MOVING TO CYPRUS – CHECK LIST OF THINGS TO DO

HMRC  UK – Tax Department – Get a form called P85 from Revenue & Customs, fill in and return it, this notifies the tax authorities that you are leaving the country.

Healthcare S1 – If you are aged 65 or over you are entitled to Cyprus Healthcare (Now called GESY) and will receive the same treatment as a Cypriot, if your partner hasn’t reached retirement age she or he are classed as a dependent and are still entitled to free healthcare in Cyprus – Contact the Department for Work & Pensions (International Pension Centre) to apply for the S1 Form.

When you receive the S1 Form, fill it in and take it to the Citizens Service Centre in Cyprus along with your passports and any other documentation it asks for, the Citizen Service Centers are located in all towns, there is one in Paphos at the main post office, and after seeing one of the advisors they take copies of all the documents and send everything away to Nicosia, from there it takes around three weeks to receive your medical card through the post.

Pension People, Government or Private– You can receive the state pension directly into a Cyprus bank account and there are no restrictions.

DVLA –Change of Address if bringing car to Cyprus.

Mobile Phone for Cyprus – You will find that you will need a Cypriot phone number when you move over to Cyprus,  no one in Cyprus will to want to call you on an English phone number, so it’s needed in a few cases, for example, to open a bank they require a phone number, to sign up for internet they will also need a number, and also if you are renting a property they will want you to have a Cypriot number, a lot of phones have dual sim card slots so this enables you to have a Cypriot sim card and also an English sim card, or if not then you can always buy a cheap little phone for roughly twenty five euro’s and a cheap Cypriot sim pay as you go card which will give you a Cypriot number.

Call the following people with a moving date to get disconnected and to receive your final bill.

Home Telephone

Internet Broadband

Television License

Cable TV

Electricity/ Gas/Water

Record all utility meter readings for water, electricity and gas. I recommend taking a photo of the meters with your mobile phone

Banks – Pension People

Tax Office UK

Driving License

Council Tax

Home Insurance

Car Insurance

Life Insurance

Credit Cards or Store Card Companies

Milkman – Notify your Milkman or any Newspaper subscriptions that you may have.

Doctor – Inform your Doctor of your move and stock up on medication or bring a prescription with you to show your new Doctor what medications you are on.

Dentist- Have a final check-up before moving.

Inform your Optician

Post Office – Arrange with the Post Office to have your mail forwarded to a family member for a few months.

If you are a Pet Owner – Start your Pet Passport 3 months before moving

Pet Insurance – Cancel

Book your flights

If bringing a pet – make sure you are on the same flight as your pet.

Things to do in the home.

Find an International Moving Company – Start getting quotes, most of them do video calls on your mobile so they can correctly see what items you have, to give a more detailed quote.

Junk – Start getting rid of possessions that you no longer need and decide which items can be offered to family or friends or sold at a car boot sale or taken to a charity shop.

Food – Run down freezer food and start to use up perishables, although with moving to Cyprus if any items haven’t been opened then the removal company will pack them for you to bring, I didn’t find this out until giving away a lot of our tinned food, but I was able to bring my spice rack with all of my spices on even though a lot were opened.

Freezer – Defrost Freezer and clean out Fridge

Oven – Clean

Fill in nail holes from pictures

Windows – Clean

Carpets – Clean

Plants – Give away any plants or sell them.

Clean – Patio area and wash down

Parking for removal truck – Parking cones from council

Find Storage Rental in Cyprus – Some Shippers offer free storage in Cyprus

Put together a file for the people moving into your property such as information for your heating system, any instruction booklets for appliances you are leaving, details of rubbish and recycling collection.

Put together a file for yourselves, with passports, information on where you are staying when you arrive, details of the taxi picking you up from the airport, etc.

Don’t forget to delete your old address from online shopping sites like Amazon, as anything ordered after your move will go to your old address.