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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Menelaos Hadjicostis

Minister: Student visas issued by breakaway north used to seek asylum in Cyprus

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

Some 70% of migrants arriving in ethnically divided Cyprus this year have used a student visa they were issued by breakaway Turkish Cypriot authorities before seeking asylum in the internationally recognized south, the country's interior minister said Thursday.

Minister Constantinos Ioannou told the Associated Press that Turkish Cypriot student visas are “by far” the most popular method used by migrants to reach Cyprus. They then cross the 180 kilometer (111-mile) -long, United Nations-controlled buffer zone to apply for asylum in the south.

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