Court cases filed by asylum seekers in Cyprus fell by 59% between 2023 and 2025, while applicants from unsafe countries rose by 68% over the same period, according to the Law Office of the Republic’s annual statistical analysis for 2025.
Of 3,130 asylum cases completed during 2025, only 68 succeeded — a success rate of just over 2%. Of those, 19 resulted in the granting of refugee status, 6 in subsidiary protection, 33 in the annulment of the contested decision, 8 in the annulment of a detention order and 2 in the imposition of alternatives to detention.
At the Administrative Court of International Protection, 3,193 cases were registered in 2025, down from 6,564 in 2024 and 8,377 in 2023. Of those, 2,880 (90.2%) came from applicants from unsafe countries, with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria, Cameroon, Nigeria and Iran accounting for the largest numbers. Applicants from safe countries fell by 67% compared to 2023, while those from unsafe countries rose by 68% over the same period and by 22% compared to 2024.
Despite the fall in new registrations, the backlog of pending cases barely moved. As of 1 January 2026, 6,390 cases remained outstanding, only marginally fewer than the 6,590 pending a year earlier and significantly more than the 4,902 pending at the start of 2024.
At the Administrative Court, around 1,308 appeals were filed in 2025, down from 1,465 in 2024 and 1,879 in 2023. Foreign national cases accounted for 55% of all filings, rising to 68% when detention and deportation orders are included. Of 193 published decisions on foreigner appeals, the Republic prevailed in 153 cases, a success rate of 79%.
The gap between state and individual outcomes was wider at the Court of Appeal. Of appeals filed by the Attorney General against decisions of the Administrative Court of International Protection, 7 out of 8 succeeded, a success rate of 88%. Of appeals filed by asylum seekers against the same court’s decisions, 2 out of 43 succeeded, a rate of 5%.
Habeas corpus applications at the Supreme Court rose from 7 in 2023 to 32 in 2024 and 37 in 2025, an increase of 428% over two years. At the Supreme Constitutional Court, all six published decisions on foreigner appeals in 2025 were dismissed in favour of the Republic.
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