ΕλληνικάPICUM members meeting at Generation 2.0 RED
On the 9th and 10th of October, G2RED participated in the bi-annual meeting of PICUM’s (Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented migrants) Taskforce on Regularisations hosted in Athens. The Taskforce is PICUM’s main body where members discuss regularisation: national and EU legislative and policy changes, upcoming or past advocacy campaigns, barriers undocumented people or professionals experience when regularizing people, monitoring and evaluating regularization measures, etc.
The meeting’s purpose was to:
- Provide a space for PICUM members to share experiences and discuss legislative or policy changes affecting undocumented people’s ability to regularize
- Get updated on EU policies that impact regularization and access to a secure residence permit
- Get better acquainted with the Greek context and its legal and policy framework impacting regularization and access to a secure residence status
- Learn from taskforce members’ work and workshop challenges together
- Discuss possible PICUM’s and taskforce objectives on regularisation and access to a secure residence status for 2026 to 2029.
To this end, G2RED facilitated a dedicated session providing an overview of regularisation programs that were implemented in Greece from 1998 until today, the impact of fragmented regularisation policies as well as the bureaucratic inefficiencies and integration challenges that migrants face in the effort to regularise their legal status.
The session also focused on the current regularisation program that is being implemented since February 2024 under Law 5078/23, Article 193 in the country. While it was highlighted that this provision – the right to residence permit for someone who has been residing in Greece for over 3 consecutive years and has a job offer – is of historic importance for the country’s migration policy as a broad legalisation effort of undocumented migrants, there were also underlined the challenges that remain in the Greek migration system in terms of accessing and maintaining a stable residence status.
