The Details of the Procedure of the Exams for the Certificate of Knowledge Adequacy for Naturalization (P.E.G.P.)

The publication of the Ministry of Interior on the Government Gazette, published on 15/04/2021, sets out all the details of the examination procedure for the Certificate of Knowledge Adequacy for Naturalization (P.E.G.P.) which replaces the oral interview procedure that has been in force until now. For those who have decided to take the exams this year, they should be aware of the following in relation to the examination process and their arrival at the examination centres:

• The Examination Centres and the Time of the Exams

For the year 2021, the exams will take place on 16 May 2021 and 7 November 2021. The examination centres will be located in Athens – Piraeus, Thessaloniki, Heraklion Crete, Komotini, Ioannina, Larissa, Patras and Tripoli. An examination centre in the above cities, except Athens and Thessaloniki, will be created only in the case when 20 contestants or more will attend, unless there are special reasons, and then the Secretary General of Citizenship will have to decide for it. If there is no attendance of 20 people, then the contestants will be examined at the examination centre they have chosen as the 2nd option. Schools that will serve as examination centres are expected to be announced in the coming period.

•  The Procedure of Exams and the Evaluation

The questions of the topics, except the Greek language, will be a total of 20, each topic is scored with 2 points and the total maximum score for all the topics is equivalent to 40:

•       4 Geography questions
•       4 Culture questions
•       6 History questions
•       6 questions of Political Institutions

Regarding the examination of the Greek language, in the section “Comprehension and Production of Written Word”, candidates must answer 20 questions and compose a short text. This exam is evaluated with 30 points.

In the section “Comprehension of Spoken Word” candidates must answer 10 questions and each correct answer gives one and a half (1.5) point (total fifteen 15 points)

In the section “Production of Spoken Word” the contestants are examined in three different communication activities and the excellent answers give fifteen (15) points. The total maximum score that can be achieved when examining the Greek language, is equivalent to 60 points.

•  Attendance and Verification of The Candidates’ ID

The candidates must proceed to the Examination Centres at 7 a.m. At the entrance of each examination centre, an identification check will be carried out by officials of the Ministry of the Interior and officials of the Hellenic Police. The positions of the candidates in the examination centre rooms are already defined and each candidate takes the specific position defined on the basis of the unique number of the candidate (MAE), which he acquires by finalizing his application to participate in the examinations. We have mentioned the participation in the exams, in a previous publication. 

• The Order and The Way of Examination

Candidates are examined first in the Greek language on the comprehension and production of written word. The duration of the examination is ninety (90) minutes.

At the end of the examination, the contestants have a break of fifteen (15) minutes, where they remain in places designated by the relevant Examination Centre Committee.

This is followed by an examination on the topics of history, political institutions, geography and culture, which lasts ninety (90) minutes. After the end, there is also a break of fifteen (15) minutes.

The examination of the Greek language is then carried out in the comprehension of spoken word, lasting fifteen (15) minutes.

Then the candidates, under the care of the supervisors, come in pairs to the two assessors for the examination of the Greek language in the production of spoken word, lasting fifteen (15) minutes. 

• The Examination for The Special Categories of Candidates

People over 62 years of age, people diagnosed with learning difficulties (autism, dyslexia, dysgraphia, etc.) and people suffering from upper limb spasticity are examined orally in Special Examination Centres. These candidates are examined in the same subjects, in the same programme and the same duration of examination as those examined in the general category, except in the case of the ability to understand and produce spoken word.

Persons with a physical disability of more than 67% are examined in a specific curriculum specified by the Scientific Committee and that curriculum may not be less than one fifth (1/5) of the topics that constitutes the Database. Their oral examination in the Greek language concerns only the understanding and production of written word. They are also examined orally in a total of ten questions in the four topics: 3 questions of history, 3 questions of political institutions, 2 questions of geography and 2 questions of culture. The preparation time for each subject is from forty-five (45) to one hundred and ten (110) minutes.

In particular, for persons with a physical disability of more than 67% belonging to the category of deaf or mute-deaf, the oral examination will be carried out in the presence of a sign language interpreter.

For the 2021 examination procedures (16 May and 7 November) the Special Examination Centres will only operate in Athens and Thessaloniki. 

The candidate is considered to have succeeded in the exams when he or she obtains seventy per cent (70 percent) the maximum overall score possible, both in the examination of the language and in the examination of the other 4 topics provided that he/she has achieved 66.66% (40/60) of the score, and in the other topics 50% (20/40) of the score.