1. The child of a Greek man or a Greek woman acquires from
its birth Greek citizenship.
2. Every person born on Greek territory acquires Greek citizenship
from his birth, if he does not acquire from his birth a foreign citizenship
or if he is of an unknown citizenship.
Acquisition of the Greek citizenship by recognition
Art. 2 A foreigner, who has been born out of wedlock
of his parents and has been recognised legally as a child of a Greek man or
a Greek woman, and therefore possesses the same legal position as a legitimate
child of his parents, becomes Greek citizen from the date of the recognition,
if at that moment he has not reached the age of 18.
Effect of marriage on citizenship
Art. 4 Marriage does not affect the acquisition or loss
of Greek citizenship.
Recognition of citizenship for people of the same race who live
in another country
Art. 5
1. Persons of Greek etnical decendance without any citizenship
or with an unknown citizenship, who live in another country and who in fact
act like Greek citizen, if they are of full age may be recognised as Greek citizen
by lodging an application on the Greek consular office of their place of residence
and if the Minister of the Interiors will accept the application, they will
take the Greek oath, as it is provided by Art. 9 paragraph 2, before the consular
office or the mayor, which oath is defined specifically and for each case by
the Minister of the Interiors.
The same provision will apply for their spouses, even of they
are not of Greek etnical
decendance.
2. The effects of the recognition exist from the date they
will be put under oath.
3. Their children, of they are not 18 years old and if they
are not married, become Greek citizen from the date their parent took the oath.
Acquisition of Greek citizenship by the children of the person
who is naturalised
Art. 10
1. The children of the foreign man or foreign woman, who is
naturalised, become Greek citizen, if during the completion of the naturalisation
they are not married and they have not reached the age of 18 years.
2. The children who became Greek citizen by virtue of the previous
paragraph may dismiss the Greek citizenship if:
a they are not of Greek etnical decendance;
b they keep the citizenship they had during the naturalisation
of their parents;
c they declare their will to dismiss the Greek citizenship
to the authorities or to the Greek consular office of their place of residence
or domicile within one year from the date they became 18 years old.Copy
of this declaration is lodged immediately by these authorities to the Ministry
of the Interiors.
Acquisition of the Greek citizenship by classification in the
military service
Art. 12 Foreigners of Greek etnical decendance who enter
in the military schools to become officers and non-commissioned officers of
the military service under the specific law of each school or being classified
in the military service as volunteers under the specific law of each section,
they acquire the Greek citizenship from the time of their entry in the schools
or from the time of their classification, and without any other formality.
Art. 13
1 Foreigners of Greek etnical decendance, who ware being classified
as volunteers during mobilization or war, according to the Act concerning "the
conscription of the military service", they may acquire, if they want, the Greek
citizenship by lodging an application to the Governor, without any other formality.
2. The acquisition by them of the degree of permanent officer
or reservist leads to the de jure acquisition of the Greek citizenship without
any other formality.
3. They take the military oath, which replace the oath of the
Greek citizen.
Acquisition of the Greek citizenship by naturalisation
Art. 6
1 A Foreigner who is 18 years old, may acquire the Greek citizenship
by naturalisation.
2 The following are reacquired for naturalisation:
a) a declaration by the foreigner to the authorities of
the place he will domiciled at, stating his will to be naturalised;
b) if the foreigner is not of Greek etnical decendance
he must have resided in Greece for in total eight out of the ten years before
his application for naturalisation or three years after his declaration
for naturalisation. These conditions are not reacquired for persons who
were born and reside in Greece;
c) an application for naturalisation lodged to the Ministry
of the Interiors.
3 The decision for the naturalisation is taken by the Minister
of the Interiors after an
investigation for the character and generally the personality
of the foreigner.
No explanation has to be given for the decision which rejects
the application for naturalisation.
4. He can not be naturalised the foreigner whose deportation
has been ordered or whoever has been convicted by a Greek tribunal to imprisonment
more than one year or because of crimes for high treason, against public morals,
for robbery, fraud, defraudation, extortion, forging, perjure, counterfeit,
defamation, smuggling, because of crimes or offenses for the establishment and
movement of the foreigners in Greece and for the protection of the national
currency and for drugs.
5.The decision of the Minister of the Interiors for the naturalisation
of a foreigner does not being revoked during the annual time limit that is provided
in art. 9 paragraph 1 of the legislative decree No. 3370/1955, which constitutes
the code for the Greek citizenship, unless the decision was taken after false
activity or omission by the foreigner, who wanted to be naturalised.
Art. 8 The foreigner who offered Greece special service,
introduced remarkable invention or industry, established useful or beneficial
to the public institutions, who is prominent because of his intellectual ability
or because his naturalisation will serve exceptional Greek interest, may be
naturalised by presidential order which is being issued after the decision of
the cabinet without being necessary to fill the conditions a-c of paragraph
1 and paragraph 3 of Art. 7.
Art. 9
1. The naturalisation is complete from the time the naturalised
person takes the oath of the Greek citizen within one year from the time the
decision for the naturalisation is published in the newspaper of the Government.
2. The form of the oath is the following: "I swear to keep
faith in the country, to obey the constitution and legislation and to fulfil
my obligations as a Greek citizen".
3. The oath is taken before the governor. Exceptionally, the
Minister of the Interiors may authorize for the taken of the oath specifically
and for each case, the consular office of the place of residence of the naturalised
person.
4. After the taking of the oath a protocol is drawn up, which
is signed by the naturalised person and the authority which is referred in paragraph
3.
Loss of the Greek citizenship
1. Because of acquisition of foreign citizenship
Art. 14
1. Every Greek citizen, who after permission acquired a foreign
citizenship by his own will or accepted a public service in another country,
of this acceptance has an effect the acquisition of the citizenship of this
country, he will lose his Greek citizenship.
When the permission is granted for exceptional reasons after
the acquisition of the foreign citizenship, the loss of the Greek citizenship
is subsisting from the date that the permission is granted.
2. A person, who has a foreign citizenship, may lose the Greek
citizenship by lodging an
application. In this case the loss of the Greek citizenship
is subsisting from the date that the application is accepted.
3. The permission in paragraph 1 is granted and the application
is accepted by the Minister of the Interiors with the opinion of the council
for citizenship. The permission is not granted and the application is not accepted,
if the applicant delays his military obligation or is being persecuted on a
crime of offence.
2. Because of desertion from the Greek territory
Art. 19 A person of another race, who leaves the Greek
territory without the purpose of returning back, may lose the Greek citizenship.
The same applies for a person of non-Greek etnical decendance, who was born
and resides in another country. The children of this person, who reside in another
country and they are not of full age, may lose the Greek citizenship, if both
parents or the one who is in life has lost the Greek citizenship. The decision
for these is taken by the Minister of the Interiors in accordance with the consent
opinion of the council for the citizenship.
3. Because of forfeiture
Art. 20
1. A Greek citizen may be declared forfeited of the Greek citizenship:
a) if by infringing Art. 14 he acquired by his own will a
foreign citizenship;
b) if he accepted a public service in another country and
he remains there even after the order by the Minister of the Interiors to
him to abstain from his service within defined time limit;
c) if while he was residing in another country he acted for
the benefit of this country and against the interest of Greece.
2 The forfeiture is decided by the Minister of the Interiors
in accordance with the consent opinion of the council for citizenship. The loss
of the Greek citizenship exists from the date of the publication of the decision
in the Government's newspaper.
3. The loss of the Greek citizenship because of forfeiture
of a Greek citizen, shall not affect the citizenship of his spouse or his children,
minors or adults.
4. Paragraph 3 of Art. 20 applies also for actions that happened
in the past, before this legislative decree came into force.
Citizenship of adopted children
Art. 27
1 A foreigner, who has adopted before the age of 18, by a Greek
citizen, shall become Greek citizen from the date of the adoption.
2. A Greek citizen, who was adopted before the age of 18 by
a foreigner, if he acquires the citizenship of the adoptive parent, may dismiss
the Greek citizenship by an application which is lodged by the adoptive parent
and if this application will be accepted by the Minister of the Interiors. The
Minister will decide for the application by estimating the special circumstances
and with the opinion of the council for the citizenship. The application will
not be accepted of the adopted child delays his military obligation or is being
persecuted on a crime or offence.
The effect of the provisions of the international conventions
Art. 28 This Act will not effect the provisions of the
international conventions concerning nationality.
Recovery of the Greek citizenship by persons of the same race
Art. 29 A person of Greek etnical decendance who was
born in Greece and acquired the Greek citizenship by birth, but lost it according
to Art. 23 of the Civil Act of 1856 because he acquired by his own will a foreign
citizenship and he lost the foreign citizenship because he left this country,
he may recover the Greek citizenship de jure, after residing in Greece for two
years.
ACt 1438/1984 Transitory Provisions
Art. 7
1. Foreign woman, who acquired the Greek citizenship because
of her marriage to a Greek man, if she keeps the citizenship that she had before
her marriage, she may dismiss the Greek citizenship by lodging a declaration
of her will before the 31 of December 1986 to the Minister of the Interiors
or to the Governor or to the consular office of her place of residence or domicile.
2. A Greek woman, who lost the Greek citizenship because of
her marriage with a foreigner, she may regain it by lodging a declaration of
her will before the 31 of December 1986 to the Minister of the Interiors or
to the Governor or to the consular office of her place of residence or domicile.
3. According to paragraph 1 of Article 7 of the Act 1250/1982
the recognition of marriages as substantial does not have as an effect the acquisition
of the Greek citizenship by the foreign spouse of a Greek man, neither the loss
of the Greek citizenship by the Greek spouse of a foreign man.
Art. 8
1. A child born before this Act came into force, whose mother
was a Greek citizen on the date of this child's birth or on the date of the
marriage in which this child is born, may become a Greek citizen by lodging
a declaration of his will before the 31 of December 1986 to the Minister of
the Interiors or to the Governor or to the consular office of his place of residence
or domicile.
2 If the child is not of full age, the declaration of the previous
paragraph if lodged by the mother.
This child within one year after he becomes 18 years old, may
dismiss the Greek citizenship by lodging a declaration to one of the previous
authorities.
Art. 9
1. The children, who are born of a Greek father and a foreign
mother before the Act 1250/1982 came into force and if they are legitimate according
to the provision of Art. 7 paragraph 3 of the previous Act, may become Greek
citizen by lodging a declaration of their will before the 31 of December 1986
to the Minister of the Interiors or to the Governor or to the consular office
of their place of residence or domicile.
2. If the children are not of full age, the declaration is
lodged by the father. These children within one year after they become 18 years
old, may dismiss the Greek citizenship by lodging a declaration to one of the
previous authorities.
3. The recognition of the children, who are born of the marriage
of a Greek man or a Greek woman, as legitimate, according to art. 7 of the Act
1250/1982, shall not affect the citizenship of these children.
Art. 10 In these provisions for the Greek citizenship,
"Full age" means the age of 18 years old.
Supplementary provisions for the greek citizenship
Art. 40
2. The foreigner wife of a Greek citizen, whose marriage has
been recognised as substantial, according to Art. 7 paragraph 1 of the Act 1250/1982,
if she has been registered in her place or residence after the Act 1250/1982
came into force and until the enforcement of the Act 1438/1984, it is deemed
that she acquired the Greek citizenship from the date of her registration. But
within 3 years after the enforcement of this Act she may renounce the acquisition
of the Greek citizenship by lodging a declaration, which is not subject to revocation,
to the entitled authorities, In this case, it is deemed that she had never acquired
the Greek citizenship and her registration is cancelled. The declaration is
not accepted if this renunciation would render her without any citizenship.
3. Children born from marriage to a Greek citizen, which has
been recognised as substantial according to paragraph 1 Art. 7 of the Act 1250/1982;
if they have been registered in their place of residence until the enforcement
of the Act 1438/1984, it is deemed that they acquired the Greek citizenship
from the date of their registration. But within 3 years after the enforcement
of this Act, they may renounce the acquisition of the Greek citizenship by lodging
a declaration, which is not subject to revocation, to the entitled authorities.
If they are not of full age, the declaration is being lodged by the Greek father.
In this case, it is deemed that they had never acquired the Greek citizenship
and their registration is cancelled. The declaration is not accepted if this
renunciation would render them without citizenship.
2-5-1995 Griekenl.
