1. Under Article 2(2) of the National Guard Law of 2011 to 2016 a permanent foreign resident is any person who has a main and permanent residence abroad or any person who has a professional residence and resides abroad for a time period of at least ten (10) consecutive years in one or more countries.
2. The ten year period begins:
a) for a person, who was born and resides with his family abroad, from the day he was born.
b) for a person who, before turning sixteen (16) departs from the Republic with his family and moves abroad permanently, from the day of his departure.
c) for a person who, upon turning sixteen (16) and upon special permission granted to him by the Minister, departs from the Republic with his family and moves abroad permanently, from the day of his departure.
d) for a person who, after turning sixteen (16) and without being granted special permission from the Minister, departs from the Republic with his family and lives abroad permanently, from the day he turns eighteen (18). The ten year period that is required in order to obtain the status of a Permanent Foreign Resident, is not interrupted if, in a non-recurring case, the interested person resided in the Republic for a time period of up to twelve (12) months and then relocated abroad.
For more information please visit the National Guard General Staff website by licking on the following link: http://army.gov.cy
3. The applications for exemption from the obligatory military service in the National Guard by Permanent Foreign Residents are submitted by interested persons or by their legally authorised representatives of the Recruitment Offices or of the Ministry of Defence, or at the Embassies or Consulates of Cyprus in the country in which they reside.
4. The applications shall be accompanied by a Permanent Residence Certificate issued by the Embassy or the High Commission or the Consulate of Cyprus in the country in which the applicant is a permanent resident. Alternatively and if there is an objective difficulty in obtaining a Permanent Residence Certificate (i.e. there is armed conflict in said country), it is possible to submit certified copies of old and new passports, copies of airplane tickets, copies of old exemptions, and postponements of recruitment, certificates of registration at schools and universities both Cypriot and abroad, certificates by employers of the applicant and/or their parents, tax certificates from the government of the country they resided in etc. These certificates are evaluated and taken into consideration in order to reach to a decision.
