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I'm fully Greek and my son is British. We came back in Greece for a long stay, until end of October. My son's 90 days are up 3rd of June. We do have an appointment at the Special Registry of Athens(only place to register births outside of Greece) end of July, and subsequently we will apply for a Greek passport. By that time he will be an overstayer.

What do I do? Do I go back to the UK and apply for citizenship through an embassy or overstay and apply from here? In the latter case, are there any legal implications?

Edit: my son is 4 months old. I am the father. Both me and the mother are fully Greeks and were legally married at the time of birth. Our son had the right for British citizenship due to us being permanent residents in the UK.

Greconomist
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2 Answers2

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As you have indicated in the response to my comment, your son is already a Greek national, legally speaking, even if that is not yet administratively established with the Greek government. In that case, your son cannot be an overstayer, and you have no problem.

If you were the boy's biological father, but you were not married to his mother at the time of his birth, and she were not Greek, then your son would not yet be Greek. (In saying this, I am relying on the Wikipedia article on Greek nationality law, so it may not be completely accurate.) In that case, however, you still would have had little to worry about because even though he would not have been Greek, he would have had a right to reside in Greece as the dependent minor child of a Greek national.

The relevant Greek law may be found in the Immigration and Social Integration Code. Article 82 requires family members of Greek nationals to apply for a residence card within three months of arrival, but imposes no fine unless they have remained for more than 12 months (Art. 82(3)).

Accordingly, if you had been (at the time of your son's birth) an unmarried father, you might have wanted to speak with the office that would take his residence permit application to seek their advice in light of your son's anticipated application for citizenship. As it is, you don't need to do anything because your son is already a Greek national.

phoog
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Your son should apply for an extension as soon as possible.

If rejected, he must leave and apply for a D-Visa to avoid a possible fine.

Extensions are not given without a good reason and can be very expensive.

In this case, your son is of Greek heritage and an application for recognition of citizenship has been made.

It is also helpful, that you (as his father and Greek citizen) has accompanied him.

Since you seemed to have made the appointment soon after your arrival and the waiting time is 3 months, this should be considered a valid reason to stay longer.

The sooner the extension application is made the better.

Embassy of Greece in London: Declaration of birth: Declaration of birth of a child by married parents:
Registration of birth is considered complete when the details are entered into the family record of the Greek citizen; thereupon the child acquires Greek citizenship.

Mark Johnson
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