Greek authorities have postponed the implementation of the new Immigration Code to April, contrary to the initially planned date of January 1 of this year.

The Code, approved by the Greek Parliament last year, aims to simplify legal procedures for obtaining residence permits, including in the field of seasonal employment for migrants, harmonizing the legal basis for immigration with EU countries.

Meanwhile, another law on irregular migration, approved in mid-December last year by the Greek Parliament, has not yet been released by the Greek Ministry of Interior and the relevant Immigration Ministry offices for the start of implementation.

The law allows for the legalization of irregular migrants who have continuously lived in Greece for three years and have a job offer.

This category of migrants is granted a three-year residence permit, ensuring access to social services.

Among these undocumented Albanian migrants, there are those who entered Greece illegally, as well as another category who entered as visitors or for seasonal work and have been unable to renew their residence permit for various reasons.

The electronic application platforms for this category, affecting over 30,000 Albanians according to Greek statistics, have not been opened yet, although the law was supposed to start implementation on January 1 of this year.

Albanian migrant associations in Greece attribute the delays in the implementation of immigration laws to the low capacity of human resources in Greek processing centers, which respond with significant delays to current residence permit applications as well.

According to the latest data from the Greek Ministry of Migration, Albanian citizens constituted about 59.6% of foreigners with regular residence in December 2023, in a total number of around 278,000 individuals.

This number of Albanian migrants is significantly lower than two years ago when there were 435,000 Albanians in Greece, accounting for about 62.8% of foreigners with regular residence in Greece.