Administrative Court of Appeal rules against delay in citizenship application process

On July 17, 2026, the Administrative Court of Appeal unanimously ruled that the authorities' failure to decide on a citizenship application for the minor child of a Cypriot national was illegal. The application, originally submitted in 2016 under the Population Registry Law, remained unresolved for a decade. The initial Administrative Court had rejected the mother’s appeal, arguing that the request was filed with the Civil Registry and Migration Department instead of the Council of Ministers, and that the decision fell under the Council's discretionary power. However, the Administrative Court of Appeal overturned this, clarifying that the legal issue was the administration’s duty to process and respond to requests within a reasonable time, regardless of discretionary authority. The court did not rule on the substance of the citizenship request but mandated that the administration must fulfill its procedural obligations. This decision sets a precedent for the timely handling of citizenship applications by the Cypriot authorities.