Illegally resident third-country nationals GR 2007

126 Pages·2005·2.36 MB·English

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CENTRE OF PLANNING AND ECONOMIC RESEARCH
EMN GREEK NATIONAL CONTACT POINT

ILLEGALLY RESIDENT THIRD COUNTRY NATIONALS
IN GREECE: STATE APPROACHES TOWARDS THEM,
THEIR PROFILE AND SOCIAL SITUATION
ST
(1 draft)

By
COSTAS N. KANELLOPOULOS*
in cooperation with
MARIA GREGOU and ATHANASIOS PETRALIAS

Athens
August 2005

We would like to thank officials of Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Public Order and
National Statistical Service for providing promptly unpublished data and information, as well
as many colleagues for stipulating discussions.

* CENTRE OF PLANNING AND ECONOMIC RESEARCH (KEPE)
HIPPOKRATOUS 22 STR., ATHENS 106 80, GREECE
EMAIL:
TABLE OF CONTENTS:

INTRODUCTION
Executive Summary
Type of material collected
1. LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND POLICY DEVELOPMENTS
2. STOCKS AND PROFILES
3. STATE APPROACHES
3.1 Measures to Prevent Illegal Immigration
3.2 Measures of Domestic Control
3.3 Voluntary and Forced Return
3.4 Measures of Rectification and Remedy
3.4.1 Legal Status
3.4.2 Social Services
3.4.3 Educational Facilities
3.4.4 Work
4. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SITUATION, POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
4.1 Social Situation
4.2 Economic Situation
4.3 Political Participation
5. THE IMPACT OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION IN THE HOST COUNTRY
6. CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
ANNEX I: TABLES ANALYSED IN THE STUDY
ANNEX II: INSTITUTIONS AND ORGANISATIONS ADDRESSING THE ISSUE OF
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

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INTRODUCTION

Executive Summary

Illegal immigration has taken sizeable extent in Greece since the early 1990s,
when the country changed from a traditional emigration to immigration country,
through massive inflow of immigrants mainly from its neighbouring countries of the
then collapsed communist bloc. It is indicative that until 1998, when the first
regularisation took place, the bulk of newly arrived immigrants were illegal. During
the first legalisation campaign 371,641 applied for the so-called temporary white card,
while only 219,024 out of these proceeded to the application for the Green card. A
reasonable estimate is that 200,000 illegal immigrants abstained from the first
regularisation and remained illegal. Roughly similar application figures appeared in
the second regularisation (361,119) that took place in 2002, while the number of those
not registered appears smaller around to 130,000.
Even though both regularisation campaigns reduced the number of illegal
immigrants, they did not solve the problem of illegality once and for all. The
remarkable reduction of the extent of illegal immigration is evident in the fact that the
number of expulsions declined drastically after the second regularisation. While in
1990s more than two hundred thousand immigrants were expelled, in the recent years
these are drastically reduced to around 45,000.
The evolution of illegal immigration since 2002 is not easy to document. Trade
union representatives and officials from the Ministry of Public Order estimate the
current stock of illegal immigrants to around 400,000. However, such a number
should be considered as an overestimation. It is true that the economy until the Athens
Olympic Games (August 2004) experienced a rather high growth rate, because of the
preparations for the Games, as well as because of the boom in the construction sector.
These activities absorbed a sizeable number of immigrants mainly those legalised
through the second regularisation programme. This is confirmed by the Labour Force
Survey data that show a clear increasing trend in the employed foreigners, from
145,000 in 2000 to 280,000 in 2004. Furthermore about 550,000 foreigners are
secured in the main social funds, implying they are legally resident.
It should be pointed out that the number of those who received a temporary
residence permit was 361,110 in the second regularisation. These temporary residence
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permits as well as those annual permits awarded after full examination of required
documents, actually extended through successive laws for a much longer period.
Thus, after the first stages of the second regularisation programme the number of
those lapsed into illegality is actually relatively small and the number of those who
remained illegal (taking into account asylum rejections) should be around to 150,000
persons. Moreover, because of the new arrivals of illegal immigrants it seems that the
total number of illegal immigrants currently could be approximately estimated up to
200,000.
Regarding the profile of illegal immigrants we use micro-data from the Labour
Force Survey by identifying as illegal immigrants those unsecured. As expected, it
turns out that the predominant country of origin is Albania (64%), the least developed
European country. Also, most of the unsecured (illegal) immigrants are unmarried and
relatively younger than the natives and even secured (legal) immigrants. Moreover,
as expected, unsecured immigrants have a smaller period of residency in Greece than
secured aliens. About one out of two of unsecured has been in the country for less
than four years. On the other hand, a large proportion of secured (18.34%) stay in
Greece for more than a decade.
Due to the massive influx of immigrants to Greece since the beginning of
1990s and its complex natural terrain, Greece has undertaken, even if slowly, a series
of measures to enhance its external border control. Greece has set up 58 departments
of border guard with personnel of approximately 5.000 guards. Also, co-operation has
been established between the various police departments, responsible for detecting
illegally resident aliens within the country, as well as with those responsible for
passport control and the control of sea, land and air borders. Greece has signed
readmission agreements with Bulgaria, France, Italy, Croatia, Lithuania, Latvia,
Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovenia. Bilateral agreements have also been signed
between Greece and some of the neighbouring Balkan countries (Albania, Bulgaria)
regarding seasonal work on the basis of the needs of Greek labour market. Cross-
border police co-operation has been established with Bulgaria, FYROM and Albania.
Last, Greece has signed with Turkey the Agreement on Combating Crime, Terrorism,
Organised Crime, Illicit Drug Trafficking and Illegal Immigration, which came into
force on July 17, 2001. The most recent development is the bilateral meeting, which
took place in May 2005, between the Greek Minister of Public Order and the
Pakistani Minister of Interior, in which several issues of common interest were
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discussed with regard to the prevention of illegal immigration, drug trafficking,
terrorism and organised crime. A bilateral agreement of co-operation was signed
between Greece and Pakistan, the specific conditions of which are to be determined in
the future.
Greek state on the basis of Law 2910/2001 enhanced its measure of domestic
control by stiffening the sanctions applied to those employing, carrying or providing
any sort of service to illegal immigrants. The only state authority, which has the
jurisdiction to check the legality of immigrants and make arrests within Greek
territory is police, which has the authority to apprehend and remove illegal
immigrants.
There is no evidence concerning the number of individuals, either legal or
illegal immigrants, returning voluntarily to their countries of origin. Despite the legal
provisions concerning forced return, which have been harmonised with those of EU,
there is a significant lack of legal provisions to encourage voluntary return.
The majority of forced returns in recent years consistently concerns Albanians,
while amongst certain other countries of origin, like Iran, Iraq expulsions represent
small and declining numbers. The number of removed Albanians is close to the
apprehended ones, while for certain Asian countries of origin, such as Iran and Iraq,
the number of removed is much lower than the number of apprehended. The difficulty
to remove illegal immigrants from the latter countries of origin discourages police
authorities to proceed to the apprehensions of these illegal immigrants.
In terms of the legal status of illegal immigrants, two programmes of
regularisation have taken place in 1998 and 2001. Both these programmes imposed a
heavy burden on administrative authorities and immigrants due to the huge number of
applications, especially in large cities, and the complex bureaucratic procedure.
Nevertheless, these programmes ameliorated the living conditions of illegal
immigrants and they provided information regarding the extent of the phenomenon, as
well as the profile of illegal immigrants. Also, the programmes paved the way for the
drastic decrease of expulsions and reduced the size of illegal employment. On the
other hand, it is true that Greece has not yet developed both a long-term and viable
immigration policy or a permanent formal admission system of immigrants. In this
respect, it is doubtful whether there are any cases of immigrant workers entering the
country legally on the basis of the provisions of current legislation (Law 2910/2001).
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Illegal immigrants are not entitled to any social services with the exception of
emergency and child medical treatment. Law 2910 provisions stiff penalties for all
those public and private agencies, which provide their services to immigrants who do
not produce the required travel and entry documents.
In terms of educational facilities, the children of illegal immigrants are entitled
to free education, since no formal documents are needed for their enrolment. The total
number of foreign pupils (including the so-called ‘homogeneis’) from 44,000 in 1996,
increased to 119,000 in 2003. The Ministry of Education has published data for the
school year 2002/3, showing some 97,000 non-ethnic Greek children and 31,000
ethnic Greek children in the state school system. These numbers imply that the vast
majority of immigrant children are in fact enrolled in public schools and their drop out
rate should not be very high.
In Greece, it is not possible for an illegal immigrant to work legally.
Employment of illegal immigrants seems an attractive option for both the employer
and the employee. In a country with high underground economy such an employment
is as flexible as the employer needs, while the illegal immigrant is unlikely to
complain whereas the legal one or native might. Furthermore, there can be additional
benefits for the employer, such as avoiding social security payments completely and
ignoring health and safety legislation, while the employee gets a multiple pay of what
he/she could get in his/her country of origin. It is worth noting that the temporary
immigration system is not widely developed.
Illegal immigrants are intentionally kept at a distance from all public
authorities. They are mobilised through the existing informal social networks and
ethnic associations, as well as non-governmental organisations that operate as
mediators between authorities and immigrants. Ethnic shops, special places for the
practice of religious duties in particular neighbourhoods of mainly Athens and other
large cities are used by the immigrants as places of contact and socialisation with their
co-ethnics. Despite these positive aspects, there are sporadic and declining cases
reported of maltreatment of illegal immigrants, especially women by their employers.
Previous studies, based on the data derived from legalisation processes, have
shown that illegal immigrants are generally employed in sectors displaying informal
activity and unskilled labour-intensity: construction, small scale or ‘informal’
business (garment), house maintenance and repairs, agriculture, housekeeping and
child or elderly care, tourism, catering and street selling.
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According to the recent Labour Force Survey data, a large proportion of illegal
immigrants works in private households (31.27%), followed by those working in
construction (29.32%). On the other hand, a rather small proportion of illegal
immigrants is employed in agriculture (8.39%) and in manufacturing (9.0%). Thus,
illegal immigrants are concentrated in sectors producing internationally non-tradable
goods, while they also display relatively high underground activity. Their pay is
generally lower compared with the pay of both legal immigrants and moreover that of
natives.
Despite the fact that the large immigration flows took place at periods of
simultaneous rather high or even increasing unemployment of the natives, it is very
doubtful whether unemployment is related to immigration especially the illegal one.
Most studies conclude that immigrants are employed in jobs for which Greeks are not
interested, thus functioning so far as complementary rather than substitute labour to
the native one.

Type of Material Collected

The material studied and analysed in this report includes publications from the
beginning of 1990s onward, which offer an extensive background on illegal
immigration in Greece, as it was then when the phenomenon of immigration, and
illegal immigration in particular, began to take dramatic proportion in relation to the
native population. However, the particular attention of this report is set on the most
recent publications from 1998 onwards, when the first regularisation campaign in
Greece took place. A set of the published material included in this study are articles
and reports published in scientific journals, or presented in conferences and academic
meetings, or books and reports published by Research Institutes, such as the Centre
for Planning and Economic Research (where the National Contact Point is located).
These documents are easily accessible and copies of them are available. Another set
of the material used includes reports on illegal immigration published by state bodies,
such as Ministries dealing with several dimensions of the issue (e.g. Ministry of
Public Order), as well as other organisations (e.g. Labour Institute of the Greek
Confederacy of Labour). Many of these reports, especially the older ones, draw data
from field research or administrative sources and make useful analyses and inferences
on the basis of theory and common sense.
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One of the most serious problems of research on illegal immigration in
Greece, as elsewhere, is the lack of adequate, detailed and reliable data on the
phenomenon. Generating data by means of field research is rather expensive while
research funds are hard to find. Therefore, many researchers conduct their own
surveys and due to the great effort required, they confine themselves to limited
samples of doubted representativeness. Another consequence of the lack of statistical
data and the limited research resources devoted to illegal immigration is that crucial
dimensions of the phenomenon have not yet been examined in depth.
A significant part of the material utilised by many researchers is stemming
from the two regularisation programmes that have been so far implemented by the
Greek state (1998, 2002), focusing on their legislative framework, the actual stage of
implementation, as well as the overall review and commentary of the processes and
the analysis of their policy implications.
In order to avoid the above mentioned deficiencies, in this report we have
mainly relied on official and as much as possible reliable data. The statistical data
utilised come from the following sources. From the National Censuses, from the past
regularisations, from the Ministry of Interior (regarding the number of valid residence
permits), and from the Ministry of Public Order (regarding entry refusals,
apprehended and removed aliens, as well as data on refused asylum applicants
estimated to be still residing in the country). Moreover, the study utilises unpublished
data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) of the National Statistical Service to offer
new insights to the study of legal and illegal immigration.
Although the available data on migration (legal & illegal) have been enriched
in the recent years, it is true that many aspects of illegal immigration are not well
documented. Thus, the study of these topics is not always well supported. This allows
many researchers to make casual statements, without being possible to prove or
disprove these statements on the basis of scientific and accurate evidence.

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1. LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND POLICY DEVELOPMENTS

Even though Greek legislation (L. 2910/2001, entitled “Entry and stay of aliens in
Greek territory, acquisition of Greek citizenship by naturalisation and other
provisions) does not clearly provide a formal definition of ‘illegal immigrants’, such a
definition can be derived in the context of certain articles (arts. 5, 19, 21, 50, 51, 53).
As it turns out, the law does not provide a definition different than that applied in the
context of Commission. More specifically, current law stipulates that any person shall
be allowed to enter Greek territory only through controlled border crossings (Art. 3,
para. 1) and shall be submitted to police control conducted by the local police services
(Art. 4, paras. 1-2). Art. 5 specifies the documents required for legal entry to Greece
for a short-stay (i.e. stay for three months in whole within a time period of six months
as from the date of first entry). These documents include passport or other travel
documents recognised by international conventions, and if required, a visa. Also, an
alien may be allowed to enter the country to work for a particular employer and at a
particular employment, if he/she has been granted a work permit by the prefect (Art.
19, para. 1). Thus in this case, work permit is a prerequisite for the legal entry of an
alien, who wishes to work in Greece. Once the would-be alien worker enters the
country he/she should apply for a residence permit, provided that he/she has an
employment agreement and a health certificate (Art. 21). The duration of such a
residence permit is up to one year and may be renewed from time to time for a period
of up to one year. The stay permit is issued by the Regional Secretary General
(appointed by the Ministry of Interior).
Art. 51 explicitly defines as illegal immigrants those who generally cannot prove
that they reside legally in Greece, meaning those who do not have a passport or other
travel document or visa or a valid stay permit. Thus, it is clear that “any person who
does not, or no longer, fulfil the conditions for entry to, presence in, or residence on
the territory of Greece” is considered an illegal immigrant. In this context, the
Ministry of Public Order considers as illegally present aliens those who have been
found to have entered illegally (whether this be by avoiding immigration controls
altogether, by employing some sort of deception, such as the use of a fraudulent
document, in order to gain entry or by failing to comply with a decision to refuse or
prohibit the subjects’ entry) and those who may have entered legally but have
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subsequently remained on an illegal basis (by, for example, overstaying their
permission to remain or by taking unauthorised employment).
Current Greek legislation on migration does not prescribe any basic and minority
rights for illegal immigrants. On the contrary, it prescribes particular sanctions against
illegal immigrants (up to three-month imprisonment and a pecuniary penalty), as well
as against their employers. Furthermore, the Law prohibits public services, legal
entities under public law, local authorities, public benefit organisations and
corporations, as well as social security organisations from providing their services to
aliens, who cannot prove that they reside legally in the country (Art. 51). Hospitals,
infirmaries and clinics are allowed to offer their services in cases of emergency and
minor children. It is also worth noting that since 1996, minor children whose parents
are illegal immigrants are allowed to be enrolled in Greek public schools and training
institutes, since no documents are required for their enrolment.
The most important development regarding the status of illegal immigrants in
Greece is the conduct of two regularisation programmes, in 1998 and 2002
respectively, while a third one is under way. The first regularisation programme took
place in accordance with Presidential Decrees 358/97 and 359/97, whereas the second
regularisation took place according to Law 2910/2001. In the first regularisation,
approximately 370,000 applications have been submitted, whereas in the second
programme the total number of those granted temporary stay permits amounted to
350,000. As discussed in the relevant section, both regularisation programmes,
radically decreased the number of illegal immigrants present in the country.
At this stage it seems useful to briefly discuss some of the reasons why the first
regularisation programme in Greece was introduced as late as 1998 even though a
high influx of immigrants started to arrive in Greece at the beginning of 1990s. It
should be pointed out that immigration was a rather new phenomenon for the case of
Greece, a traditional emigration country. The reserved perception of the Greek society
towards immigrants and the poor infrastructure required to cope with a substantial
influx of migrants (in majority economic migrants) could not allow an earlier
regularisation. In this respect, under certain conditions the optimal policy for a
government might not be the immediate legalisation of illegal immigrants. The main
issue is the economic impact of migrants on the host society. Certain studies have
shown that the economic impact of migrants is in general positive but its
distributional effects are negative for a remarkable percentage of the Greek population
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