Greece has submitted a new bill to Parliament aimed at overhauling the country’s legal migration framework, introducing wide-ranging reforms on residence permits, employment, and international cooperation. The Ministry of Migration and Asylum will present the draft law, titled “Promotion of Legal Migration Policies”, to parliamentary committees next week.
Migration and Asylum Minister Thanos Plevris said the bill seeks to eliminate long-standing delays and bureaucratic obstacles that have burdened workers and businesses. Speaking to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA), Plevris stressed that Greece remains firm against illegal migration while reshaping legal pathways to address labour shortages in sectors such as agriculture, construction, and tourism.
The ministry said the legislation establishes a coherent and comprehensive migration policy that strictly targets illegality while allowing legal mobility aligned with the real needs of the economy and society.
The bill intervenes at every stage of the residence permit process by reducing bureaucracy and accelerating services for legally residing third-country nationals. It introduces automatic renewals for “low-risk” permit categories, including dependent employment, subject only to public order and security concerns, and sets a minimum two-year validity period for all residence permits.
The framework also strengthens labour recruitment procedures from third countries by simplifying steps, allowing greater flexibility in changing employers, setting a minimum age requirement, and recognising temporary employment agencies as potential employers. It establishes fast-track procedures for workers involved in major public works and strategic investments.
On international cooperation, the bill promotes bilateral agreements with countries of origin, focusing on cooperation for the return of irregular migrants and combating illegal migration networks.
The legislation also aims to attract highly skilled workers by introducing new national visa categories, including Tech Visa and Talent Visa, regulating visiting professors, accelerating consular procedures in selected cases, and extending residence permits for highly skilled workers through the EU Blue Card.
Student residence permits will remain valid for the full duration of studies, granting the right to part-time employment and allowing graduates to remain in Greece to seek work. The bill also accelerates visa issuance under international cooperation schemes.
According to the ministry, the bill leverages beneficiaries of international protection who legally reside in Greece by promoting vocational training programmes in sectors facing labour shortages, including construction, agriculture, and tourism, reducing welfare dependence and strengthening labour market integration.
At the same time, the legislation imposes strict penalties on migrant smuggling at all levels, criminalises assistance to illegal migrants, provides for the loss of legal status for those involved, and introduces life imprisonment for traffickers. It also allows conditional release for foreign nationals serving misdemeanour sentences, provided they face immediate deportation.
The bill further tightens oversight of NGOs by strengthening transparency, simplifying registration procedures, and imposing harsher penalties for members involved in trafficking. Measures include long-term imprisonment, removal from the ministry’s registry, the abolition of privileged programme contracts, and mandatory competitive tendering for all agreements.
Finally, the legislation establishes a Migration Policy Coordination Committee to ensure effective implementation of the measures and reiterates provisions for conditional release and deportation of convicted foreign nationals.
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