Brexit and More Implications for this Expat in Greece.

 13^th of February – a memorable day, when Z’n’me headed off to the regional administration offices of Macedonia-Thrace to submit my application – and reams of related papers - for Greek naturalization. We took a number to secure our position in the queue but, fortunately, there were not many people there, most in fact waiting for offices dealing with other issues to be freed up. Once the official had made a rather cursory review of my documents, he told us to go to any Citizens’ Service Centre to pick up and fill out the form we required to make the required fee to any bank. This entailed a 15 minute-walk, then a further 5 minutes to the nearest bank.

 Question1: Why couldn’t we pay the fee electronically in the first office?            Or, failing that,

Question 2: Why couldn’t they keep a supply of those forms in that office to expedite the whole process?

This went fairly smoothly and my vivo-smart device was chalking up a considerable number of unexpected footsteps and related expended calorie-count – all good. We even joked about the Harry Klyn sketch, hoping that we could bring this application event to an uneventful conclusion. Big Mistake! As we returned to the original office, with our bank receipt of payment in hand, we were met by the official who glumly informed us the system was down and none of their computers was in operation. Should we stay or should we go now – how do we respond to this updated Klyn-type obstacle? Well, we stayed, service resumed, we left with the official number of our freshly-minted file – and 2 further requirements: a copy of every page in my passport, lawyer-validated, and a copy of the part of our tax form to verify I am co-owner of our home. Could have been worse!

On Monday 18^th February, we meet up at the Electra Palace Hotel for our Outreach Meeting with the British Ambassadress, Kate Smith, and her team to update us on the Brexit situation. Very articulate and efficient, she prevented question-time from meandering or wobbling. It was reassuring and commendable that Catriona, from the Citizens’ Rights Policy Group in London had been sent to meet us as was her counterpart, Areti, from the Greek government. They were able to pick up on issues that the Lady Ambassador fielded to them though even they baulked at predicting the status of NGO workers and ….nuns!

We were informed that in terms of citizens’ rights, our government had made a unilateral commitment to all the European countries that in Britain their expats’ rights would be upheld. We were assured that hosts of people were working behind the scenes, trying to gain the same commitment for British citizens residing in these countries. 

And we had evidence of that the very next day when Kate Smith announced on the social media that the Greek government had confirmed its commitment to recognizing and guaranteeing the rights of UK nationals already living in Greece. Oh, joyful news!

Busy week, this! Wednesday 20^th saw me collating - hopefully the last - papers to take to the regional administration offices. A different official accepts them and gives us an additional protocol number to identify my file.

I know that applicants are expected to demonstrate their knowledge of Greek history and language and am told they will not accept my Ellinomatheas, a hard-earned certificate for which I had to sit a written history exam, write an essay and have an oral interview in front of 3 officials. Instead I will be called before a 5-member board to answer questions on Greek History, Geography, language and culture.  To assist us they provide us with a link to a booklet containing all the information we are expected to know. It apparently runs to 88 pages - gulp! But they tell me there is no rush: they are currently interviewing applicants from 2014, and working on the applications made in 2013!

A happy me, relieved of heavy file, outside the regional offices.

Then we head off to celebrate in the warm sunshine with some meze and a nice local wine!

As they say, ‘When in Greece …..’