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Anastasia Balezdrova

After the changes in the legislation on legal immigrants, the Greek government is preparing to amend the legal framework for the acquisition of Greek citizenship. As announced by secretary of population and social cohesion, Angelos Sirigos, during a press conference earlier this week, it is expected that the code of Greek citizenship will be updated early next year.

The government’s intentions to introduce stricter requirements for the acquisition of Greek citizenship became apparent in November 2012 when, by decision of the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, all procedures for granting citizenship had been suspended. This February the Supreme Court annulled the law under which children of immigrants could acquire citizenship and participate in the political life of Greece.

According to the Ministry, "the number of applications submitted from the enforcement of the law in 2010 up until 31 December 2012 was 39,722 and a total of 13,425 applicants, the majority of whom were citizens of Albania, had been able to become citizens of Greece."

In particular, from 24 March 2010 to 22 August 2012, the total number of approved applications for Greek citizenship by birth was 4,595, 3,501 of which had been filed by Albanians.

The number of those who acquired citizenship as students was 5,550, 4,740 of them being of Albanian origin.

In addition, the number of pending applications for acquisition of citizenship by birth was 6,033, 4,574 of which had been filed by people of Albanian origin. Accordingly, the number of pending applications for acquisition of citizenship by students was 8,909. In 7,398 cases, the applicants were again Albanian citizens.

The code of Greek citizenship was enacted and promulgated in 2004. In 2010 Article 1A was added to it to introduce the provisions of law 3838, which had already been annulled.

Thus, under the current conditions for the acquisition of Greek citizenship, foreign citizens should:

- have attained majority

- have lived in Greece for 10 years during the 12 years prior to applying for naturalization. For foreign citizens who have been formally recognized as refugees the term is 5 years during the last 12 before filing an application. The period of 10 years does not apply to spouses of Greek citizens who have been living in Greece for at least three years and who have had a child, and to those applicants, who were born and live permanently in Greece

-  not have been convicted of various crimes described in the Criminal Code

-  be fluent in Greek, know Greek history and Greek culture

In late February, Deputy Minister of the Interior at the time and Minister of Justice at present Charalambos Athanasiou submitted to parliament a bill which aims to introduce stricter terms and conditions for the acquisition of Greek citizenship. According to Sirigos the new code will include its regulations as well.

The provisions of the bill:

- cancel the eligibility of legal immigrants in local elections

- oblige the foreign citizen who has acquired Greek citizenship to give up his present citizenship within one year. The same applies to his or her children, who are entitled to acquire Greek citizenship when they come of age. Then they will have to decide which of the two citizenships they want to keep

- provide for a 10-year period of mandatory residence in Greece instead of the 7 years determined in the annulled law 3838

- stipulate that a foreign citizen who has been adopted by Greeks before he or she has come of age does not become a Greek citizen at the time of adoption, as provided by the code at present, but after the issuance of a final judgment on the act.

The draft also stipulates that a foreign citizen, who has been convicted of illegal entry into Greece, has no right to apply for Greek citizenship. The naturalization will not be valid if the foreign citizen had been convicted for actions committed before the promulgation of the decision.

The text states that the changes will not affect those who have acquired Greek citizenship under the law annulled. It is expected that pending applications will be considered after the enforcement of the new code.