No Retirement Route; the Only Door Age Opens Is for a Parent of 67 or Over Whose Grown Child Lives Here and Will Guarantee Their Keep
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Cyprus on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
195 exceptions recorded across 74 countries · none match Cyprus to Iceland · Residency as a retiree
There is no retirement residence permit in Iceland and no pension threshold anywhere in the Aliens Act. The grounds of residence in chapters VI to X are work, study and cultural exchange, family reunification, protection, special connections to the country and a lawful and special purpose, and none of them is retirement. Age appears in the Act in exactly one place as a ground of its own: section 72(2) allows a residence permit for a foreigner aged 67 or over who has a grown child in Iceland, and lets the Directorate waive the requirement of self-support where the child shows it can secure the parent's keep. The same age runs through section 69(1), which counts parents aged 67 and over among a person's closest family members for the purposes of family reunification, so the route is a family one rather than a retirement one: it depends on having an adult child here, not on having income. The other place age does something is chapter XI, where an EEA or EFTA national who reaches pension age or takes early retirement gets the permanent right of residence after three continuous years in Iceland and twelve continuous months of work, rather than the usual five years. For everyone else, retiring to Iceland means fitting one of the ordinary grounds or using the short-term residence permit in section 21, which runs 180 days and cannot be repeated within twelve months.
At a glance
- Retirement residence permit
- None in chapters VI to X of the Aliens Act, which carry every ground of residence
Sections 61 to 64 are work, 65 to 68 study and exchange, 69 to 72 family, 73 to 77 protection, 78 special connections and 79 a lawful and special purpose. None is retirement and none states a pension threshold.
- Age that opens the parent route
- 67 or over, with a grown child in Iceland
Section 72(2) of the Aliens Act. Section 69(1) uses the same age in defining closest family members.
- Self-support for that route
- May be waived where the child shows it can secure the parent's keep
Section 72(2), second sentence. This is an exception to section 55(1)(a) and section 56, which otherwise require the applicant's own support to be secure.
- EEA national retiring in Iceland
- Permanent right of residence after three continuous years here and twelve continuous months of work
Section 87(3)(a) of the Aliens Act, against the ordinary five years in section 87(1). Section 87(4) removes the residence requirement entirely where permanent incapacity came from an industrial accident or occupational disease.
- Longest stay with no permit category
- 180 days, once in any 12-month period
Section 21 of the Aliens Act, the short-term residence permit. It cannot found a permanent residence permit or a registered domicile.
Requirements
- For the parent route: age 67 or over, and a grown child living in Iceland
- The general conditions of section 55, except that self-support may be waived where the child guarantees the parent's keep
- For an EEA or EFTA national retiring here: three continuous years of residence and twelve continuous months of work before stopping work
In detail
Sixty-seven is the number that matters, and it is not about money
The parent route in section 72(2) looks at first like a retirement provision and is not one. It asks two questions: are you 67 or over, and do you have a grown child living in Iceland. It asks nothing about a pension, savings or income - indeed it goes the other way and lets the self-support requirement be waived where the child guarantees the parent's keep, which is the opposite of a means test. Someone of 67 with a substantial pension and no child here has no route; someone of 67 with no income and a child here may have one. That is a family rule wearing an age.
Against the other Nordic records
Denmark's Aliens Act mentions retirement once, for people who spent twelve years here working for an international organisation. Finland has no retirement route and what age buys is an exemption from the language test for permanent residence. Sweden has none, and a pension appears in its immigration law only as an excuse from a money test. Iceland's single appearance of age is a third shape again: a dependency route for an elderly parent, not a relief inside another route. All four agree on the answer a reader came for, and each writes the non-answer differently.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Cyprus
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«Heimilt er að veita útlendingi sem er 67 ára eða eldri dvalarleyfi eigi hann uppkomið barn hér á landi. Í þeim tilvikum er heimilt að veita útlendingi undanþágu frá skilyrði um að geta framfleytt sér sjálfur ef barn hans sýnir fram á að það geti tryggt framfærslu viðkomandi.»Our translation - not official
A foreigner aged 67 or over may be granted a residence permit if he has a grown child in this country. In such cases the foreigner may be granted an exemption from the condition of being able to support himself if his child shows that it can secure that person's keep.
About this source
The consolidated collection of Icelandic Acts, published under section 9 of the Act on Stjornartidindi and the Legal Gazette 15/2005. The minister is responsible for publishing it and a three-member editorial board appointed for five years at a time oversees it, one member nominated by the Speaker of Althingi; it is hosted on the parliament's own site. Each edition carries a number and a date - the one read here is Utgafa 158a, Islensk log 1. oktober 2026 - and an Act is served at a pinned address of the form https://www.althingi.is/lagas/<edition>/<year><number>.html, with /lagas/nuna/ as an always-latest alias. Every Act's header prints the date it came into force and a Breytt med line naming every amending Act with its own commencement. Amending Acts are worked into the parent Act, new Acts are added and repealed Acts are removed at each update. Passages inserted or substituted by a later Act are printed inside square brackets with a numbered footnote naming the amending Act and section, and repealed provisions are printed as an ellipsis with the same kind of footnote, so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Treaties given the force of law are printed in full as schedules, which is how the EEA Agreement and the Nordic Convention on Social Security are readable in Icelandic inside the statute book. The parliament separately serves each Act as passed at https://www.althingi.is/altext/stjt/<year>.<number>.html.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The lagasafn is a statutory consolidation and it is still subordinate to the gazette: section 9(1) of Act 15/2005 says that where the lagasafn text and the text published in Division A of Stjornartidindi diverge, the Stjornartidindi text governs. It must not be cited as the authentic text. It is a snapshot and not a running text - the Um lagasafn page says it is updated as a rule three times a year, at the start of the year, in spring and in autumn, with the edition numbered by legislative session and lettered a, b or c - so an Act passed since the edition date is simply not in it, and the site keeps a separate Nylega samthykkt log page for those. The square-bracket convention means a figure substituted by a later Act is printed inside brackets with a footnote marker beside it, so the number is in the collection but is not quotable as a clean sentence; the amending Act's own text has to be used instead. The collection publishes Acts only: regulations are at island.is/reglugerdir and are a different publisher. It says nothing about how an agency applies an Act - no subsistence amount, no fee, no processing time and no country list is in it.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Til nánustu aðstandenda teljast maki, sambúðarmaki, börn viðkomandi yngri en 18 ára í forsjá hans og á framfæri og foreldrar 67 ára og eldri.»Our translation - not official
Closest family members are a spouse, a cohabiting partner, the person's children under 18 in his custody and dependent on him, and parents aged 67 and over.
About this source
The consolidated collection of Icelandic Acts, published under section 9 of the Act on Stjornartidindi and the Legal Gazette 15/2005. The minister is responsible for publishing it and a three-member editorial board appointed for five years at a time oversees it, one member nominated by the Speaker of Althingi; it is hosted on the parliament's own site. Each edition carries a number and a date - the one read here is Utgafa 158a, Islensk log 1. oktober 2026 - and an Act is served at a pinned address of the form https://www.althingi.is/lagas/<edition>/<year><number>.html, with /lagas/nuna/ as an always-latest alias. Every Act's header prints the date it came into force and a Breytt med line naming every amending Act with its own commencement. Amending Acts are worked into the parent Act, new Acts are added and repealed Acts are removed at each update. Passages inserted or substituted by a later Act are printed inside square brackets with a numbered footnote naming the amending Act and section, and repealed provisions are printed as an ellipsis with the same kind of footnote, so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Treaties given the force of law are printed in full as schedules, which is how the EEA Agreement and the Nordic Convention on Social Security are readable in Icelandic inside the statute book. The parliament separately serves each Act as passed at https://www.althingi.is/altext/stjt/<year>.<number>.html.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The lagasafn is a statutory consolidation and it is still subordinate to the gazette: section 9(1) of Act 15/2005 says that where the lagasafn text and the text published in Division A of Stjornartidindi diverge, the Stjornartidindi text governs. It must not be cited as the authentic text. It is a snapshot and not a running text - the Um lagasafn page says it is updated as a rule three times a year, at the start of the year, in spring and in autumn, with the edition numbered by legislative session and lettered a, b or c - so an Act passed since the edition date is simply not in it, and the site keeps a separate Nylega samthykkt log page for those. The square-bracket convention means a figure substituted by a later Act is printed inside brackets with a footnote marker beside it, so the number is in the collection but is not quotable as a clean sentence; the amending Act's own text has to be used instead. The collection publishes Acts only: regulations are at island.is/reglugerdir and are a different publisher. It says nothing about how an agency applies an Act - no subsistence amount, no fee, no processing time and no country list is in it.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«hefur við starfslok náð lögbundnum ellilífeyrisaldri hér á landi eða hættir í launuðu starfi til að fara snemma á eftirlaun, að því tilskildu að hann hafi dvalist á landinu samfellt lengur en í þrjú ár og starfað hér á landi í minnst tólf mánuði samfellt þegar hann hættir störfum,»Our translation - not official
has on ceasing work reached the statutory old-age pension age in this country, or leaves paid employment in order to take early retirement, provided he has resided in the country continuously for more than three years and has worked here for at least twelve continuous months when he stops working,
About this source
The consolidated collection of Icelandic Acts, published under section 9 of the Act on Stjornartidindi and the Legal Gazette 15/2005. The minister is responsible for publishing it and a three-member editorial board appointed for five years at a time oversees it, one member nominated by the Speaker of Althingi; it is hosted on the parliament's own site. Each edition carries a number and a date - the one read here is Utgafa 158a, Islensk log 1. oktober 2026 - and an Act is served at a pinned address of the form https://www.althingi.is/lagas/<edition>/<year><number>.html, with /lagas/nuna/ as an always-latest alias. Every Act's header prints the date it came into force and a Breytt med line naming every amending Act with its own commencement. Amending Acts are worked into the parent Act, new Acts are added and repealed Acts are removed at each update. Passages inserted or substituted by a later Act are printed inside square brackets with a numbered footnote naming the amending Act and section, and repealed provisions are printed as an ellipsis with the same kind of footnote, so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Treaties given the force of law are printed in full as schedules, which is how the EEA Agreement and the Nordic Convention on Social Security are readable in Icelandic inside the statute book. The parliament separately serves each Act as passed at https://www.althingi.is/altext/stjt/<year>.<number>.html.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The lagasafn is a statutory consolidation and it is still subordinate to the gazette: section 9(1) of Act 15/2005 says that where the lagasafn text and the text published in Division A of Stjornartidindi diverge, the Stjornartidindi text governs. It must not be cited as the authentic text. It is a snapshot and not a running text - the Um lagasafn page says it is updated as a rule three times a year, at the start of the year, in spring and in autumn, with the edition numbered by legislative session and lettered a, b or c - so an Act passed since the edition date is simply not in it, and the site keeps a separate Nylega samthykkt log page for those. The square-bracket convention means a figure substituted by a later Act is printed inside brackets with a footnote marker beside it, so the number is in the collection but is not quotable as a clean sentence; the amending Act's own text has to be used instead. The collection publishes Acts only: regulations are at island.is/reglugerdir and are a different publisher. It says nothing about how an agency applies an Act - no subsistence amount, no fee, no processing time and no country list is in it.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Heimilt er að veita útlendingi dvalarleyfi á grundvelli lögmæts og sérstaks tilgangs að uppfylltum skilyrðum 1. og 2. mgr. 55. gr. sé hann eldri en 18 ára og falli ekki undir ákvæði um önnur dvalarleyfi samkvæmt lögum þessum. Dvalarleyfi samkvæmt þessu ákvæði skal einungis veitt til eins árs í senn. Heimilt er að endurnýja leyfið haldist tilgangur dvalar óbreyttur.»Our translation - not official
A foreigner may be granted a residence permit on the basis of a lawful and special purpose, the conditions of section 55(1) and (2) being met, if he is over 18 and does not fall under the provisions on other residence permits under this Act. A residence permit under this provision shall be granted for one year at a time only. The permit may be renewed so long as the purpose of the stay is unchanged.
Section 79(2) says this permit cannot be the basis of a permanent residence permit. What counts as a lawful and special purpose is left to a ministerial regulation that was not read.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The consolidated collection of Icelandic Acts, published under section 9 of the Act on Stjornartidindi and the Legal Gazette 15/2005. The minister is responsible for publishing it and a three-member editorial board appointed for five years at a time oversees it, one member nominated by the Speaker of Althingi; it is hosted on the parliament's own site. Each edition carries a number and a date - the one read here is Utgafa 158a, Islensk log 1. oktober 2026 - and an Act is served at a pinned address of the form https://www.althingi.is/lagas/<edition>/<year><number>.html, with /lagas/nuna/ as an always-latest alias. Every Act's header prints the date it came into force and a Breytt med line naming every amending Act with its own commencement. Amending Acts are worked into the parent Act, new Acts are added and repealed Acts are removed at each update. Passages inserted or substituted by a later Act are printed inside square brackets with a numbered footnote naming the amending Act and section, and repealed provisions are printed as an ellipsis with the same kind of footnote, so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Treaties given the force of law are printed in full as schedules, which is how the EEA Agreement and the Nordic Convention on Social Security are readable in Icelandic inside the statute book. The parliament separately serves each Act as passed at https://www.althingi.is/altext/stjt/<year>.<number>.html.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The lagasafn is a statutory consolidation and it is still subordinate to the gazette: section 9(1) of Act 15/2005 says that where the lagasafn text and the text published in Division A of Stjornartidindi diverge, the Stjornartidindi text governs. It must not be cited as the authentic text. It is a snapshot and not a running text - the Um lagasafn page says it is updated as a rule three times a year, at the start of the year, in spring and in autumn, with the edition numbered by legislative session and lettered a, b or c - so an Act passed since the edition date is simply not in it, and the site keeps a separate Nylega samthykkt log page for those. The square-bracket convention means a figure substituted by a later Act is printed inside brackets with a footnote marker beside it, so the number is in the collection but is not quotable as a clean sentence; the amending Act's own text has to be used instead. The collection publishes Acts only: regulations are at island.is/reglugerdir and are a different publisher. It says nothing about how an agency applies an Act - no subsistence amount, no fee, no processing time and no country list is in it.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
Practical notes
This is an absence recorded from a closed list read in full: the grounds of residence in chapters VI to X of the Aliens Act. The stored reading carries sections 1 to 125 with no gaps.
No Icelandic pension age is published here. Section 87(3)(a) refers to the statutory old-age pension age without stating it, and the social security Act that sets it was not read.
The ministerial regulation under section 79(3) defining a lawful and special purpose was not located, so it is not known whether retirement is among the purposes it names.
Nothing published by Utlendingastofnun was read.
- consolidatesLog um utlendinga, 2016 nr. 80 16. juni
Lagasafn, Althingi · consolidated to 2026-10-01
About this source
The consolidated collection of Icelandic Acts, published under section 9 of the Act on Stjornartidindi and the Legal Gazette 15/2005. The minister is responsible for publishing it and a three-member editorial board appointed for five years at a time oversees it, one member nominated by the Speaker of Althingi; it is hosted on the parliament's own site. Each edition carries a number and a date - the one read here is Utgafa 158a, Islensk log 1. oktober 2026 - and an Act is served at a pinned address of the form https://www.althingi.is/lagas/<edition>/<year><number>.html, with /lagas/nuna/ as an always-latest alias. Every Act's header prints the date it came into force and a Breytt med line naming every amending Act with its own commencement. Amending Acts are worked into the parent Act, new Acts are added and repealed Acts are removed at each update. Passages inserted or substituted by a later Act are printed inside square brackets with a numbered footnote naming the amending Act and section, and repealed provisions are printed as an ellipsis with the same kind of footnote, so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Treaties given the force of law are printed in full as schedules, which is how the EEA Agreement and the Nordic Convention on Social Security are readable in Icelandic inside the statute book. The parliament separately serves each Act as passed at https://www.althingi.is/altext/stjt/<year>.<number>.html.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The lagasafn is a statutory consolidation and it is still subordinate to the gazette: section 9(1) of Act 15/2005 says that where the lagasafn text and the text published in Division A of Stjornartidindi diverge, the Stjornartidindi text governs. It must not be cited as the authentic text. It is a snapshot and not a running text - the Um lagasafn page says it is updated as a rule three times a year, at the start of the year, in spring and in autumn, with the edition numbered by legislative session and lettered a, b or c - so an Act passed since the edition date is simply not in it, and the site keeps a separate Nylega samthykkt log page for those. The square-bracket convention means a figure substituted by a later Act is printed inside brackets with a footnote marker beside it, so the number is in the collection but is not quotable as a clean sentence; the amending Act's own text has to be used instead. The collection publishes Acts only: regulations are at island.is/reglugerdir and are a different publisher. It says nothing about how an agency applies an Act - no subsistence amount, no fee, no processing time and no country list is in it.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source