Has anyone taken temporary residency in Greece recently?

I have residency here in Corfu (House), but it was a long time ago that we did it. The process involved an initial temp residency for 5 years, then on it's expiry, we were issued a permanent residency.
All done at the police station, but I think you must have a Greek tax number.
Not sure of today's process though.

You'll find lots of info on the Facebook Corfu Grapevine or the Corfu Grapevine Forum, Groups.
Regards.
 
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Update on my previous post:

Just spoke to some liveaboard friends in the marina, who have just got their Residence:

They went to the Police station, near town (in the old Hospital) and took Passports, Photographs, Proof of having a Greek Bank Account, their EHIC (the replacement for the old E111) and photocopies of everything.
It took about a week and they had no problems at all.
Regards,
 
You shouldn't normally need a Greek bank account although as always in Greece different places apply the rules slightly differently.

I would encourage any UK sailor to register (that's what this process is, it's not temporary residence, it's registration as an EU citizen living in another EU country for more than 90 days) before Brexit Day (whenever that turns out to be). It costs nothing but your time (and a couple of passport photos) and it could make a big difference depending on what kind of a Brexit we get.
 
Assuming one obtains a Greek registration and the UK leaves without a deal..... Where does one stand on the 90 days in 180 rule? OK while in Greece I assume? But what would be the situation if, having driven to Greece in May, entering the EU at France, then driving home at the end of the season, exiting the EU via France ones passport, having been swiped by French boarder police in May would now be swiped again in Oct and show 5 or 6 months in EU. Would a Greek registration card satisfy the French (For French read EU) boarder police?
 
Earl Grey said:
Assuming one obtains a Greek registration and the UK leaves without a deal..... Where does one stand on the 90 days in 180 rule? OK while in Greece I assume? But what would be the situation if, having driven to Greece in May, entering the EU at France, then driving home at the end of the season, exiting the EU via France ones passport, having been swiped by French boarder police in May would now be swiped again in Oct and show 5 or 6 months in EU. Would a Greek registration card satisfy the French (For French read EU) boarder police?
Click to expand...
Another "what if" to add to the list. But I would expect the French to be reasonable if one was just passing through.

If you choose to drive out, of more concern is that according to the rules, new residents are required to switch to a Greek driving licence. But I know a good few ex-pats who haven't.

Incidentally it proved very easy to get my temporary Greek residency, it took about a week and the immigration officer could not have been more helpful. The cost ... 30 Eurocents.
 
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AndrewB said:
Another "what if" to add to the list. But I would expect the French to be reasonable if one was just passing through.

If you choose to drive out, of more concern is that according to the rules, new residents are required to switch to a Greek driving licence. But I know a good few ex-pats who haven't.

Incidentally it proved very easy to get my temporary Greek residency, it took about a week and the immigration officer could not have been more helpful. The cost ... 30 Eurocents.
Click to expand...

We've been resident in Crete since 2012 and went through the initial registration process back then (the buff card) and 'upgraded' to permanent residence (the blue card) last year. We've also recently been through the exchanging driving licenses saga - it's by far the most complex of all the procedures we've been through, not helped by a jobsworth in the transport department of the local prefecture here.

For reasons I won't bore you with I had occasion to revisit the local police (the people who issue the registration/residency cards) and I was asking them about driving licenses and whether, if there was a no-deal Brexit on 29th March, we'd have problems using our UK driving licenses here after then. The police were amazingly laid back about the whole thing and said that everyone (from any country) can drive on their home country license for up to 6 months in Greece, after that you are supposed to change. They also said that they know Brexit is a mess and that nobody knows yet what the actual status of UK nationals in Greece will be and even whether we'll need to exchange licenses at all, so they (the police) are adopting a calm 'wait and see' approach and they assured me that no UK national will have any problems driving with a valid UK license until (probably) 6 months after the status of UK citizens is finally clarified.
 
Glad to hear Greece seems so relaxed about driving licences, Tony (assuming the police advice is more consistent than from their colleagues in the port police ;)). The UK position/advice on EU licences in the event of no deal was updated a week or so ago. Latest here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/prepare-to-drive-in-the-eu-after-brexit

It's clear that the position regarding EU/EEA licences in the UK is rather more relaxed than the other way round. One would hope that reciprocity might moderate that in due course. In the meantime it remains HMG's advice for UK citizens resident in the EU to exchange their UK-issued licence for a local one. For most people there seems to be no down-side to this, other than the hassle of doing it. You'll be entitled to a UK licence should you ever return, "provided you passed your driving test in the UK or another specified country".

P.S. Just happened across this, in a Dutch government website, regarding their no-deal policy: "holders of UK driving licences who were already resident in the Netherlands before Brexit will be able to continue to drive on their UK licences for a maximum of 15 months after Brexit, provided the licence is still valid. During this 15-month period, it will still be possible to exchange a UK driving licence for a Dutch driving licence."

So practice clearly varies within the EU27.
 
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Just been to Town Police in Prevaza today with all appropriate documentation, photocopies, passport size photos etc and basically told to go away and come back in 3 months. Oh, and btw you need to register in Vonista not Prevaza if using one of the 3 boatyards over the water as a postal address.
We got the distinct impression that no one had ever asked the question at that office before.
 
Earl Grey said:
Just been to Town Police in Prevaza today with all appropriate documentation, photocopies, passport size photos etc and basically told to go away and come back in 3 months. Oh, and btw you need to register in Vonista not Prevaza if using one of the 3 boatyards over the water as a postal address.
We got the distinct impression that no one had ever asked the question at that office before.
Click to expand...

In Agios Nikolaos here there are two police offices; the real police and the 'tourist' police. The latter is the one that has all the offices related to residence etc. if you go to the other police station they will just shrug. Perhaps that's the issue you had?
 
We just successfully applied and received the temp residency card in Vliho.

Docs required were passports, EHIC cards, completed application form, bank statements (individual or joint) showing >€3750 balance for each applicant. Though we did later find some info on line that said the balance had to be €4000.

We applied as retired people.

It took less than one hour and we did it at the local police station.

We need to do further research but we believe that it needs renewing in two years.

No charges were made.

Garold
 
We were told, in no uncertain terms, that one could only apply AFTER 3 months in Greece. All depends on the police person at the time I guess? Was an address in Greece required all?
 
We used the pontoon address. You could use the winter boatyard/ marina address. But then I believe that you need to use the local police station close to that address. (Nb. Not port police).

He seemed more interested in the ID doc, EHIC, and particularly the bank balance.

Garold
 
We used printed pdf of recent monthly statements from each of our UK bank accounts. If you are a couple and it is a joint account I believe that (from another applicant we met) this is satisfactory too.

I think the address just has to be a local one that you could stay at/notionally get post and fills the space on the form.

G
 
https://brexit.gov.gr/uk-citizens-in-greece/

http://kasatkinalaw.com/en/residence-permit-for-financially-independent-foreign-citizens.html

https://www.discusholdings.com/residency/residence-permit-in-greece/

Well done. We found these links to shed some light on our new rights but there appears to be small differences.

The first one though is from a gov website and it appears to confirm that for us Brits it offers protection from the reduction to 90/180 when we Brexit.

I also read that the residency means that however long you stay in Greece, it does not use up any Schengen days.

It looks that the Greek govt has decided that they want the Brits to continue to visit and stay in Greece, spending money that has been earned elsewhere, even if it’s pension money. Quite a smart move with little cost to Greece.

It looks like it has to be renewed every two years though, which I think will just be to show that you still have independent finance, though the EHIC card may be an issue if this system ends.

Garold.
 
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