Foreign citizens of Greek background are
interested in acquiring Greek citizenship and procuring a Greek passport. The
Greek passport allows the holder to reside and work in all the countries of the
European Union. A Greek passport can be issued only for a Greek citizen who is
registered with a Greek Municipality. Therefore, it is necessary that the
person interested in acquiring Greek citizenship proceeds first with the
recognition of his/her Greek citizenship and his /her registration with a Greek
Municipality; then he/she can also proceed with the issuance of a Greek
passport and/or an identity card (“taftotita”).
According to Greek Law, the child of a
Greek male or female obtains the Greek nationality at birth. By virtue of this
article, every person can be registered as a Greek citizen, if his/her
ancestors or one of them was a Greek citizen, provided that the person
requesting the Greek citizenship follows the procedure required by Greek Law in
order to prove the Greek citizenship of his/her ancestors and the sequence of
Greek origin (ius sanguinis).
The first step for the recognition of
the Greek nationality is to locate the registration of one of the ancestors
with the Greek Municipal Rolls or the Greek Male Rolls. When the person locates
the registration of one of his/her ancestors, he/she should procure a relevant
certificate and proceed with the application for the recognition of his
nationality. All the certificates of marriages and births that took place
abroad and have not been registered in Greece should be registered with the Greek
Special Registry. For this purpose, original certificates are required that
should be Apostilled according to the Hague Convention or in the event that the
country of their issuance is not a party to the Convention, they should be
authenticated by the competent Greek Consulate. In case that there is a
Divorce, the relevant judgment should be recognised as valid in Greece through
the relevant Greek Court procedure.
The application for the recognition of
Greek nationality as well as the certificates issued by the Special Registry
should be submitted to the Municipality with which the ancestor of the
applicant is registered. The competent Authority for the recognition of Greek
nationality is the Decentralized Administration; they issue the decision
recognising the Greek nationality of the applicant and order his/her
registration with the Greek Municipal Rolls. Men must be first registered with
the Greek Male Rolls; this registration is completed after the issuance of a
relevant Decision of the competent authority and after the submission of
additional certificates issued by the Consulate of his place of residence.
The registration with the Greek
Municipal Rolls and the Greek Male Rolls concludes the procedure of the
recognition of Greek nationality: the person is a Greek citizen registered with
a Greek Municipality. The Municipality issues a certificate, which certifies
that the person is a Greek citizen; this certificate is necessary for the
issuance of a Greek identity card and/or a Greek passport.
After the registration with a Greek
Municipality and the issuance of a Greek passport, the person obtains
officially the Greek citizenship and all the rights of a Greek citizen. That
means that the person has all the rights of a citizen of the European Union and
he/she can enter, reside and work in all the countries of the European Union.
The procedure for the recognition of
Greek nationality includes many different stages and may require different
documentation and actions depending on the specific case's particulars. For the
prompt and successful completion of the case, a thorough knowledge of the
required procedure as well as a frequent communication and follow up with the
competent Greek Authorities is required.
All the above procedures for the
recognition of the Greek citizenship and the issuance of a Greek passport, can
be accomplished through a limited Power of Attorney to specialised Greek
lawyers,
January 2020
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