Cyprus’s reputation as a study-abroad destination took a hit on 23 June 2026 when Bangladeshi media confirmed the death of 22-year-old Shahriar Ahmed Imon, who had arrived in the country on a student visa three months earlier. Imon disappeared from Oroklini, Larnaca, on 11 June; his family in Bangladesh received ransom demands via WhatsApp while he was already dead. Cyprus police recovered his buried body near Kofinou and arrested a Bangladeshi suspect. The case has sparked calls for tighter vetting of informal job networks that international students often rely on to finance tuition. Private colleges have flourished in Cyprus thanks to comparatively low fees and English-language programmes, drawing more than 25,000 non-EU students—many from South Asia.
![Murder of Bangladeshi student in Larnaca raises concern over international-student safety]()
Students preparing for studies in Cyprus can reduce risks from the outset by ensuring their paperwork is in order; services like VisaHQ (https://www.visahq.com/cyprus/) streamline the visa-application process with clear checklists, appointment scheduling and real-time updates on rule changes, helping newcomers stay compliant with work and residency regulations.
Yet NGOs say students can be vulnerable to exploitation and crime because financial-support rules restrict work hours and legal paths to residency after graduation remain opaque. Bangladesh’s embassy in Beirut (accredited to Cyprus) has requested a full investigation and urged the Cypriot authorities to increase outreach to new arrivals. Within Cyprus, the Ministry of Education said it will accelerate plans for a centralised student-information portal allowing embassies, police and universities to share alerts when a foreign student is reported missing. For institutions hosting large cohorts from India, Nepal and Bangladesh, the tragedy is a reminder to strengthen orientation programmes around personal safety, legal employment and emergency contacts. Employers that hire students part-time should verify work-permit conditions to avoid liability. The government is also reviewing whether to expand its recently launched student-support hotline to operate 24/7 in multiple languages. Stakeholders expect the issue to feature prominently when parliament debates amendments to the Aliens and Immigration Law later this summer, including proposals to allow postgraduate students longer post-study stay to seek skilled work—reducing incentives to take informal jobs.
Students preparing for studies in Cyprus can reduce risks from the outset by ensuring their paperwork is in order; services like VisaHQ (https://www.visahq.com/cyprus/) streamline the visa-application process with clear checklists, appointment scheduling and real-time updates on rule changes, helping newcomers stay compliant with work and residency regulations.
Yet NGOs say students can be vulnerable to exploitation and crime because financial-support rules restrict work hours and legal paths to residency after graduation remain opaque. Bangladesh’s embassy in Beirut (accredited to Cyprus) has requested a full investigation and urged the Cypriot authorities to increase outreach to new arrivals. Within Cyprus, the Ministry of Education said it will accelerate plans for a centralised student-information portal allowing embassies, police and universities to share alerts when a foreign student is reported missing. For institutions hosting large cohorts from India, Nepal and Bangladesh, the tragedy is a reminder to strengthen orientation programmes around personal safety, legal employment and emergency contacts. Employers that hire students part-time should verify work-permit conditions to avoid liability. The government is also reviewing whether to expand its recently launched student-support hotline to operate 24/7 in multiple languages. Stakeholders expect the issue to feature prominently when parliament debates amendments to the Aliens and Immigration Law later this summer, including proposals to allow postgraduate students longer post-study stay to seek skilled work—reducing incentives to take informal jobs.
