Getting to the bottom of registering for Gesy

You have noted in your newspaper that many EU and other foreign nationals have problems registering for Gesy. Unfortunately, this is true for a very close relative of mine.

After months of trying, and various communication with the Gesy authorities, visits to the social insurance and citizens service centres, we are on the brink of a discovery as to what the root of the problem is.

If you do not know – and the public service doesn’t seem to know – foreigners, unlike Cypriots, officially have more names other than name and family name. So when you go to register at Immigration or social insurance, they do not know what do with your surname.

Let me use an example. If you happen to be named Jon Bon Jovi, the Immigration will write you down as Name: Jon Bon, Family Name: Jovi.

The social insurance, on the other hand, may write you down as Name: Jon, Family Name: Jovi (skip the Surname) or Name: Jon, Family Name: Bon Jovi.

Until now, this was not a big deal, but the problem with Gesy is that it compares the data from the two systems. And if you have Name: Jon Bon, Family Name: Jovi on your yellow slip, and Name: Jon, Family Name: Bon Jovi in the social insurance certificate, you will never pass through the portal. The computers are machines and they compare data. As data is not the same, the algorithm decides that you are not insured.

In case you find such differences in your data, go to the social insurance or citizens service centre and make sure that the name on the yellow slip matches exactly the name on the social insurance record.

By the way, Jon Bon Jovi is John Francis Bongiovi Jr. for the state records.

Petar Dimitrov, Engomi, Nicosia

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