Greece grants social security cover to asylum seekers

Greece’s Ministries of Migration & Asylum, Education & Religion, Health, State and Labor & Social Affairs on Monday announced they would grant a provisional social security number to all migrants who have applied for asylum in Greece, providing medical coverage and a right to work while they wait for a decision.

The ministries made it clear that the rejection of an asylum application results in the automatic deactivation of PAAYPA, whereas if international protection is granted, the temporary number will turn into an AMKA number which is the permanent social security number.

The Provisional Insurance and Health Care Number (PAAYPA) is issued by the Asylum Service upon a migrant’s completion of the application and ensures the asylum seekers’ access to health care and the labour market for six months after their application.

According to the migration ministry, the new temporary social insurance number “does not carry AMKA’s structural weaknesses (permanence, inability to deactivate), while it makes it possible to administratively identify health care costs and seeks to allocate the relevant EU funds in a documented way.”

A.C.