You can use this article to learn more about the Residence Permit in Greece, including:

• How can you apply for a Residence Permit

• What documents will you need
• Information about Residence Permit card

Residence Permit card

A Residence Permit is valid:

• For three years if you are granted refugee status.
• For one year if you are granted subsidiary protection.

The duration of the residence permit is indicated in the decision to issue ADET. 

Your Residence Permit does not give you the right to Travel outside of Greece.  However, as a beneficiary of refugee status, you may obtain a travel document that will allow you to visit other EU countries for a time duration of up to ninety (90) days within a 6-month period. If you are a beneficiary of subsidiary protection, you may travel with your national passport, and if you can prove that you cannot get a passport from your country of origin, you can also apply for a Travel document.

With a Residence Permit, you have the right to:

• Apply for renewal when your card expires. To renew your residence permit, you must apply by e-mail no later than thirty (30) calendar days before its expiry date.
• Move freely throughout Greece.
• Get health care.
• Send your children to Greek public schools.
• Have access to public education at all levels Work.
• Get a Greek social security number. To change your PAAYPA to AMKA, you must apply to the competent AMKA service (e-EFKA office or KEP) within one month of receiving your residence permit.
• If you are granted refugee status, you may apply for family reunification with close family members.
• After seven years since the reception of the residence permit, you have the right to apply for Greek citizenship.
• If you meet the criteria set by the law, after five years, you may be eligible for long-term resident status.

How you can apply for a Residence Permit for the first time - the procedure

You can apply for a Residence Permit when granted refugee status or subsidiary protection in Greece. You can apply right away. The procedure for issuing a residence permit (for a recognized refugee or beneficiary of subsidiary protection) is as follows:

As soon as you are recognized with the status of a refugee or beneficiary of a subsidiary, you will receive the decision to issue an ADET (residence permit). As a rule, the decision to issue an ADET will be given to you simultaneously with your international protection decision. If that does not happen, you should regularly ask the Regional Asylum Office responsible for your case.

If you have been transferred to another area, and the Regional Asylum Office close to you is other than the one that issued the recognition decision. In that case, you should book an appointment via the webpage of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum at the nearest Regional Asylum Office to the place of your residence.

Once you receive the decision to issue a residence permit from the Regional Asylum Office, you must make an appointment with the competent police department. Here you can find the list of the Police Directorates/Passport Offices and their contact details.  

During your appointment, you will give the following:

• your fingerprints
• one passport photo
• a solemn declaration stating your current address
• the above decision to issue a residence permit
• a photocopy of the asylum card

You must have your (valid at the time of the appointment) international protection applicant’s card with you and demonstrate it to the Police. It might also be useful to have your appointment with the Police printed in case you live in Attica.

Once you submit your application, you will get a receipt. You should keep it because you will need it when you go to collect your residence permit from the Regional Asylum Offices or Asylum Units.

Then you will have to wait 3-4 months for the residence permit to be issued, which you will receive from the Regional Asylum Office responsible for your case. You will not be notified individually once your residence permit is ready. You need to check the list of case numbers that are ready for delivery online at the asylum service site. The announcement that contains your case number will specify the exact time, date, and location where you have to pick up your document.  

To collect your residence permit, you need to go in person. You cannot send another person.

The duration of the residence permit is indicated in the decision to issue ADET.

Find out how to renew your residence permit here.

Family members

Your close family members, regardless of their individual international protection status, have the right to obtain a residence permit with the same rights as yours. This ensures their security and inclusion in the process.

Close family members, according to Greek law, are:

• under-aged children
• adult unmarried children who suffer from severe physical or mental problems,
• spouse or long-term partner with whom you are in a stable relationship,
• parents of a minor applicant

If a family relationship has been formed in Greece, your family members can apply to the competent Asylum Office to obtain a residence permit.

 

If the family relationship has been formed in your country of origin, your family members will need to apply for asylum first, and only if their asylum application is rejected will they be able to apply for a residence permit of equal duration as yours.

Along with the application, the applicant will need to bring:

• A copy of the residence permit of the family member that has been granted protection,
• The asylum decision in case they have already applied for asylum and the application has been rejected and
• Documents that prove the family relationship (such as a birth certificate, marriage certificate, or civil partnership certificate) and a registration certificate are required. If any of these documents were issued outside of Greece (e.g., if your child was born in another country or you got married or registered a civil partnership abroad), they must be officially certified or stamped (by a lawyer or with an Apostille stamp, depending on the case) and officially translated.

 

Withdrawal of international protection

In some cases, prescribed by the law, your status might be revoked or not renewed. Please check the relevant article here and make sure always to update your contact information even after you have received the residence permit so that you will notified on time if the authorities consider withdrawing your status.