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Summary:
Greece’s immigrant population, including aliens and co-ethnic returnees such as Pontic Greeks and ethnic Greek Albanians, reaches just over one million people. This represents about 9% of the total resident population, a strikingly high percentage for a country that until only twenty
years ago was a migration sender rather than host.
Immigration policy in Greece was quick to develop in terms of putting into practice stricter border controls and other enforcement measures. However, there has been a significant time lag in designing and implementing a more comprehensive policy framework that includes the regularisation of undocumented aliens, and that aims toward the integration of this population across all sectors and areas of the host country.
Approximately three quarters of the immigrant population currently has legal status (workand stay permits). It is interesting to note that most immigrants have entered Greece illegally and have survived in the country ‘without papers’ for (frequently consecutive) periods ranging from a few months to several years. The prolonged undocumented status of many migrants, and the policy vacuum that lasted for over a decade has not facilitated active civic participation on the part of immigrants in Greek public life. Recently adopted immigration legislation has been criticised for continuing to ignore the majority of the country’s illegal migrant population and effectively hinders approximately 70% of immigrants from obtaining residence permits.
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