Working visa

As a non-EU citizen, you need to either find someone to give you a proper contract and apply for your work visa before entering Greece (rare, in fact I know only one person in 10 years who did this) or come here under your tourist visa, apply for jobs, interview and all of the normal things you do to find a job in your homeland and ask this employer to sponsor your resident/work permit (same document).

Greece classifies its citizens into Greek ciitizens, EU citizens and non-EU citizens (not by nationality), with non-EUs at the bottom, since employers must prove that there are no Greek or EU citizens to fill the position.

Before you can be offered proper work, you must have an AFM (tax number). If you are able to find work and are offered a proper contract, you take this contract and a number of other documents to the local munipality and apply for a work permit.

It is very difficult as a non-EU citizen to accomplish this. Not impossible, but extremely difficult. I cannot go into everything because it would take hours for me to write things out. Better to visit a website offering you this information and go from there.

Looking for jobs? Same as looking for jobs in other countries, except that Greece operates very much on connections and influence, not university education, skill or experience. The unemployment rate hovers near 25 percent, though media tends to list it as under 10 percent. Of the lucky few who are employed, 43.6 percent of people under 30 earn only 600 euros a month. One in five people live in poverty.

If you are a non-EU citizen, the easiest way to come to Greece legally is by claiming citizenship through a Greek ancestor if you have one, or through marriage to an EU citizen. I realize it isn't realistic for everyone, but immigration laws of April 2007 are even more strict than before.

For the record, I know these things because I'm an American citizen living and working in Greece for 10 years, not married to an EU citizen. Doing this took sacrifice, blood, patience and a iron clad will to survive. It's not for everyone. In fact, I'm the only person I know who's done it without being married to a Greek and not being Greek myself.

CaliforniaKat 19 Jun 2007, 07:17 - Report