In 2017, the situation in Greece has somewhat stabilised in terms of reception and integration of immigrants. Compared to 2016, irregular entries into Greek territory decreased markedly, although the number of asylum applications remained high. At the same time, integration measures have been taken along with institutional developments that are focused on regulating the residence status and promoting long-term integration of its immigrant population. Challenges remain, such as the situation on the Greek islands, where almost 15 000 asylum seekers were living in reception centres at the end of 2017.
According to 2017 data from the EU Labour Force Survey, there were 430 900 third-country citizens and 85 400 EU citizens residing in Greece, corresponding to 4% and 0.8% of the total resident population respectively. The number of foreigners has fallen over the past four years. The largest group, over 60%, is Albanian (325 500) followed by Bulgarians (29 800) and Romanians (16 900).
Official residence permit statistics report 541 000 third-country citizens holding a permit at the end of 2017 and an additional 112 000 applications for initial permits or renewal. In recent years, more immigrants have acquired long-term permits, particularly 10-year permits, which, upon renewal, are converted to the EU long-term resident status, provided that the relevant conditions are met. The share of long-term permits rose from 23% in 2012 to 37% in 2017. Following the 2015 reform of the Citizenship Code, there have also been more naturalisations, particularly concerning settled immigrants and children of immigrants.
Emigration from Greece remains high; between 2008 and 2016, 427 000 individuals are estimated to have emigrated. Annual emigration flows have risen from about 40 000 persons prior to 2010, to above 100 000. In 2016, in contrast to previous emigration waves, the current emigrants are mostly young, single, urban and highly educated. Three quarters are college graduates and one-third of them are post-graduates, medical and engineering graduates. Around 80% move within the EU, with both Germany and the UK receiving around 25% each.
Greece, which has experienced high inflows of irregular migrants for many years, saw arrivals and, accordingly, apprehensions fall significantly between 2015 and 2017. Following the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement in 21 March 2016, the number of arrivals dropped sharply from 20 April 2015 to 20 March 2016, from 977 700 to 26 900. Of 204 800 apprehensions in 2016, 80% occurred in the first three months only, and total apprehensions in 2017 stood at 63 100 by the end of November.
While the number of arrivals fell, the number of asylum applications increased substantially. From 2015 to 2016, applications increased from 13 200 to 51 100 and remained high through 2017 (58 700), as many of the asylum seekers who formerly sought to transit towards other European countries stayed in Greece and submitted asylum applications. Most came from Syria (34%), followed by Pakistan (13%), Afghanistan (12%) and Iraq (11%). Syrians and Palestinians had high recognition rates (99.6% and 95.4%). At the end of February 2018, 38 700 first instance asylum decisions were pending.
As of December 2017, 21 700 individuals had been relocated from Greece to other EU member states under the EU Emergency Relocation Mechanism. Since the EU-Turkey Statement came into effect, 1 449 individuals were returned to Turkey and another 1 909 returned to their country of origin voluntarily by November 2017. Under special procedures established in 2016 for large numbers of arrivals, almost 15 000 maritime arrivals were waiting on the islands in March 2018.
Among refugees, unaccompanied minors (UAMs) represent an important group: more than 5 000 arrived in 2016; 2 000 applied for asylum in 2016 and 2 500 in 2017. Efforts by the Greek government seek to address the needs of these children, including a ministerial decision to increase educational support, harmonise the age assessment procedure and provide a legal guardian to every UAM. However, adequate housing remains a major challenge and it is estimated that there are twice as many UAMs waiting for a place in a shelter as are currently available.
Education for children in accommodation centres and local public schools has been reinforced, while a new culture and language training program targeting minors aged 15-18 was announced in January 2018.
The Ministry of Migration Policy, established in November 2016, took over from the Ministry of Interior the responsibility for policies on immigration, reception and identification, asylum and social integration of migrants and refugees. The Ministry also contains a Reception and Identification Service, an Asylum Service and an independent Appeals Authority.
