Cyprus Company Registration in 2026: Forms, Fees, and the Filing Process

If you’ve decided to set up a Cyprus Limited Company and now want the registration mechanics (which forms, which fees, which sequence, what trips applications up): this page is the operational reference.

This page covers the HE-series forms, the 2026 Registrar fee schedule, the filing sequence, eFiling access, re-domiciliation, and the most common rejection reasons. It does not cover formation costs, company structure, or the tax angle; those belong in the Cyprus company formation guide. Registration is handled by a Cyprus-licensed lawyer or Administrative Service Provider (ASP); this page explains what happens during that process.

Three things matter for 2026: the Registrar fee is €165 combined (HE1+HE2+HE3, with €100 expedite surcharge if you want it faster), the Memorandum has to be in Greek, and a Cyprus-licensed lawyer has to swear the HE1, which is the single reason this is not a DIY job for a non-resident.

Before anything else: the lawyer mandate (and why you cannot self-file)

The Cyprus Companies Law, Cap. 113, requires that the HE1 (the sworn statutory declaration of compliance that accompanies every company registration) be signed by a lawyer enrolled with the Cyprus Bar Association, in front of a court. This is not optional, and it is not waived for non-residents. Of the dozen “register your Cyprus company online” pages that turn up in search results, every single one either (a) has a Cyprus lawyer signing the HE1 for you in the background or (b) is misleading.

What this means for the project:

• You will work with a Cyprus advocate, ASP, or accountancy firm to register the company. There is no DIY alternative.
• The DRCIP eFiling portal at efiling.drcor.mcit.gov.cy accepts electronic submissions, but only from licensed Cyprus lawyers, accountants, audit firms, and ASPs. As a non-resident applicant you do not get a login to file directly.
• Your provider’s role is meaningful even on top of the lawyer-mandate: they draft the Memorandum in Greek, package the HE-forms, run preliminary AML/KYC, and route the application via the right channel for the right turnaround.

Everything below assumes you have engaged a Cyprus provider. If you have not, that’s step zero.

The Cyprus registration forms (HE-series quick reference)

The Registrar of Companies operates a numbered HE-series form set. The ones relevant to a typical Private Ltd lifecycle:

What you’ll often see misreported on competitor pages: HE4 described as a shareholder-allotment form, or HE12 described as something else. The correct mapping is the one above; the Registrar’s fee schedule on companies.gov.cy is the source of truth.

How to register a company in Cyprus: the actual filing sequence

The end-to-end sequence as your provider executes it on your behalf:

End-to-end realistic: 3–5 weeks from instruction to operational company on the tax side. The bank account is a separate project that takes a further 6–12 weeks at a tier-1 Cyprus bank for non-resident UBOs. See Open a bank account in Cyprus.

Registrar fees in 2026 (what the state actually charges)

The official fee schedule from the Cyprus Department of Registrar of Companies:

For a normal Private Ltd with share capital, expedited, with one accelerated name reservation and an English translation file: €10 (name) + €30 expedite name + €165 (incorp combined) + €100 expedite incorp + €160 translation = €465 to the state in one-off government fees. Without expedite and translation: €175. The professional fee from the lawyer/ASP for handling all of this is on top. Typical: €1,200–€2,600 ex-VAT.

Full cost picture including bank, audit, and recurring annual costs: Cyprus company formation cost.

Timeline: how long the Registrar really takes

The Registrar of Companies publishes no service-level agreement, but practitioner-typical windows after a complete file is submitted in 2026:

End-to-end from “I want to register a Cyprus company” to “Certificate of Incorporation in hand”: typically 3–5 weeks accounting for document gathering, drafting in Greek, apostilles, and any Registrar requests for clarification. Add a further 1–2 weeks for TIC, 6–12 weeks for bank account at a Cyprus bank (1–4 weeks for an EMI alternative).

What’s slow is rarely the Registrar itself. What’s slow is the chain of (1) you collecting and apostilling foreign documents, (2) the lawyer drafting the Greek Memorandum, (3) any Registrar request for clarification on the objects clause or name. Provider quality matters here. A senior practitioner who has filed hundreds of these knows which objects-clause wording the Registrar will accept on first read.

Can I register a company in Cyprus online myself?

The honest answer is no, not in the way “online” usually implies. The reason has nothing to do with technology.

The DRCIP eFiling portal does exist. It is at efiling.drcor.mcit.gov.cy and it accepts electronic submission of all the company forms. Access is via the gov.cy government gateway with Cypriot CY login + Ariadni credentials. So in that sense, yes, “you can register a company in Cyprus online”.

But:

• The eFiling portal requires an authorisation code from the Registrar (request via [email protected]); in practice these codes only go to regulated persons: Cyprus lawyers, accountants, audit firms, ASPs. As a non-resident applicant you do not get a login.
• The HE1 sworn statutory declaration must be signed by an advocate enrolled with the Cyprus Bar Association, in person before a court. There is no electronic substitute for the lawyer’s oath.
• The Memorandum and Articles must be properly executed in Greek. Online templates exist; a properly-executed filing requires a Cyprus lawyer’s draft.

What “online” actually means in practice: your Cyprus lawyer or ASP files the application via eFiling rather than walking it in to the Registrar’s counter in Nicosia. That’s a process improvement for them (faster turnaround, electronic notifications). It does not turn the registration into a self-service exercise for you.

If a provider markets “fully online Cyprus company registration with no lawyer needed”, they are either misleading you or planning to use their in-house Cyprus lawyer to sign your HE1 without telling you. Either way, ask the question explicitly before signing.

Re-domiciliation: registering an existing foreign company into Cyprus

Cyprus law permits the re-domiciliation of an existing foreign company into Cyprus, meaning you transfer the company’s legal seat to Cyprus without dissolving and re-incorporating. Useful if you have an established company with operational history, contracts, IP, and credit relationships you don’t want to lose by starting over.

The mechanics:

1. Check origin-jurisdiction permission. The foreign jurisdiction’s company law must explicitly permit outbound continuation. Many do (UK, BVI, Cayman, Guernsey, Mauritius, Singapore); some do not.
2. Check your company’s M&AA. The existing Memorandum and Articles must allow continuation to another jurisdiction. If not, amend them first.
3. Prepare the application bundle. Affidavit naming current and continuation names, country of origin, registration date, board resolution authorising the move, and notice to the home jurisdiction’s authority.
4. File with the Cyprus Registrar. The Registrar issues a Temporary Certificate of Continuation on acceptance. At this point the company becomes a Cyprus legal person while still also being registered in the home jurisdiction.
5. Evidence striking-off from home jurisdiction. Typically within 6 months, you must demonstrate that the company has been struck off the foreign register. The Registrar then issues the Permanent Certificate of Continuation.

The whole process is governed by the Companies Law Cap. 113 (as amended) and the related Regulations. Source: DRCIP re-domiciliation guidance.

Re-domiciliation is more complex than a fresh registration; budget 8–14 weeks end-to-end and engage a provider with explicit re-domiciliation experience. The cost is typically €3,000–€6,000 professional fee plus Cyprus government fees and home-jurisdiction strike-off fees.

Common rejection reasons and how to avoid them

Registrar rejections at the registration stage are recoverable but they cost weeks. The recurring patterns:

• Name too similar to an existing Cyprus company. Cyprus has ~310,000 registered companies; a unique-enough name needs deliberate checking. Your provider should run a pre-check before filing the HE1 name application. Backup names ready on day one.
• Sensitive word without ministerial pre-approval. “Bank”, “Insurance”, “Trust”, “Royal”, “National”, “Fund”, “Securities”, “Stock Exchange”, “Pharmacy”, “University”, “Pension”, “Trustee”, “Assurance” all trigger pre-approval requirements from the relevant ministry or regulator. Skipping the pre-approval step kills the name application.
• HE1 signature defect. The advocate’s oath must be properly administered, the document must be properly stamped, the date must match the Memorandum date. Sloppy execution by a junior lawyer is a common rejection trigger.
• Objects clause too vague or unlawful. “Any lawful business activity” is sometimes accepted but increasingly Registrars want a specific primary object plus reasonable ancillary objects. Activities subject to separate licensing (financial services, insurance, gambling, energy) need the licence reference or the application gets returned.
• Mismatch between HE2/HE3 and Memorandum. Officer names, addresses, share capital figures must reconcile across all forms. The Registrar reads cross-references; mismatches kick the file back.
• Foreign documents without apostille or with incorrect translation. Apostille format must comply with the Hague Convention; translation must be by an accredited translator. Cutting corners adds 2–4 weeks per round-trip.
• Insufficient share capital declaration for the stated business model. A Private Ltd with €1,000 capital proposing to operate a regulated business will be questioned. Capital should be plausible for the activity.

The honest read: most rejection causes are upstream of the Registrar. They’re document-execution problems caught by the Registrar’s intake review. A senior provider catches them before filing; a thin online package often does not.

Sources

• Department of Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property: companies.gov.cy
• DRCIP company incorporation forms and fees: forms & fees schedule
• DRCIP eFiling access: restricted to licensed intermediaries
• DRCIP guidance on incorporating a company: application guidance
• DRCIP guidance on re-domiciliation: continuation to Cyprus
• Cyprus Tax Department: Tax For All (TFA) portal at tfa.mof.gov.cy (replaced TAXISnet for new registrations from 27 March 2023)
• Companies Law Cap. 113 as amended (most recent amendments: Laws 18(I)/2024 and 25(I)/2024)
• Law 239(I)/2025 (Stamp Duty Law repeal, effective 1 January 2026)