The renewal of the residence permit requires different documents, including: In all cases:
- A filled-in application
- Four recent colour photos (passport type, printed as well as in Compartible Disc form);
- A true copy of a valid passport or travel documents recognised by
- A certified copy of the previous residence permit, only in cases where the permit is not attached to the passport that is submitted
- Certification by an insurance agency for the cost of hospitalisation and medical To certify that this condition is fulfilled, the following are accepted:
- Insurance contracts which have been signed outside Greece, provided that they explicitly mention that they cover the interested party for the duration of their stay in
- Insurance contracts which have been signed in
Additionally, and depending on the case, the following documents are required to renew a residence permit, provided that real estate property with a value of €250.000 has been purchased:
- Renewal of residence permits for third country citizens who own and posses, either wholly or jointly, property in Greece
- the property remains under the possession and ownership of the interested party,
- or the lease in question is still in
- Renewal of residence permits for third country citizens who own property in Greece through a legal entity, where the applicant owns 100% of the shares
- the property remains under the possession and ownership of the interested party, or
- the lease in question is still in
- Renewal of residence permits for third country citizens who have a lease – for a minimum of 10 years – for hotel accommodations or furnished tourist residences in integrated tourist resorts
- the property remains under the possession and ownership of the interested party, or
- the lease in question is still in 16
- Renewal of residence permits for family members, according to article 20, case B, paragraph 4 of Law 4251/2014, of the third country citizen
- Certification by an insurance agency for the cost of hospitalisation and medical care
- Declaration by the sponsor that the family circumstances have not changed
- Copy of the birth certificate for a child born in Greece
Under immigration legislation, applications for the renewal of residence permits of all categories must be filed at least two months before the expiry of their active residence permit. Late submission of the renewal application is possible, up to one month from the expiry of the active license, provided that a fine of 100 euro has been paid.
During the residence permit renewal, the applicant must provide again his biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints), through the procedure described above, ie if the request is not filed in person, the person concerned and their family members are invited to attend and complete the procedure at a set date, following consultation with their attorney.
Replacement of Residence Permits
Third country nationals who have already been provided with a residence permit in the form of a sticker affixed on their passport, do not need to replace it with the electronic residence permit, as this will be acceptable for all transactions both within Greece and in other member-countries of the EU until its expiry. Its replacement with an electronic residence permit will be carried out either at its renewal or if nec- essary at the re-issue which can take place due to loss of the passport on which it is affixed.
Indication of the place of birth (town) of the applicant
Recording of the place of birth as a mandatory field during filing the residence permit application. If the birth place is not mentioned on the passport, the applicant must submit an official public document of his country of birth or origin, officially trans- lated and legally authenticated, on which the birthplace will be clearly stated. On the translation of the said document, it is essential that the place name is also written in Latin characters, even if the language of the country of origin does not use the Latin alphabet.
Language requirement for the documentation
Translation Authorities.
The documents that are required for the application for a residence permit must be submitted in Greek, except for the documents issued by foreign authorities, which need to be certified. There are two types of certification:
- The Apostille stamp for countries that are parties to the Hague Convention
- Certification by the Consular
The Apostille stamp: For countries that are parties to the Hague Convention, and for which Greece has not issued a warning, the Public Administration accepts the Apostille stamp which is provided by the relevant foreign authority on the foreign document.
Certification by the Consular: For any countries that are not parties to the Hague Convention, a certification by the Greek consular in the country of origin of the document is required.
The translation of foreign public documents can be done:
- By the Translation Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or
- A lawyer, who must be a member of a Greek bar association, with a certification of their signature by the Bar
Cost associated with the application process for the residence permit for owners of real estate.
Interested parties are subject to the fee for the issuance of a five year residence permit amounting to €2000.
At the time of application for the residence permit a fee is paid, which covers the cost of supply, printing and secure handling of the electronic residence permit, set at 16 euro per card. This fee is independent from the respective Application fee, even if the applicant is exempt from paying the fee (eg minors), and collected in the form of electronic fee (e-paravolo). The obligation to pay the fee applies to all third country citizens, whose applications for residence permits are successful and eventually lead to their issue, including children under 6 years old, although fingerprinting is not required.
