation about water, heat and the distance.Read more
- Closing the Netherlands
The € 15,000 threshold that outweighs the 5% scheme
In this phase you work through the familiar list: healthcare, benefits, deregistration. With it comes the key lesson of this route, about the tax treaty. Until 2024 there was no treaty. The new article 16 lets the Netherlands tax as soon as your pension and AOW together exceed € 15,000 gross. Then on the whole amount, not just the part above the threshold. Below the threshold Cyprus is a fiscal gift, above it neutral. Your ABP pension stays taxed in the Netherlands regardless. So do the sum before any other decision. It decides whether Cyprus wins on tax, or has to win on life itself.Read more
- The move
Flying for you, the sea for the rest, and a ferry with a season
In this phase you move everything: yourselves, the household contents, the car and the pet. You fly a good five hours. The household contents go by container via Limassol. The car is a sum apart. Within the EU you pay no import duties, only 19% VAT if the car is almost new. But the island drives on the left. The passenger ferry from Piraeus only sails from late May to early September. And once you collect the car from the port, you have ten working days to clear it through customs. For most households it works out better to sell the car in the Netherlands and buy a right-hand-drive one in Cyprus. The pet simply travels along on its EU pet passport.Read more
- Registration on Cyprus
First the certified contract, then the appointment, and a bank that asks everything twice
In this phase you register in Cyprus, in the only order that works. First the home, then the certified signatures on the rental contract. Then the MEU1 appointment for your yellow slip, within four months (€ 20 per person). Then your tax number via Tax For All and your enrolment in GeSY, the Cypriot healthcare system. In it, a personal GP is the gatekeeper: without them you don't get to a specialist. Finally the bank. Since the crisis of 2013 it has been thorough and asks about the source of your wealth. Hand everything in complete in one go. On Cyprus that's the difference between days and weeks.Read more
- Arrival
The annual pension choice, the title deed lesson and the Green Line
In this phase you put the car on Cypriot plates after the inspection. In your tax return you make a choice that comes back every year: 5% on your pension, or the normal brackets. The non-dom status, for people whose permanent home base isn't Cyprus, keeps dividend and interest free for seventeen years. When buying, the lesson the island learned the expensive way applies. Only buy with an existing title deed (the proof of ownership) and your own lawyer, and deposit the contract within six months. You also learn the rules of the divided island. The water there comes from desalination, and the summer burns the interior empty.Read more
This is what one step of your plan looks like
This is the real thing: one of the steps of the Cyprus journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan, with the deadlines, the offices and the sources.
Step 2.2 of your plan
Pension and the new treaty: the € 15,000 threshold
- Lead time
- the sum is an evening; work it out before every decision
- Costs
- none
In this step you work out whether the famous Cypriot pension scheme gets you anything. For most Dutch people it's less than the brochures promise.
Cyprus is famous for its optional scheme: foreign pension at a flat rate of 5%. But since 1 January 2024 the first-ever tax treaty between the Netherlands and Cyprus applies. It contains a rock that almost every brochure sails around: article 16 paragraph 2.
This is how that threshold works:
- Add up the total gross amount of your pensions, annuities and AOW (the Dutch state pension) in a year.
- If that exceeds € 15,000, the Netherlands may keep taxing the whole. Not just the excess.
- Cyprus then credits the Dutch tax: it deducts it from what you pay in Cyprus.
- The Cypriot 5% is lower than the Dutch rate. On balance, the Dutch tax therefore simply stands.
Below the threshold only Cyprus taxes, and there the system really is friendly.
An ABP pension, the pension for government and education, stays Dutch anyway via article 17, unless you become a Cypriot citizen.
Work out the sum before departure. For small pensions Cyprus is a tax gift. For most Dutch pensions it's tax-neutral, and then the island has to win on the other points.
And this is the dashboard that step lives in. The example shows the plan for Spain; your dashboard shows the plan for Cyprus.
This is step 2.2 of 37. The other 36 are ready for you, each with the same sources, the same offices and a schedule that keeps track of your dates.
See all 37 steps for CyprusWhat you get for € 199
All 37 steps to Cyprus, for your situation
In order, with the office and the official source at every step. Steps that don't apply to you don't appear.
Your deadlines in one place
For each step you see the latest date to start, and you get a heads-up before something is due or expires. Your documents sit in the vault, with their dates.
A plan that stays right
Twice a month we check the sources. If something changes, it's in your plan and you get a message.
The step-by-step plan for Cyprus
€ 199
one-off · 37 steps
- Pay once, no subscription
- Destination changes? Within 30 days I switch your plan to another country free of charge
- Stuck on a step? You get a personal answer within two working days
What will your move to Cyprus cost? Work it out →
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Every step on one list, free
Not ready to start yet? Then you get the departure checklist for Cyprus: every step in order, to print and tick off. With it, five mails in a week and a half about the pitfalls and the real costs. If the rules for Cyprus change, you'll hear about it. After that we ask once where your plans stand, send one offer, and now and then one thing that fits your moment. No newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
That was the move. And once you live there?
Which country may tax your pension once you live in Cyprus? Is there a favourable regime, a scheme that lowers your tax? And how do you get insured? That depends on where your income comes from. Tick it and you'll see which rules apply to you, with the source.
See the financial conditionsClosing down the Netherlands: all your letters in one go
Moving to Cyprus starts with leaving the Netherlands properly. That's why the plan includes the letter tool: you enter your details once and every cancellation and notification letter is ready.
Just the letters, without the plan? That works too, for € 49
- Health insurance, rent, energy, subscriptions, GP, school, bank and pension fund: 16 kinds of letters. You enter your details only once.
- A sending list that counts back from your departure date and your notice period, even when that's three months.
- Also what you need to ask for as an emigrant: your no-claims years in English, your medical file and the school report (the report on your child for the new school).
Auke, maker of Vertrekklaar
On 2 January we're leaving ourselves, on a trip around the world with our family. What I put here, I'm arranging for my own family too.
On 20 September 2026 a customer wrote that the CAK rule for early retirement was missing from his plan. He was right. That evening the step was in thirteen plans, with the source attached.
The knowledge base on Cyprus
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
- AOW, pension and tax in Cyprus: what the new treaty does to the 5% schemeUntil 2024 the Netherlands had no treaty with Cyprus; the new treaty has a threshold of € 15,000 — and above it the Netherlands may keep taxing your entire pension-plus-AOW. The famous 5% scheme is thereby an empty shell for most Dutch citizens. What remains: the non-dom on your dividends and interest, and a gift for small pensions.
- Your car to Cyprus: left-hand traffic, customs, registration and your driving licenceWithin the EU you pay no import duty and no VAT on a used car, and Cyprus levies no excise duty on cars. But the car must clear customs within ten working days of arrival, with a CO2 certificate from the road transport department. And Cyprus drives on the left. Your Dutch driving licence stays valid; you only exchange it once it expires.
- Taking your pet to Cyprus: the passport, 105 days and the breeds that are not allowed inFrom the Netherlands a dog, cat or ferret travels to Cyprus on the European pet passport, with a microchip and a valid rabies vaccination. No titre test, no quarantine. But Cyprus bans four dog breeds and their crosses, as well as cats such as the Bengal and the Savannah. For a rabbit, bird or reptile you need an import permit in advance.
- Your household goods to Cyprus: no customs duties, but the port, the plants and the shotgunWithin the EU your removal goods travel to Cyprus without import duty and without VAT. What does count: they must arrive through a port in the south, because entry via the north is illegal under Cypriot law. And a few things in the removal van need a permit in advance: house plants, weapons and hunting cartridges.
- Banking and paying in Cyprus: your right to an account, deposit protection and rent that can no longer be paid in cashIf you live legally in Cyprus, you are entitled to a basic payment account; a bank may only refuse you if you don't comply with the anti-money-laundering rules. Since 1 July 2026 rent has to be paid by bank transfer, card or another electronic means: cash or cheque is no longer allowed. Your savings are guaranteed up to € 100,000 per bank.
- The MEU1 and the yellow slip: registering in CyprusWithin four months to the immigration office of your district with form MEU1 — in person, by appointment, for € 20. But first the signatures on your rental contract have to be certified, otherwise it doesn't count as proof of address. The order is half the work.
All 14 articles about Cyprus
- Yellow slip, ARC, TIC and social insurance: the Cypriot numbers, and which office issues them
- Your first weeks in Cyprus: which clock runs out first
- Living and renting in Cyprus: the stamp, the proof of address and rent through the bank
- The non-dom regime in Cyprus: no defence contribution on dividends and interest, and what changed in 2026
- Buying a house in Cyprus: the title deed, depositing the sale contract and the transfer fees
- School in Cyprus: free and Greek, or private and English, and enrolment in January
- Working in Cyprus: the minimum wage, the contributions, the relief for newcomers and your diploma
- Healthcare in Cyprus: GeSY, the GP and the S1 route
Also applies to your move
Ready to begin?
The step-by-step plan for Cyprus: 37 steps, with your documents and your costs in one place. For each step you see the latest date to start. You pay once and it's yours.