2024-04-16 14:44:12
At least 4,500 foreigners from third countries are now working legally in our country, making use of the amendment passed a few months ago that provides for the granting of a residence permit for dependent work to immigrants who have been in Greece for at least the last three years.
In total, according to the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum, the applications that have already been submitted by interested parties reach 14,000, while it is estimated that more than 30,000 people will eventually make use of the possibility of granting a residence permit in our country. At the same time, a bill of the Ministry of Immigration promotes changes that will make the process of transferring foreign workers from third countries to Greece easier, faster and with less bureaucracy, while it is also planned to extend the residence permit in our country from 3 to 5 years.
It should be noted that with two decisions the relevant ministries have approved the recall of at least 200,000 workers from third countries, while in December 2023 a provision was passed for migrant land workers who are already illegally employed in Greece. The provision concerns those immigrants who were in our country until November 30, 2023 as, according to government officials, the goal was not to act as a magnet and for other irregular immigrants to come, but to legally use those who are already working in the sphere of the black economy , to cover the great needs for workers mainly in the primary sector.
Thus, according to the Minister of Immigration Dimitris Kairides, 4,500 temporary permits have already been granted and it is estimated that by the end of the process 30,000 to 40,000 applicants will be legalized. According to the minister, the extension of the residence permit in our country from 3 to 5 years is already being considered, as well as the reinforcement of consulates with staff, in order to reduce the time and bureaucracy in the transfer process. Corresponding support is planned for the services of the Decentralized Administration, which will cooperate with the corresponding Asylum services.
The extension of the residence permit in our country from three to five years is being considered.
With the aim of creating a more flexible framework, without bureaucracy but respecting the legality that is often required in the transfer process, a “task force” has already been created with the participation of all the ministries involved, in order to “run” the procedures quickly and to no extra time should be wasted in meeting the needs that large sectors of the economy seem to have. In fact, many of the proposals discussed in this group will be included in the bill that is being drawn up by the Ministry of Immigration.
At the same time, business representatives are also taking initiatives. Thus, the creation of a digital platform according to the standards of the one already “run” by the National Association of Agricultural Cooperatives, is being planned by employer bodies such as SEV, SETE and SBE with the aim of meeting the needs of industry, tourism and construction by migrant workers third countries. “We lack thousands of workers, in almost every specialty, not only in technical specialties but also in modern technologies,” said the president of the Association of Greek Industries recently, at an event on the industry’s needs for more flexible and specialized training and professional education programs (SBE) Loukia Sarantis, revealing that in collaboration with other employers they are looking for solutions similar to those that the agricultural cooperatives have taken. In practice, it is an easy-to-use electronic database with available workers from third countries for re-call, which already works for the agricultural cooperatives-members of the Union of Cooperatives of Greece.
Now, and given the need of Greek businesses from different sectors of the economy for hundreds of thousands of workers, ways are being sought so that transfers can be made more quickly and with the most suitable personnel. The cooperatives come through the platform in cooperation with labor companies from the countries of origin of the workers, and they even ensure the simplification of the process of subcontracting land workers, thus creating the conditions for easy and legal labor finding. In this database, prospective workers from Vietnam, Thailand and India have been registered, by licensed labor force companies, who have all the necessary legalizing documents for their application in accordance with Greek labor law and Community law .
New redeployments of workers from third countries have recently been approved, with a decision that complements the one issued a year ago, in April 2023, and provides for the redeployment of an additional 32,517 workers from third countries, in order to meet the needs of employers mainly in the agricultural sector, in constructions, as well as in tourism – catering. Thus, in total, more than 200,000 transfers have been approved, which of course also include the interstate agreements that have already been signed with Egypt and Bangladesh or that our country is seeking (with India, Vietnam, the Philippines and Moldova).
Source kathimerini.gr