BASIC STAGES OF THE PROCESS
Most Greek Expatriates maintain strong and lasting ties with Greece, being an integral part of it, never failing to revive customs and traditions through organised communities and keeping their love for our homeland strong.
One of the practical issues that concern Greek Expatriates is that of obtaining Greek Citizenship and its ensuing benefits, such as a Greek Passport and free movement within the Schengen area.
In any case, we should underline that second or third-generation Greeks born abroad may speak the Greek language but do not obtain Greek citizenship by birth.
In their efforts to obtain the Greek citizenship and to search for their roots, many Greek Expatriates often come face to face with the rigidity of the bureaucracy of the Greek State and the complexity of the procedures they had to follow, and many give up.
In recent years, however, following the digitisation of public services and the general reform of the services involved in the collection of the required documents, the interest of expatriates to acquire Greek citizenship has increased, with data showing that actual naturalisations have more than doubled.
Based on our experience in legal matters of Greek expatriates, including that of acquiring Greek citizenship, we can be the link between every Greek expatriate and the Greek State, assisting them in the collection of the necessary documents and guiding them step by step through the naturalisation process, with the aim to complete it successfully.
In this presentation, we will try to describe in a concise and clear way the steps of naturalisation, based on the provisions of Law 3284/2004, clarifying that the acquisition of Greek Citizenship may seem quite complicated, however, by finding a reliable and trustworthy partner – legal advisor, the legal issues that may arise can be overcome.
The scope of Article 10 of Law 3284/2004 covers foreign expatriates, residents of foreign countries, who wish to acquire Greek citizenship through the naturalization procedure.
The most important and most crucial stage of the whole procedure is the proper collection, legal study and submission of the documents required to substantiate and prove the Greek origin.
The collection of these documents requires in practice the assistance of an experienced lawyer as very often the records of the Municipalities have now become pulp, making it impossible to find the relevant certificates; in some cases they can be verified from other sources through cross-checking data from other Public Services’ records.
For example, we always start by finding the last ancestor born anywhere in Greece with a traceable birth certificate. If the ancestor is the father or mother, the process is much simpler.
If, however, the ancestor is a grandfather or great-grandfather then the search may extend to Male Registers of the late 1800s.
STEPS OF A REQUEST FOR NATURALISATION
- Submission of a naturalisation statement (can be done by a lawyer by proxy)
- Submission and filing of the application for naturalisation (can be done by a lawyer with power of attorney)
- Check of the file
- Conducting an interview before the Consul (if applicable)
- Sending the file to the Central Directorate of Citizenship of the Ministry of Interior
- Receipt and check of the file
- Search for additional supporting documents
- Ex officio search for reasons of public order or national security
- Preparation of a draft decision
- Signature of the decision to accept the application
- Preparation of a draft summary
- Sending the summary for publication to the National Printing House
- Notification of naturalisation
- Invitation of the naturalised expatriate to take the oath
- Announcement of acquisition of Greek citizenship
ANNA A. KORAKI & ASSOCIATES Law Firm with its experienced and specialized Network of Associates throughout the country, has been successfully representing Greek expatriates in Greece for more than 20 years, ensuring the fastest and most successful outcome of their cas-es, whether it is the purchase of real estate or investments in Greece or the acquisition of Greek citizenship.
