Anna87

Hello

I have a couple of questions.

I know you're all probably sick of these questions but me (25), by brother (27) and both my parents have been thinking about moving to Cyprus for a couple of years now. We have done A LOT of research and stuff but just as we were about to concretely get the plan in motion, this whole bank thing started.

We are also not a 100% sure on where the best place to move would be as every place has its own advantages and disadvantages, all we know is that we definately want to move to the southern part of Cyprus.Preferably near sandy beaches but not too far away from the busy, working towns/cities. The only thing that we are worried about is the friendly-ness of the locals. We would like to get involved with the community and have heard so many different stories, some saying how nice and friendly the Cypriots are and others about how un-welcoming and unfriendly they are.

We can all work in whatever sector is necessary to get an income and we do have some money behind us obviously.

Can someone maybe give me a little bit of advice and maybe clear a couple of things up for me?
Would this be a very bad time to move over? We were planning the move for in about 4 months

Hope to hear back from you soon.

Thanks in advance!

Anna

Veronica-K

Hi Anna,
How you are treated by the Cypriots very much depends on how you treat them.
Unofortunately far too many Brits come here thinking that they are somehow better than the local population and it shows in the arrogant way in which they treat them.
If you are open and friendly to Cypriots they will be the same with you.
Of course there are some exceptions but then there are some not very nice people in the UK too and you can't judge the majority by the behaviour of the minority.

As for the current situation with the banks, I think this will blow over fairly quickly. It won't affect you as you are not yet here and so I don't imagine that you have any money in banks here. By the time you are ready to come the whole thing will have been sorted out one way or another and life will have returned to normal IMO.

regards
Veronica

Anna87

Hi Veronica,

Thank you so much for the reply

I hate arrogant people, wherever they are from. I would like to get involved with the community and am in no way arrogant. We all breathe the same air and need the same basics to live, so why people think they are better than others is beyond me.

Your reply was literally was I was secretly hoping to read. That most of the Cypriots and people there are friendly and that this whole crisis thing will all blow over. So thank you so much for putting my mind at ease.

Don't worry, I'm not under any illusions that everything will be perfect and rosy straight away, but I'm definately going to give it a shot. Life is all about taking chances, so hopefully soon I'll be taking mine

Thanks again for your reply.

Kind regards
Anna

Davidindevon

Veronica,

I do not live in Cyprus but even I can see that the problems with the banks you have there are not going to be resolved anytime soon. How on earth you can give such advice is beyond me the more so given that nobody knows the reaction of the Cypriots/expats as to whether they will just accept what has happened(highly unlikely) or withdraw all their money thereby causing a run on the banks and ultimately their closure. Veronica steer clear of Cyprus for some considerable time unless, of course, you are willing to gamble on your financial future.

Davidindevon

My message should, of course, be addressed to Anna. My profuse apologies!

Anna87

Hi David,

Thank you for your reply. I do know what you mean as the bank situation is obviously a worry. But I don't have a huge amount of money, just enough to get us started, settled and financially going for a good few months. Its always been a dream of ours to move to Cyprus, and I think its got to be worth a chance.

I do know though that everything is very unsettled at the moment an it will be around 4-6 months before we move, so I'm just trying to gather as much information as I can so I really appreciate every reply.

Thanks again

Anna

Davidindevon

Hello Anna,

Please be assured that in no way was my reply meant to frighten you off from your and your families dream. I was somewhat incensed by Veronica's reply and only wanted to give an alternate view.

I wish you well in your endeavours and that you achieve your collective dream.

Best regards

Anna87

Hello David,

Oh I know don't worry! I respect your honest answer, and I'm under no illusions believe me. I just hope it all works out and hopefully moving over will be the best thing we've ever done, got to be worth a shot right?!

Do you yourself live in Cyprus?
Do you have any suggestions if a realistic place to move to? We would like to be near a town/city for work but near a beach for relaxation.

Kind regards
Anna

Davidindevon

Hello again Anna,

No we do not live in Cyprus, Dartmoor for us!

My wife and I have visited there many times and initially really enjoyed it. However, our last two visits were real eye openers to us and quite honestly we will not be returning any time soon if ever!

The cause of our concern was the huge amount of Eastern Europeans, but particularly Russians, who now seem to have taken over almost everything and which is much to the detriment of both the locals and other European expats. Our last two visits were in Limassol and Larnaca. We do not know what their presence is in Paphos and that area but if it is anything like we experienced then it will be awful.

Some will tell you to just ignore them but it is almost impossible to do so given the hold they have on the island and on the local politicians.

Domino

Anna, rather than repeat myself please read my post to Claire.

The financial problems in the EU (inc UK) have been with us for 5 years now. 25-30 years ago it would be over now, but this all started in the US, and look at how long it took for the world to get over the Wall Street Crash of 1929 - and it took a world war to help.
So these problems are going to be with us all for some time to come, the glory days of arriving in a country and walking into a job are long gone.

I would suggest that if you can start your own business you may have better control of your destiny - but remember that people are just not spending money so it has to be that "can't fail" idea.
There are EU incentives and initiatives to help regenerate markets by business startup but this is really a drop in the bucket. The big money goes to the big companies to help keep people in jobs.

You really need to sit down and do a SWOT analysis and treat it as a company project. If there is more on the No column then don't give up good jobs in the UK, instead try to rent or buy a property and use it increasingly for tentative steps over. Perhaps you and brother could move over with parents remaining in the UK for a while.

Sorry if it is not what you would want to hear, but I have no axe to grind on this - I live in Spain and am retired - I am more interested in seeing people empowering themselves and living the life they want, but have to understand that it is not a bed of roses anywhere, especially in the EU.
kind regards
`

goggles

If I could suggest you forget moving altogether , Cyprus is about to experience the sort of economic shock that will have consequences for all its people , tourism is a much smaller percentage of its economy than finance , the job losses in finance will be horrendous, there will be an exodus of cash from the high spending individuals and indeed I would put money on another bailout being required.

You will be walking into an economic minefield , unless you have funds to support you year after year for up to ten years I would forget it.

I appreciate this is not you want to hear ,but when this all kicked off I suggested it would last for ten to twelve years and I consider it may be longer now.

Domino

believe that Goa is nice this time of year

Dick Dasterdly

Hi Anna,
I always found Cyprus a very friendly and welcoming place, however that was many moons ago and little doubt the situation has changed and still is changing possibly for the worse.

I would be inclined to take Dave's two main points very seriously and certainly wouldn't dream of jumping in the deep end without spending at least a few weeks thorough research out there to get the feel of the water first.

Veronica-K

OH wow!!!
David I totally agree with you and to be honest I am very puzzled.
I remember writing the first part of the post but for the life of me cannot remember writing the second part.
As it goes against everything I always tell people I am really puzzled as to why I would write it. I always tell people that unless they are retired with good pensions or they have good well paid jobs lined up to come to that they should think very long and hard about moving here.
Considering how worried we all were at the time that post was written I have no idea why I would write that the financial situation would soon sort itself out. That is not how I feel and if I really did write that I apologise unreservedly and urge that anna totally ignores it.
I am still very puzzled that I cannot remember wrting it and it is not the sort of thing I would normally wirte. I must have been having some sort of mental brainstorm at the time
Anyone who knows me and knows my posts from this and other forums knows that I always caution people to be very thorough in their research.
I love living in Cyprus but my financial situation is reasonably secure and I have seen so many people come and then have to return to the Uk or wherever they came from far worse off than when they came.

As for the situation with Eastern Europeans, Paphos has relatively few of them compared to Limassol and the East coast. I hear that Larnaca is full of Romanian gypsies and while we do have a few there are not many here.
I suspect that many will return to their home countries or move elsewhere now that the bail out conditions have been announced as life here is not going to be easy in the next few years. Perhaps that is the only bit of goodthat will come out ofthe current crisis

Veronica

getoutofbritainquick

My family and I were considering a move to Cyprus last year from Canada. We would have moved our savings/pension and put them in a nice "safe" bank. However we had a "gut" feeling things were not going that well in Cyprus and decided to stay put for the next 10 years to allow our children to finish their education. Glad we did it wold have been a disaster. It looks like this is yet another country being overrun by east european countries just like our home town in the UK which had been turned into a virtual slum by the not so fortunate east europeans. I am sure it pains a lot of people that many places are being overrun from a huge influx of either Russian (Europe) or Chinese (Canada) money which is changing the local economies and cultures beyond recognition whilst our own governments just sits back and watches as they try and pay back debts they have run up for their own political agenda's. You cant blame the east for the west running up the debt - just a sign of the times. I am sure there is a lot worse to come as this is turning out to look like a test run for the rest of europe if they can get away with it. The rich are running out of ideas to steal from the less fortunate and they cant possibly lower their standard of living that they have become accustomed to can they? That would be unfair!