Cyprus
Min. wage
(x12 payments)
€1,088 /mo
About the minimum wage
Employer tax
~15.4%
Understand employer tax
Annual leave
20 days
Learn about annual leave
Notice period
1-8 weeks (by tenure)
Termination and notice info
Updated
Sep 2026
The standard employment form; written particulars of key terms must be provided, and termination is regulated by the Termination of Employment Law 24/1967.
Permitted, but under Law 98(I)/2003 successive fixed-term contracts beyond 30 months are deemed indefinite unless the employer shows objective justification.
Standard working time is typically 38-40 hrs/week depending on sector or collective agreement; average weekly time including overtime is capped at 48 hours.
Default probation is 26 weeks, extendable to 104 weeks by written agreement at hiring, during which the employee is not protected against dismissal.
A 13th salary is not statutory but widespread and often contractually binding, usually paid in December; a 14th appears in some sectors under collective agreements.
Job titles generally unregulated, but regulated professions (lawyers, doctors, accountants, engineers) require registration with the relevant Cypriot professional body.
~15.4%: social insurance 8.8% (2024-2028 rate step), GHS/GESY 2.9%, Redundancy Fund 1.2%, Industrial Training (HRDA) 0.5%, Social Cohesion Fund 2%; most capped at insurable earnings of EUR 68,904/yr (2026); cohesion uncapped, GESY capped at EUR 180,000.
Employees pay 8.8% social insurance (capped at EUR 68,904/yr in 2026) plus 2.65% GHS/GESY; progressive income tax 0-35% — under the tax reform in force 1 Jan 2026 the first EUR 22,000 is tax-free (previously EUR 19,500).
In addition to statutory leave, employees are entitled to the following statutory benefits:
Cyprus social security is funded by capped percentage contributions on gross earnings (2026 cap: EUR 68,904/yr, EUR 5,742/mo):
Employers in Cyprus must carry compulsory employers' liability insurance covering work accidents and occupational diseases, with statutory minimum coverage levels per employee and per event; work-injury benefits are also provided through the Social Insurance Fund.
Statutory redundancy compensation is paid from the state Redundancy Fund (financed by the employer's 1.2% contribution), not directly by the employer, for employees with at least 104 weeks of continuous service. The award scales from 2 weeks' wages per year of service (first 4 years) up to 4 weeks per year (over 20 years), capped at 104 weeks' wages. Direct employer severance is owed mainly where dismissal is unlawful or unfair.
The 13th salary is not mandated by law in Cyprus but is customary and widely paid in December, typically equal to one month's wages; where it has been paid consistently or promised, it is treated as a contractual entitlement that cannot be unilaterally withdrawn.
P.S. our team speaks multiple languages and we'd love to chat in your preferred language if requested.
Your employee's hours, time off, holidays, bonuses, and commissions are automatically calculated into payroll. RemoFirst will invoice you in either US Dollars (USD), Euros (EUR), British Pounds (GBP), Canadian Dollars (CAD), Australian Dollars (AUD), or Singapore Dollars (SGD) around the 15th of each month to make sure your employees are paid on time. To make it even easier, you can summarize your entire global team's salaries to aggregate them into one payment (instead of many individual payments).
Unlike full-time employees, contractors work on projects with multiple companies at a given time and are technically self-employed. Full-time employees are solely focused on their employer and usually receive benefits (such as health insurance, equity or stock options, and time off) as an additional form of compensation. While it can be cheaper to work with international contractors instead of paying benefits to a full-time employee, you run the risk of misclassification. It's recommended to work with an EOR for contractor onboarding and payments, so you can know that your international contractors are paid compliantly and on time.
Whenever the employee or employer has a question about, or anything else related to international employment, they can speak with our customer support team to get answers from our team of experts.
