Recognised Refugees in Greece- 2025
Beneficiaries of international protection in Greece. Access to documents and socio-economic rights
The chronic legal and practical obstacles to refugees’ access to documents and socio-economic rights in Greece remain unresolved, according to the new annual report released today by Refugee Support Aegean (RSA) and the PRO ASYL Foundation. We once again highlight that these barriers expose many beneficiaries of international protection to homelessness and destitution, in violation of the right to dignity and the prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment.
The situation is exacerbated in light of the intensification of returns of recognised refugees to Greece in recent months, as EU Member States double down on return policies targeting beneficiaries of international protection. Over the past year, RSA has represented returnees from countries such as Germany and Switzerland who face severe obstacles in their attempt to integrate. None of them received documents, information, or support upon their return. Many are at immediate risk of homelessness due to the lack of any material assistance.
The year 2024 was marked by a near-total halt of basic services for refugees in Greece: withdrawal of interpretation services in camps, persisting shortages in medical and psychosocial personnel, and the complete halt of the monthly financial allowance granted to asylum seekers, to name a few. Chronic weaknesses in funding and programme management on the part of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum have led to severe gaps in services, with direct, nefarious repercussions on the tens of thousands of people obtaining international protection and on their prospects of integration in the country.
Data on asylum decisions show that Greece has approved more than 140,000 asylum applications in the last five years. The number of positive decisions has gradually increased from 2021 to 2024, leading up to more than 40,000 status grants in 2024 alone. At the end of 2024, Greece counted 83,895 active international protection residence permits and 32,572 temporary protection residence permits.
This year’s report provides detailed information on:
- The conditions faced by people granted international protection in Greece regarding the acquisition and renewal of documents, mainly the Residence Permit (ADET), but also travel and tax documents and the social security number (AMKA), now conditioned on an employment contract or a recruitment certificate. These documents are essential for access to employment, healthcare and other social services.
- The extremely limited access to social welfare, including refugees’ exclusion from most benefits and the restrictive eligibility criteria for guaranteed minimum income.
- The obstacles to and lack of support in securing housing (particularly given that the HELIOS housing programme has ended and the new HELIOS+ programme has not yet been rolled out), evictions from camps and the risks of homelessness and destitution. Notably, the new HELIOS+ programme appears to be designed at a dramatically lower scale to the actual needs of the refugee population in Greece, with a total target of 4,323 beneficiaries of international and temporary protection over the next four-year period – just over 1,000 a year. Currently, Greece already counts 116,467 active international and temporary protection residence permits, of which 76,195 granted in 2023-2024 (thereby within the HELIOS+ eligibility period). Therefore, against the backdrop of eligible beneficiaries, the coverage of the programme accounts for less than 6% of the eligible population. We note that the eligibility criteria for HELIOS+ further restrict the number of beneficiaries.
We further note that Greek law does not foresee a specific remedy to beneficiaries of international protection against instances where their rights are not guaranteed.
Finally, among the obstacles faced by recognised refugees are severe bureaucratic hurdles stemming from a clear lack of coordination οn integration on the part of the authorities and significant deficiencies in services. Notably, provision of the rights and entitlements attached to international protection status is a state task spanning across at least six different ministries in Greece. The very same administrative procedure may involve various public services operating under different ministries.
All the data presented in our new report on recognised refugees and their access to documents and socio-economic rights, is based on our observations through the provision of free legal assistance in such cases. These issues are highlighted in the report also through many stories of refugees whose cases are represented by RSA.
More material
Statistics
Granting of asylum status
Greece has approved more than 140,000 asylum applications in the last five years. The number of positive decisions has gradually increased from 2021 to 2024, leading up to more than 40,000 status grants in the last year alone. At the end of 2024, Greece counted 83,895 active international protection residence permits and 32,572 temporary protection residence permits.
Essential documents
Access to key rights and transactions of beneficiaries of international protection with the Greek administration is conditioned on possession of a series of essential documents, issued by different authorities. The process for obtaining those documents is often complex and at times circular, as failure to issue one document may in turn prevent refugees from fulfilling formal requirements for other documents.
Residence permit
The most important document, which also presents significant challenges in issuance and renewal, is the residence permit (ADET). The residence permit is valid for three years in the case of refugees and one year in the case of subsidiary protection holders. ADET is a prerequisite for obtaining and maintaining a Social Security Number, for opening a bank account, for accessing employment, for receiving social benefits, even for movement within the Greek territory.
The responsible authority for issuing residence permits to beneficiaries of international protection in Greece is the Asylum Service, yet certain stages of the process are delegated to the Hellenic Police:
Only after the issuance of an ADET Decision or an ADET Renewal Decision may beneficiaries of international protection proceed with submitting the necessary documents and giving fingerprints for the purpose of issuing the permit itself. This step is carried out before the territorially competent Passport Office of the Hellenic Police. The Aliens Unit of Attica (Τμήμα Αλλοδαπών Αττικής) is the competent office for Attica and responsible for the majority of ADET requests. Upon completion of this stage, beneficiaries wait until their ADET is ready for collection from the Asylum Service. They are neither notified when their ADET is printed nor when it is collected from the Hellenic Police by the Asylum Service.
Waiting times from the submission of documents to the TAA until the collection of the ADET from the RAO of Attica in cases supported by RSA over the past year consistently exceeded one month and reached two months in some cases:
The Asylum Service does not notify people individually of the date of collection of their ADET. At the end of every week, it uploads on its website a list of six-digit case numbers for which ADET are ready for collection on the indicated day. Therefore, beneficiaries have to regularly consult the weekly lists on the website of the Asylum Service until they find an entry corresponding to their individual case number. If people miss their appointment, the Asylum Service does not automatically reschedule an appointment for the collection of the ADET; a new appointment must be booked.
Renewal of residence permits (ADET)
ADET renewal applications must be submitted to the Asylum Service no later than 30 days prior to the expiry of the permit. Late renewal applications without due reasons face a 100 € fine.
Beneficiaries of international protection wishing to renew their ADET must submit a “Residence Permit Renewal Application” with a digital photograph to the AAU Beneficiaries of International Protection, the only competent unit of the Asylum Service to receive and process renewal applications. Only 13 out of a total of 34 officials staffing said AAU were responsible for processing ADET renewal applications as of 11 February 2025.
According to official figures disclosed in response to a parliamentary question, the number of ADET renewal applications pending before the Asylum Service at the end of 2024 was 5,311 i.e. a 32% increase on 4,029 as at 16 February 2024. Nearly 40% of ADET renewal applications were pending for more than six months at the end of last year:
Despite commitments made by the Asylum Service towards introducing a special platform for submission of such requests, ADET renewal applications are still filed via email to a dedicated address: [email protected]. Beneficiaries do not receive a confirmation – even automated – that their email has reached the AAU Beneficiaries of International Protection and that their ADET renewal application has been registered.
The above, along with the detailed points outlined in the report, demonstrate a series of systemic deficiencies in the various steps of the process for issuing and renewing ADET, the most severe being the protracted delays in the handling of ADET renewal applications by the AAU Beneficiaries of International Protection. Our experience based on cases represented throughout the past year points to disproportionately long waiting times in the ADET renewal process, reaching and even exceeding one year from the submission of the renewal application until the delivery of the new ADET:
Throughout this protracted period, beneficiaries are neither regularly informed by the Asylum Service of the state of play of their renewal application, nor are requests for information effectively replied.
Social welfare - Exclusion from benefits
Regarding social welfare, there is no dedicated social benefit for beneficiaries of international protection in Greece to guarantee their transition into the social welfare system in view of their particular circumstances.
The lengthy residence requirements underpinning most benefits do not take into account the particular situation of refugees and thereby entail differential treatment against beneficiaries of international protection compared to Greek nationals and effectively exclude them from most forms of social assistance.
For access to social rights, the issuance of a series of identification documents is required beforehand. Additionally, the issuance of these identification documents requires other prerequisite documents. As a result, recognised refugees face a series of substantive and bureaucratic obstacles in accessing social welfare. Indicatively, the tables below show the key prerequisite documents for accessing each right and the key prerequisite documents for issuing another document:
Access to housing - HELIOS+ programme
Specifically regarding access to housing, Greek law provides that beneficiaries of international protection enjoy equal treatment to other legally residing third-country nationals as regards access to housing. However, securing housing remains a critical challenge against the backdrop of the housing crisis affecting the country, with a continuous rise in rent prices and drop of property supply in urban centres such as Athens, Piraeus and Thessaloniki.
The “Hellenic Integration Support for Beneficiaries of International Protection and Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection” (HELIOS) programme officially came to an end on 30 November 2024. The new iteration of the programme, HELIOS+, has been formally announced but has not been rolled out at the time of writing. Earlier this year, the Ministry released the HELIOS+ award decisions for the implementation of the programme by IOM and partner entities, funded under the European Social Fund + 2021-2027 for the period 2025-2028. Based on this information, the beneficiaries of the program represent an extremely small percentage of the eligible recognised refugees in Greece:
Notably, the new HELIOS+ programme appears to be designed at a dramatically lower scale to the actual needs of the refugee population in Greece, with a total target of 4,323 beneficiaries of international and temporary protection over the next four-year period – just over 1,000 a year. Currently, Greece already counts 116,467 active international and temporary protection residence permits, of which 76,195 granted in 2023-2024 (thereby within the HELIOS+ eligibility period). Therefore, against the backdrop of eligible beneficiaries, the coverage of the programme accounts for less than 6% of the eligible population. We note that the eligibility criteria for HELIOS+ further restrict the number of beneficiaries.
Video | Testimonies from recognised refugees
Below, we present video testimonies of recently recognised refugees from Afghanistan and refugees who were returned to Greece and spoke to us about the severe hardships they faced.
Ali*, 34 years old, tells us how he was forcibly returned from Germany to Greece despite having health issues and ended up living on the streets in Athens. Saliha*, 44 years old, speaks about the uncertainty she experiences and the lack of prospects for her future in Greece. Parwiz*, 24 years old, explains how his deportation from Germany forcibly separated him from his family. Sobhali*, 25 years old, recounts how, after being returned to Greece, he was deprived of the opportunity to build his future and was driven into destitution.
English subtitles are available.
If they are not displayed, select the gear icon (⚙) to enable them.
*The names have been changed to protect the speakers.
