Social Insurance Department has rejected my application

Am not really experienced with self employment but my guess is that you haven't fulfilled the requirements of proof for self employed income with accounts data invoices etc showing income and outgoings proving clientele

But I will ask a self employed friend of mine and get back to you

Ok this what a friend of mine replied.
I went to an accountant and they sorted everything out for me. You have to be careful as there are some dodgy ones around.
I use Yiannis Constantinides Accountants in Paphos. I emailed them, told them what I wanted to do, and then went for an appointment.
They are very good! They have a website.
It's also easier if that person already has a social number before they go self-employed otherwise could be more complicated. The Accountant I told you about is good and prices are reasonable.  For me they do the end of year tax and apply for social reduction at same time, cost is €60. They also pay my social for me every quarter and there fee is €35. Other Accountants I have heard charge € 200 for same thing

Hiya, I went through my Accountant to be self employed,  and if your acquaintance hasn't got a social number they would have the information to help you get one. My Accountant is very good and does not overcharge.

The Accountant is Yiannis Constantinides Ltd..he is situated in the old town opposite bus station, number is 26 822900. They should be open on Monday, hope this helps xx

Thanks Toon, that's helpful.

It seems like such a shame to have to pay to do something so basic though.

We don't have SI numbers as the department hasn't replied to our application yet. It's been 6 weeks, I think. We've actually applied twice as we were given the wrong forms the first time. The receptionist asked us why we were submitting the incorrect forms, and I had to reply, 'You gave them to us yesterday!'

I suppose I'll bite the bullet and get an accountant then. I don't really want to waste any more time now that the transition period has ended.

If anyone knows of a good and reasonably priced accountant in the Larnaca area, I would be grateful to know their name.

I agree but sometimes paying is the best way to go as locals understand the process and what to expect and as a result have the edge in bypassing the obstacles that catch out non nationals

I asked an accountant to apply for social insurance. She has been back and forth with the department, trying to find out why they rejected our previous applications and what their requirements are.

They have told her that they will not register us without yellow slips.

Immigration will not grant us yellow slips without SI certificates.

It's a catch-22. I'm beginning to wonder what kind of country I've moved to. I have no idea what to do next.

Can anyone please advise?

Speak to gwennys red tape services am sure they will and can help you

Thanks, Toon. I'll give that a try.

Or you could try

Eleni Mala 99 796104

Melanie Osborne  https://www.facebook.com/melanie.osborne.35762

Natasha 96337229  at Costa Rica cafe bar Paphos and  apartments on the left on the coast road nr the the golf course Chloraka 

good luck

Thank you! I'm in Larnaca but presumably they can still help.

ah they will be able to advise and give pointers for sure...they may even know someone in that area

Have you tried asking these questions in the information pages for larnaca on facebook

I had this dilemma when my partner and I moved to Larnaca in October.

We had A1 forms as we weren't sure if we'd be able to set up our self employed status in time for our immigration appointment.

Long story short we applied as visitors and were granted yellow slips, so maybe try that and then you can go ahead and sort the social insurance out. There's no issue with applying as a visitor and registering after as your not categorised on your yellow slip. By that I mean it doesn't hold any information regarding your application status (employed/self-employed-student).

Larnaca office were pretty quick just have all the documents for the visitor criteria and you'll be in and out in 20 mins.

Thank you! This could be what we need, but can I just make sure I understand what you mean?

You applied to the social insurance department as visitors rather than residents. To do this you filled in form A1. Immigration accepted this because they can't tell the difference between the social insurance categories (or don't care).

Is that right?

You could apply as self sufficient assuming u have funds. Then look for work... as  working not working etc is not specified. Technically you are not allowed to do it but thousands do every day

Sorry I was on my phone so I'll try and be a bit more precise below.

My partner and I applied as Visitors to the immigration department to get our yellow slips.

We had A1 forms from the UK when we arrived as we attempted to go down the route I think you are taking. Which is getting yourself set up here as Self Employed before you go to your immigration yellow slip meeting, if I'm understanding correctly.

We tried that and soon realized we wouldn't be able to get everything set up in time before our appointment. We tried to visit the Social Insurance in Larnaca and basically got turned away as we had no yellow slip.

So we visited an Immigration lawyer who confirmed it would be perfectly acceptable for us to apply for our Yellow Slips under the 'Visitor' category and then once our yellow slip was granted we could go ahead and get our self employed status set up, which we did.

Basically, what worked for me was getting all the 'Visitor' document criteria sorted and then going for my yellow slip appointment.

I provided:-

3 Months Bank Statements
Previous Year Tax Return (as I'm self employed, use this to replace the P60)
Passport
Rental Agreement (Stamped if above €5000 due in a year)
Utility Bill for property (Can be in agents/landlords name)

The categories I was talking about were the immigration categories, not the social insurance categories. Take care of this after you've got your yellow slip, which in my opinion is less hassle to obtain by applying as a visitor, then go ahead and get your self employment set up here.

Hope this was clear!

Thanks, Toon. Do you know which form it is we would have to fill in? Also, what level of funds are we talking about?

Sorry, I find all of this pretty confusing!

It's the same form meu1 but now there may be a new form muk1.... funding probably likely to be about a years worth of salary as savings and maybe 50% more for a dependent then proof of what you have earned over say 3. - 6 months

Thanks, JMOR22.

Did you fill in the same immigration form, the MEU1?

Yes that's the one. No problem. Here to help if needed!

For funds, Toon is right however the minimum you need to show is the equivalent of 480 euros a month incoming. I made sure I had at least a year in the bank by this calculation and all was fine.

Hi, I saw your posts, which were very informative!  I would like to use your knowledge please to assist with a question I have.  I already have my yellow slip MEU1, granted under self-sufficient (I think self-sufficient - I'm not 100 sure because I did it through an immigration lawyer and presented so many documents).  I am not a pensioner and I want to register with Social Insurance as self employed.  Do you know if I have to apply for a Social Insurance number first, and then apply for the self-employed?  Or it's a two-in-one kind of thing?  Does anybody in the Larnaca office speak English?  At the moment I live in Paphos but will soon be moving to the Larnaca area.  The Paphos office is a bit of a joke and very disorganised queues, not sure if Larnaca is the same.  The guy I spoke to told me that he couldn't speak English but he could understand that I wanted to register as self-employed.  He gave me a form and told me to fill it in and drop it in the box when I had finished.  It didn't occur to me that I should have told him that I wanted to apply for a social insurance number in the first instance.

Thanks in advance for any information you can offer.

Am sure there is a post that I did recommending someone to help get it sorted out. It was a reply to someone else but might be of interest