ΕλληνικάDevelopments on Residence Permits
On January the 13th, Generation 2.0 for Rights Equality and Diversity visited the Directorate of Immigration in Athens, and was updated on the developments regarding the residence permits.
New residence permits with biometric data
From the 23rd of February, new residence permits are going to be issued.
The new residence permits require biometric data, meaning fingerprints and a passport photo (a colored, digital photograph 4×6 cm. with specific technical requirements) for every applicant over 5 years old (including children). This regards all residence permits, whether they are issued for the first time or not.
What does this mean for the applicants?
There is going to be an extra fee of 16 € for every permit. This fee can be acquired electronically, like any other, but it would be better to acquire it 2 or 3 days before the submission of the documents.
This means that even if a person has submitted an application before the 23rd of February, he could be called to visit the respective Directorate of Immigration to make an appointment for submitting the fingerprints, the passport photo and the requested fee.
Also, if the documents are submitted by a lawyer, a specific appointment is going to be given in order to collect the fingerprints.
Attention! In both cases, if the applicants do not show up for their appointment, they lose their residence permit, even if they meet the formal requirements!
The submission procedure, as well as the issuing period, are bound to take some time, at least for the starting period of the whole process.
Applicants should be very careful completing the application forms, making sure all data are written correctly. If there is any mistake, the permit must be reissued, which means paying again the 16 € fee.
Documents submission for exceptional reasons at the Directorate of Immigration and the Decentralized Services
From the 3rd of April 2017, the documents for residence permit for exceptional reasons (7 years), which -until recently- were submitted at the Ministry of Interior (nowadays Ministry of Migration Policy), will now be submitted to the respective Directorate of Immigration and Decentralized Services.
All those who have already submitted their documents for this residence permit, they have the ability, if they wish, to submit a resignation request at the Directorate of Immigration and submit the documents from the beginning in the Directorate, without submitting any extra fee (apart from the 16 € mentioned above). Otherwise, their application will be examined normally, by the Ministry of Migration Policy.
Attention! This change does not entail taking the blue certificate!
Note: This means that the Directorates of Immigration and the Directorates of Citizenship will be closed from 15 to 22 of February, due to adjusting to the new information system.
