Unlike the United States, where citizenship is assigned by birth in the country’s borders, Greek Citizenship is done by parentage. As far as the legal process goes, Greeks in the diaspora need to prove to the Greek government that they have an ancestor with Greek Citizenship.

Greek Americans are now required to work their citizenship process through one of the eight General Consulates of the Hellenic Republic within the United States that they were born closest to. For instance, Greek Americans born in Seattle, Washington must conduct their citizenship proceedings at the Consulate in San Francisco, because it is their official local Consulate. Likewise, if a Seattle-born Greek American were to move to New York later in life, they would still need to return to the Consulate in San Francisco to file a citizenship application.

This is an especially tedious process, because Greek Consulate offices in the US are notoriously difficult to work through, with appointment waiting times often reaching six months or more. Because of this, KTE advises those interested in becoming Greek citizens to set an appointment immediately and spend the ensuing months securing all necessary documents, detailed in the section below.

Up until a few years ago, there used to be a special registry office in Athens that serviced diaspora Greeks in the citizenship process. However, this office is no longer accepting applications, but Greeks living abroad can still hire a Greek lawyer to care of the proceedings for them — a popular method of obtaining citizenship in years past.

How to become a Greek citizen

The easiest way to acquire your Certificate of Registration – legal proof of Greek Citizenship – is if your parents are already Greek citizens. If this is the case, obtaining your own Greek Citizenship requires the processing of two documents: one, your parent’s marriage certificate to establish a legal record of their union, and two, your birth certificate to prove to the Greek government that you are the offspring of Greek citizens.

In addition to these two vital elements, application requirements include your passport, social security number, personal tax audits for recent years (if applicable) and an official “declaration of Naturalization,” which government employees can help you with.

Source: ypes.gr

Applications can be made whenever, and typically come with a cost of 100-120 euros. Municipal authorities will help you translate all required documents into Greek, which is mandatory. According to Greek law, decisions are made within 12-18 months of application submission.

Each of the necessary documents you collect prior to your appointment with the Greek Consulate must have an apostille, or internationally recognized certification of authenticity via the agency that originally issued it. For example, a copy of your parent’s marriage certificate from the State of Utah must have an apostille from the Lieutenant Governor’s office to verify it is a true and correct copy.

What if my parents are not Greek citizens?

In the event that your parents are not yet Greek citizens, as it was for KTE’s founders, obtaining Greek citizenship becomes a matter of documenting multiple generations, until a link can be established between you and your ancestors with Greek citizenship.

This process is more difficult because it involves mapping your family tree (or merida) and creating an unbroken chain, in the eyes of the Greek government, between yourself and your closest relative with Greek citizenship. In practice, this means tracking down – with little to no governmental assistance – all necessary documents such as multiple birth certificates, marriage certificates, immigration paperwork and potential name changes. It is especially difficult if your ancestors are now deceased, or if they came to the United States as war refugees without necessary documents.

When our own Pappou left Greece after WWII, he left a single man without kids. So, despite marrying in America and having two children, the Greek government still considered him a single child of his parents, as far as his “merida” was concerned. When it finally came time for us to apply for citizenship, we were required to supply the Greek government with apostilled records of his name change, marriage, the birth certificates of our father (his child), etc.

Our Pappou, Thomas Christopher Benis, left Greece for America after WWII.

Recreating your family tree, in a legal sense, is no small task. That is why KTE strongly advises Greek Americans interested in becoming citizens to start the process as early as possible, and leverage all remaining connections in Greece during the application process. Mapping your ancestral “merida” is much easier if you have a relative in Greece who can go to your family’s χωριό (village) and find necessary documents on your behalf. As you can imagine, many government offices in Greece are not very responsive to emails written in English, and it pays to have a relative advocating for you.

It is important to stress that the Greek bureaucracy is difficult to navigate. Much of the aforementioned tracking down of documents will need to be done on your own. When you conduct your application through the Greek Consulate system in America, you will need to source and present the documents on your own.

What if my parents or grandparents are already deceased, and I cannot provide an unbroken chain of Greek ancestry?

In that case, there is an entirely different path towards citizenship. Diaspora Greeks unable to map their ancestry can apply for citizenship through naturalization, or by claiming Greek heritage.

The process involves the procurement of many of the same documents mentioned above, but at the end of the application process, you will have an interview with your local Greek Consulate where they evaluate your Greekness by asking you questions about Greek history, current events and culture.

How should the system be changed?

KTE’s suggestion to the Greek government is to make all of this possible to do online – easier said than done, of course. Yet clearly, there is a need for more government employees at Greek Consulates, which are often understaffed and underfunded. If Greek Americans need to wait six months to get an appointment, there are not enough people in the office.

Our Pappou had his name changed by the American military, adding a layer of difficulty to the citizenship process.

For KTE’s founders, who sought citizenship despite our parents not having it, finding all of the necessary documents proved exceedingly difficult. Like many Greek Americans, our ancestors had their names shortened by authorities upon entry to the United States. Our own bid for citizenship was nearly thwarted by struggling to obtain our Pappou’s name change records, which ended up being in a military base in Fairbanks, Alaska.

As such, we believe Greeks in the diaspora should be able to apply for citizenship in a remote setting, with all existing records digitized in a governmental database.

Why is the citizenship process worth it?

Having Greek citizenship isn’t just a matter of having a document, it is an affirmation that you are finally reconnected with your homeland. The process gets more and more difficult as you get older, so KTE encourages all interested Greeks in the diaspora to begin the process as early as possible.

Getting your Greek citizenship will open many doors for you. Yes, the Greek bureaucracy can be very thick and dense, but applying for citizenship is your opportunity to prove you are Greek in the legal sense.