Returning from Greece after 4 months

Mistroma

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Good to know. Latest from Aliens Department in Agrinio helps me a bit (not a lot).

I've been told to go to Vonitsa Police (who initially directed me Agrinio) and get a "beige card" (their words) with my Irish passport and that enables next next step for my wife.

A) If my wife can prove she is covered by the "Withdrawal Agreement" and someone can process her application
The Aliens Department said this would only happen IF she could prove to the "Relevant Authority" that she has been a resident of Greece before 31/12/2020. This means a few years proof of more than 6 months in each year. No idea who the "Relevant Authority" would be and not going to happen anyway.

B) Fall back to the fact that she is the wife of an EU citizen
Aliens Department say this will be handled by Decentralized Administration (local Government) of the place I live in Greece. That will be Messolongi for the yard in Aktio (if that's acceptable).

Option B seems to be the only viable option. I thought that the "beige card" (buff card) wasn't issued now and have asked for clarification. Of course that will be down to Vonitsa to interpret and the sent me to Agrinio previously.

I can see me needing to get a bio-metric card via Vonitsa and Agrinio. It will involve multiple 3 hour round trips by car and I was told by another police station that I couldn't apply until after I'd been in Greece for 3 months. Of course my Irish passport isn't stamped and I don't know how they'd realise when I'd arrived.

Then I'll need to get someone in Messolongi to process something for my wife. I'd bet that involves multiple 250km round trips to Messolongi, multiple trips to Agrinio and Vonitsa. All on different dates form trips I need to make for my card. :D:D

All because I want to visit for 5-6 months each year. Don't you just love Greece. :D:D
 

Mistroma

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I'm in the same position as Mistroma's wife. Ann has been given an updated beige card for her EU passport, and I should probably register with the Decentralized Administration. Luckily Preveza has all these offices. We winter in Margarona, on the N side of Preveza.
Preveza police refused to do anything. I had not been in Greece for long enough and required a full 3 months. The only reason he knew was that I was asking about my wife's situation and her passport was stamped. He wouldn't accept either our 3 weeks rental as an address or a friend's nearby house. The rules say that I need a utility bill or similar but also say that a declaration will do if staying with someone.

Preveza is much easier as I think everything is within a short distance but he insisted I had to use the yard as our address. He did say my wife would need to go to a different department but wouldn't tell me where it was. No longer his problem. I think it all goes through one person in Preveza and no point in trying again next year.

Will your wife need to change her "beige card" to a new biometric card? Let me know how you get on registering with the Decentralized Administration eventually and if they just give a paper card or biometric one. I assume your passport might be stamped at some point and that will cause problems if you don't register.

We were staying a few hundred metres from the Margarona yard. It looked pretty packed with no chance of any space. Did Preveza accept that as a permanent address?
 
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Pasarell

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Have not managed to get a biometric, so showed my old buff residence card. Passport lady scrutinised it carefully, then waved me through with no stamp in my passport. I asked her, and she said she could see no reason why it shouldn't work next year.

TonyMS
That's great news. I left from Preveza 3 weeks ago and the very pleasant passport man said no need for a stamp (They didn't stamp it going in either) and hoped the beige card would continue working into the future.
I can't apply for the biometric for other personal reasons but it does mean my SSR and ICC are assured.
 

Mistroma

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Yes, Margarona Boatyard is our permanent address on Ann's beige card, for our AMKAs and for our AFMs.
Thanks. I assumed I would not need an AMKA because I'm retired, collect no Greek social security payments and have private medical insurance. An AFM might end up as a requirement but really should not.

The problem is that I normally only want to stay in Greece for less than 6 months. EU rules basically say I'm free to do that but need to register my stay in Greece. I think the Greek authorities treat that more like a permanent move to Greece and issue a one-off document which never expires. My wife is entitled to accompany me whenever I'm in Greece but her documentation is different and currently no idea what that will look like. Of course the replacing the buff card with a bio-metric card adds further confusion. Will I need to convert to one? Will my wife get one when registering or need to apply later? And so on. All very confusing and I heard that a new Personal Number was going to replace AMKA and AFM.

Do you have an annual contract or just a winter one? Preveza police wanted a permanent address from me. I'm hoping Vonitsa, Arginio and Messolingi will accept my winter contract.
 
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