The online arrangement of appointments at the Civil Registry and Migration Department stops as it was found that the relevant platform was abused by agents. To this end, other arrangements for appointments will be in effect from Monday, the Minister of the Interior, Constantinos Ioannou, said on Sunday. The Minister, who attended an event in Larnaca, was asked about the Sunday Mail front-page story which referred to agents selling online slots for up to pound 200. He replied that “the platform was closed because we were worried about this particular incident.” He said that the issue had been detected since March 10 and it has been announced that the operation of the platform will cease. “I don’t know about any amounts of money, but there was certainly abuse by agents who pre-booked a large number of appointments, so the public or other categories of people were not able to book appointments,” he added. Ioannou further noted that on Monday this practice stops, while other arrangements have been made to book appointments. As he explained, this will be done either through email, or specific days will be set for specific categories of applicants. He also said that once or twice a month the public will be informed in order to resolve any queries and to know about the progress of their application.
Source: Cyprus News Agency