Greece is reforming its residence permit system to accelerate and simplify the process for legal migrants.
The country aims to position itself as an attractive destination for legal migration flows.
New legislation to cut waiting times
The Greek Minister for Migration and Asylum, Dimitris Kairidis, has announced plans to create new laws that will modernize and digitize processes for giving out residence permits on digital platforms.
As it stands, migrants can wait up to two years to get permits approved or renewed, despite living and working legally in Greece. The proposed reforms seek to address this.
Biometric registration centers to open
In the first six months of 2024, Greece will launch four new centers where biometric data will be collected. Three of these centers will be located in Athens, while one will be in Thessaloniki.
The additional capacity will help to clear long-standing backlogs and free up staff to focus on new applications.
Minister Kairidis stated that 850,000 existing migration files would be digitized by mid-2026.
Transitioning paper-based records to digital will significantly accelerate application processing times.
2024 dubbed “Year of Legal Migration”
Kairidis described the raft of new measures as positioning 2024 as the “year of legal migration” in Greece.
The changes are designed to make it easier and quicker for migrants to come to Greece legally. This is meant to make Greece a more appealing place for migrants to settle.
The changes to residence permits are based on new laws that aim to give legal status to around 30,000 undocumented migrants.
To qualify, migrants must prove three years of residence and Greek employment. Successful applicants get three-year residence and work permits.
Greece signing labor agreements to fill shortages
Greece is also making bilateral labor mobility agreements with six countries. These countries are Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Vietnam, India, and the Philippines.
The deals seek to facilitate migration flows in priority sectors with acute skills shortages.
In 2023, Greece saw around 46,000 migrants arriving, as reported by UNHCR. As a result, the number of people applying for asylum is not expected to decrease significantly soon.
ETIAS to ease short-term visits
The changes to residence permits go along with the introduction of the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) in mid-2025.
ETIAS will make it easier for non-European Union (EU) citizens who don’t need a visa to visit Europe to get permission for short trips. This will help promote tourism, business, and educational opportunities between EU countries and other nations.
Combined with faster and more accessible pathways to longer-term residence, Greece aims to become an attractive destination for both short and long stays.
Easier residence permits support broader EU policy direction
The reforms align Greece with the EU’s broader shift towards more open, skills-focused legal migration policies.
Similar to Greece, other countries in the EU are also considering using centralized platforms to attract workers from other countries.
This means they want to make it easier for people from abroad to come and work in their countries, but they plan to do it selectively.
The initiatives ultimately form part of the EU’s pragmatic goal to harness immigration to fill endemic skills shortages across aging societies.
Greece pursues pragmatic approach to migration
The new set of actions is designed to help Greece better use migration to boost its economy. This means making it easier and more appealing for people to enter the country legally.
Transitioning from an overt focus on enforcement and exclusion, the government now views immigration through a more pragmatic economic lens.
The reforms aim to create a migration system that addresses shortages in skills, promotes economic growth, and helps newcomers integrate more effectively.