Life won’t change post-Brexit, UK HC to Cypriots
Nicosia: The everyday life of Cypriots living in the United Kingdom (UK) will not change after Brexit, British High Commissioner to Cyprus Stephen Lillie reassured Cyprus’s President Nicos Anastasiades.
Lillie said after meeting Anastasiades on Monday that he confirmed the UK’s continuing commitment “to a strong, wide-ranging, very deep relationship between the two countries”.
“Our relationship … is based on shared values, shared history, membership of the Commonwealth, our large communities of Cypriots in the UK and Britons in Cyprus,” said the British diplomat, Xinhua news agency reported
There are over 80,000 people of dual Cypriot-British or single British citizenship living in Cyprus, and also those who serve in Britain’s two military bases on the eastern Mediterranean island, which the UK retained after it granted independence to its former colony.
Tens of thousands of Cypriots of up to third generation live in several cities in the UK, plus over 10,000 students study at British universities.
As European Union (EU) citizens, Cypriot students enjoyed low tuition fees and other student benefits.
Lillie said Cypriot students will continue to be treated like British students.
He also said that the UK will require neither a visa nor a passport from Cypriots to travel to Britain as they will be accepted by just showing their identity card.
