[ALBSA-Info] Migrant Rights in Greece II

[Agron Alibali]

 Athens News: Ombudsman warns of migrants legalisation process pitfalls (K. Tzilivakis, 4-1-02)


Ombudsman warns of legalisation process pitfalls

A new bill aims to establish a better organised and more effective
statemechanism for issuing residence and work permits, but critics say the
measuresare too little, too late 
http://www.athensnews.gr/athweb/nathens.print_unique?e=C&f=12943&m=A12&aa=1&
eidos=S

BY KATHY TZILIVAKIS 

Reaching for residency: Hundreds of agitated migrants crowd outside the
Athens prefecture building 

GREECE'S ombudsman recently slammed the government for failing to bring
some order to the chaos hounding the on-going migrant legalisation process.
In a critical report, the country's defender of citizens' rights echoed
concerns raised by thousands of distraught foreigners currently scrambling
to secure residency in Greece. 

The 24-page, three-part document, which was made public last week, blames
poor state coordination for a series of bureaucratic setbacks in the
application process. The position of the ombudsman is clear: The
legalisation process is in imminent danger of collapsing if officials at
the interior ministry do not proceed with a series of long-overdue revisions. 

In the report, Ombudsman Nikiforos Diamantouros said that the application
procedure in Athens (where the majority of migrants reside) is proceeding
at a foot-dragging pace. And, the report notes, at this rate it will take
"tens of years" before all the residence and work permits are issued. 

"The most significant problem is the total lack of coordination and
cooperation between the various agencies handling the legalisation process
in this country," Diamantouros says in the report. "The second phase of the
process is showing huge problems that are threatening the foundation of
[immigration] law 2910/2001." 

Diamantouros personally delivered the report to Interior Minister Costas
Skandalidis on December 21. Eight days later, the minister called a press
conference to present new draft legislation providing for amendments to the
immigration law (2910/2001). He stressed that the bill, which will be
tabled in parliament on January 20, is part of the government's efforts to
establish a better organised and more effective state mechanism responsible
for issuing the residence and work permits. 

Migrants and human rights advocates are sceptical about the government's
efforts to rescue the legalisation drive, arguing that measures to ease the
application process may be too little, too late. 

"The policy concerning immigrants in Greece is very bad, " says Bangladeshi
Ilias Ahmet, secretary of the Coordinating Network of Migrant Organisations
in Greece. "[The government] must solve all the problems we face. It is our
right to live legally in Greece. After all, this country has over 10
million of its own citizens living in other countries. So they should think
about our rights here." 

Meanwhile, time is fast running out for many of the estimated 350,000
migrants scrambling to submit their applications for the one-year residence
and work permits before their initial six-month permit expires. They are
holding out for an extension. 

According to the ombudsman, whose office has received a "plethora" of
complaints from migrants since the legalisation process began in June 2001,
such an extension is necessary. 

The ombudsman report recommends applications be accepted even if migrants
have not met all the requirements, as the processing of prerequisite
documents (most public hospitals are currently telling migrants to return
in four months), continues at a snail's pace. 

Much to the migrants' dismay, however, there is no mention of an extension
in the new bill, even though Skandalidis had told a conference hall packed
by migrant community leaders on December 18 that migrants will have at
least two extra months in which to submit their applications. The majority
of the six-month permits will expire in less than two months. 

Sources at the interior ministry told the Athens News on January 3 that
Skandalidis has not forgotten about his promise to grant migrants more
time. The details of the extension are still being worked out, they said,
and it will only be a matter of days before a ministerial circular
providing an official extension is issued. 

The ombudsman report also recommends that the entire application process be
suspended for several weeks in order to properly train the 350 additional
employees that the interior ministry is planning to hire. This, according
to the report, will reduce the bureaucratic inefficiency, which currently
requires thousands of migrants in Athens to queue overnight outside
application centres for a place at the head of the line. 

Additional proposals laid out in the Ombudsman's report concern the
duration of the residence and work permits. More specifically, the permits
should be valid for longer periods of time. The report notes that the
legalisation procedure is in jeopardy of collapsing if migrants are
required to renew their permits in less than 12 months from the date their
papers were issued. Longer-duration residence and work permits should also
be available for migrants married to Greeks and those who have children
born in Greece. 

If the recommendations aren't implemented, thousands of migrants could lose
the opportunity to live and work legally in Greece. Whether the government
includes the measures, however, remains to be seen. 



ATHENS NEWS , 04/01/2002, page: A12 
Article code: C12943A121



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