72 applications on first day of north’s ‘migration amnesty’

A total of 72 applications for the north’s “migration amnesty” were submitted in the first 24 hours of its operation, ‘interior minister’ Dursun Oguz said on Tuesday.

As of Monday, undocumented migrants in the north, including those fined for having lived there illegally on or after January 1, 2021, will be able to register and be incorporated into the north’s system if they can find a job.

They will also be required to pay a fine of 34,070TL (€928) within ten days of their registration.

Registrations are carried out online on the ‘interior ministry’s’ website, with applications approved by the ‘labour ministry’. If the relevant procedures are not completed within 60 days, applicants will be subject to the north’s usual penalties for living there without a permit.

Speaking about the issue to Kibris TV on Tuesday, Oguz said the ‘government’s’ aim with the amnesty is to “regulate the situation of those who are in the country unregistered, illegally, and without a permit”.

He said this has been done to reign in those working “under the table”, adding that there are “material and moral risks” in working outside of the law.

“72 people have applied so far. Those who are unregistered must leave the country. You control the workforce and employees who are registered. You cannot know anything about those who are unregistered,” he said.

He added that the migration amnesty will make the north “safer”, while also emphasising the amnesty’s humanitarian element.

“People abroad who have knowledge in certain professions will also be registered and be able to return to the country. Families with ties to the TRNC will also be reunited within the scope of the amnesty,” he said.

He added, “this article was put in place to protect the integrity of people’s families. It will reveal the number of people in normal working life in the labour ministry’s system, and those who have been employed in some way until now, unfortunately off the books. This is a step towards legality.”

He had announced plans to carry out such an amnesty in June, saying that employers in the north had been concerned about a lack of available workforce, and that the amnesty would allow them to take advantage of the undocumented population which is already present in the north rather than find people from overseas to work in the north.