Author
Conditions for citizenship
The Citizenship Code[1] has been subject to numerous amendments over the years.[2] Prior to the amendment of March 2020,[3] refugees could apply for citizenship under condition that they inter alia reside lawfully in Greece for a period of three years. The amended legislation has increased this period to seven years,[4] similarly to the time period required for foreigners residing in Greece on other grounds under migration law, despite the legal obligation under article 34 of the Geneva Convention 1951 to ‘facilitate the assimilation and naturalisation of refugees’ and ‘in particular make every effort to expedite naturalisation proceedings’. The aforementioned amendment does not apply to refugees who had already submitted an application for naturalisation that was still pending by the time L. 4674/2020 entered into force.[5]
More precisely, according to the Citizenship Code,[6] citizenship may be granted to a foreigner who:
- Has reached the age of majority by the time of the submission of the declaration of naturalisation;
- Has not been irrevocably convicted of crime/crimes exhaustively listed in the Citizenship Code, committed intentionally in the last 10 years, with a sentence of at least one year or at least six months regardless of the time of the issuance of the conviction decision. Conviction for illegal entry in the country does not obstruct the naturalisation procedure.
- Has no pending deportation procedure or any other issues with regard to his or her status of residence;
- Has lawfully resided in Greece for seven continuous years before the submission of the application;
- Holds one of the categories of residence permits foreseen in the Citizenship Code, inter alia long-term residence permit, residence permit granted to recognised refugees or subsidiary protection beneficiaries, or second-generation residence permit
Applicants should also:[7]
- have sufficient knowledge of the Greek language;
- adequately know the Greek history and geography, the Greek culture and the habits of the Greek people, as well as the functioning of the institutions of the Constitution of the country.
- be normally integrated in the economic and social life of the country. According to the Citizenship Code, supporting documents proving the economic independence of the applicant must be submitted in the application.[8] Additionally, the above-mentioned law provides that the applicant is not examined through an interview regarding his/her financial independence, yet the examiner of each case is responsible for issuing the decision taking under consideration only the provided documents.[9] It is worth mentioning that according to Ministerial decision No 29845/16-4-2021, applicants for and beneficiaries of international protection, who have submitted their application before 31-3-2021 are required to submit documents proving their economic independence and social life for the last five years before their application.[10]
Law 4735/2020 introduced a substantial reform in the naturalisation procedure for third country nationals by providing for the Certificate of Adequacy of Knowledge for Naturalisation (Πιστοποιητικό Επάρκειας Γνώσεων για Πολιτογράφηση (ΠΕΓΠ),[11] as a prerequisite for applying for naturalisation. The examination procedure is written, as, according to the General Secretary of Citizenship of the Ministry of Interior ‘the written test was introduced in order to apply objective evaluation criteria ensuring reliability and transparency, to safeguard the integrity of the process of acquiring Greek citizenship and to harmonize this practice with the practices of other countries at European and international level’.[12] The exams take place twice per year, in May and in November.[13] A pool of questions for the acquisition of the Certificate of Adequacy of Knowledge for Naturalisation and information on the respective exams were posted on the webpage of the Ministry of Interior.[14] As regards the applicants who are over 62 years old, those who are unable to take a written test due to learning difficulties, and those with a disability certificate of more than 67% (i.e., 68% or more), the Adequacy of Knowledge for Naturalisation examinations can be oral.[15] On February 2022, a circular was issued providing more details on the procedure of the exams.[16] According to the statistics of the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Interior provided on 8 December 2023, in March 2023, 54,13% of the applicants succeeded in the exams and in November 2023, the percentage of the successful applicants was 40,83%.[17]
Naturalisation procedure
Beneficiaries of international protection who are going to apply for naturalisation must first take exams and get the Certificate of Knowledge Adequacy for Naturalisation. Exempted from this obligation are those who have studied for a given number of years in Greek primary school, elementary school, high school or Greek universities, who can submit a direct application for naturalisation, when completing the required number of previous years of legal residence.[18] In particular, according to the Ministry of Interior,[19] this applies to: “(a) those who have successfully completed either nine classes of primary and secondary education or six classes of secondary education (b) those who attend a Greek university and have obtained a bachelor’s or master’s degree or a doctorate, are exempted from the obligation to obtain the Certificate of Adequacy of Knowledge for Naturalisation (Πιστοποιητικό Επάρκειας Γνώσεων για Πολιτογράφηση (ΠΕΓΠ)”.
Those who have passed the exams and have obtained the Certificate of Knowledge Adequacy for Naturalisation are able to submit an application for naturalisation to the competent Citizenship Directorate of their place of residence, provided they have completed the required years of previous lawful residence in the country (i.e., 7 years).[20]
A fee of EUR 100 is required for the submission of a naturalisation application for refugees. In case of beneficiaries of subsidiary protection, the fee is EUR 550.[21] A EUR 200 fee is required for a re-examination of the case.[22] For the participation in the exams for the acquisition of the Certificate of Knowledge Adequacy for Naturalisation, an additional fee of EUR 150 is required. For those who already had a pending application before the change of the law and the provision of the written test, the first participation in the examinations does not require a fee.[23]
GCR noticed that, in 2023, the competent Directorates of Citizenship of the Prefectures accepted applications for naturalisation and additional documents mainly by post. Afterwards, the protocol numbers were sent to the beneficiaries of international protection via email up to 15 days and only upon written request by the beneficiaries.
In case of a negative decision, the applicant may file an application for annulment before the competent Administrative Court of Appeal.[24]
In case of a positive recommendation, the Minister of Interior issues a decision granting the applicant Greek citizenship, which is, subsequently, published in the Government Gazette.[25]
Greek citizenship is acquired following the oath of the person, within a year from the publication of the decision.[26] Persons with disabilities can take the oath in their house or via teleconference.[27] If the oath is not taken during this period, the decision is revoked.[28]
The procedure remains extremely slow. As noted by the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, ‘[t]he naturalisation procedure is reportedly very lengthy, lasting in average 1,494 days due to a considerable backlog pending since 2010’.[29] In January 2020, the issue of delays in the naturalisation procedure has been brought up before the Parliament through a parliamentary question submitted by the main opposition party.[30]
According to the official statistics of the Ministry of Interior, during 2022, 3,150 third-country nationals were granted citizenship by naturalisation.[31] It is noted that this number is not limited to beneficiaries of international protection, since it includes all third-country nationals. Furthermore, 1,726 applications for citizenship by naturalisation were rejected, while 28 citizenships were revoked. The Ministry of Interior did not provide data for the year 2023, nor did it reply to GCR’s request regarding data for naturalisation.[32]
[1] L. 3284/2004, Gov. Gazette A’ 217/10-11-2004.
[2] See inter alia L. 4604/2019,Gov. Gazette A 50/26-03-2019), L. 4674/2020,Gov. Gazette A 53/11-03-2020), L. 4735/2020, Gov. Gazette Α’ 197/12.10.2020).
[3] L. 4674/2020.
[4] Article 5(1)(d) Code of Citizenship, as amended by L. 4674/2020.
[5] Ministry of Interior, Circular No 151/2020, 25 May 2020, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3sDV5pG, p. 8.
[6] Article 5(1) Citizenship Code.
[7] Article 5A (1) Citizenship Code.
[8] Article 37 L. 4873/2021.
[9] Article 38 L.4873/2021.
[10] Ministerial Decision 29845/16.4.2021 Gov. Gazette B 1652/22.4.2021.
[11] Ministry of Interior, General Secretariat of Citizenship, available at: https://bit.ly/3s9ln31.
[12] Ministry of Interior, General Secretariat of Citizenship, available at: https://bit.ly/4dfyhVJ.
[13] In 2024, the exams will take place on 14 April 2024, Ministry of Interior, General Secretariat of Citizenship, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/44jqcvt.
[14] Ministry of Interior, General Secretariat of Citizenship, available at: https://bit.ly/3WgrMfB.
[15] Ministry of Interior, General Secretariat of Citizenship, available at: https://bit.ly/3WcAkUJ.
[16] Ministry of Interior, Circular No 81/04.02/2022, Prot.No: Φ 130181/6929, 4 February 2022, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3wMsSmz.
[17] Ministry of Interior, General Secretariat of Citizenship, Examination Statistics for the Certificate of Adequacy of Knowledge for Naturalisation, 08 December 2023, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/4aT2VCL.
[18] Generation 2.0 For Rights Equality and Diversity, New naturalization process: what is it about?, 30.03.2022, available at: https://bit.ly/44gUsa4.
[19] Ministry of Interior, General Secretariat of Citizenship, General Directorate of Citizenship, prot. no. Φ1200000/3316 / 07.05.2021, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3zhfg5L.
[20] Ibid.
[21] Article 6(3)(g) Citizenship Code.
[22] Ibid.
[23] Article 2(c) Ministerial Decision 28881/13.04.2021, Gov. Gazette B’ 1535/15.04.2021.
[24] I. Kamtsidou, Associate Professor of Constitutional Law, Advisory note on the rejection of an application for naturalisation on the basis of income criteria, available in Greek at: https://tinyurl.com/c9xemmmw.
[25] Article 8 Citizenship Code in conjunction with the Ministerial Decision 34226/06.05.2019, Gov. Gazette Β΄ 1603/10.05.2019.
[26] Article 9(1) Citizenship Code.
[27] Article 9(5) Citizenship Code.
[28] Article 9(1) Citizenship Code.
[29] Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Report of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe Dunja Mijatović following her visit to Greece from 25 to 29 June 2018, CommDH(2018)24, 6 November 2018, available at: https://bit.ly/2Opvm05, para 74.
[30] Parliamentary Question, Delays in the naturalization procedure for adults and second-generation children’, 7 January 2020, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/2wGB6Q9.
[31] General Secretariat for Citizenship, Central Citizenship Directorate, Statistics and IIS management Department, Acquisitions of Greek Citizenship by category and Regional Citizenship Directorates in 2019, posted in 19/11/200, available at https://bit.ly/3tEXNNd.
[32] Ministry of Interior, General Secretariat of Citizenship, Observations on the Statistics of the year 2022, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3y3uM4D.