No Citizenship at Birth

Via the Athens News

The government last week clarified its position on granting Greek citizenship to the Greece-born children of immigrants after a gaffe by the Greek prime minister.

There had been confusion created by Prime Minister George Papandreou earlier this month when he announced plans to grant citizenship at birth. However, ministry officials later contradicted him.

As reported by the Athens News earlier this month, ruling Pasok is now hammering out legislative amendments aimed at opening the door to Greek citizenship for immigrant children who have been raised and schooled in Greece for a certain number of years – just how many years has yet to be announced. However, what is clear is that citizenship will not be granted at birth as Papandreou had mistakenly indicated.

Under existing legislation, immigrant children must wait until they turn 18 to seek naturalisation – a lengthy and costly process.

New citizenship rules will affect at least 130,000 immigrant children, currently the number enrolled in public schools across the country, according to data compiled by the education ministry last year.
Greece is the only European Union country that does not have special citizenship rules for the children of immigrants.

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