Residence permit for family reunification with a third-country national sponsor (type ‘O.1’)
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Άδεια διαμονής για οικογενειακή επανένωση μελών οικογένειας πολίτη τρίτης χώρας (άδεια διαμονής τύπου «Ο.1») as of 2023-04-01[4][6] |
|---|---|
| Official name (English) | Residence permit for family reunification with a third-country national sponsor (type 'O.1') as of 2023-04-01[4][6] |
| Legal basis | Migration Code (L.5038/2023) Arts. 83-92, transposing Directive 2003/86/EC; family-member definition Art. 4(le) as amended by Art. 9 L.5275/2026; income calculation JMD 225679/2024 (Gazette B' 5223) Art. 2; fees Art. 171(1)(b) as of 2026-02-06[2][3][4][5][6] |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EU, EEA as of 2023-04-01[4][6] Arts. 84-90 do not apply to family members of EU citizens (Art. 83(3)); those are covered by p.d. 106/2007. |
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| Criminal-record condition | Yes as of 2023-04-01[4][6] Art. 85(2) requires the police authority's opinion on public order and security; Art. 88(1)(a)-(b) are the corresponding refusal grounds. |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | Not applicable as of 2023-04-01[4][6] Art. 87(1): the family members' permit expires with the sponsor's permit, so no independent initial term exists. Where the sponsor already holds long-term resident status, the family members' initial permit is three years. |
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| How the initial term is set | matches the sponsor's permit |
| Renewable | Yes as of 2023-04-01[4][6] Art. 87(1): on renewal the family permit continues to follow the sponsor's; where the sponsor acquires long-term resident status it is renewed every three years. |
| Renewal duration | Not applicable as of 2023-04-01[4][6] Follows the sponsor's permit; three years where the sponsor is a long-term resident (Art. 87(1)). |
| Work rights | employment only as of 2023-04-01[4][6] Art. 89(1)(b) gives family members access to DEPENDENT EMPLOYMENT, alongside education and vocational guidance and training; independent economic activity is not among the enumerated rights. Recorded with v1.0's employment_only value (E1) rather than left unrecorded. The autonomous O.2 permit under Art. 90(7) confers immediate access to dependent employment and to study at any level. |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Yes as of 2023-04-01[1][4][6] Family permit holders are not excluded from the long-term residence chapter (Art. 143(2)). Independently, Art. 90(1) gives the spouse or partner and a child who has reached majority an autonomous permit (type 'O.2') after at most five years of residence in Greece, capped at three years' validity (Art. 90(3)). |
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Requirements
| Who can sponsor | permanent resident, temporary permit holder, specific permits as of 2023-04-01[4][6] Art. 83(1): the sponsor holds a residence permit issued by the Greek authorities with a validity of at least two years which allows the acquisition of a right of permanent residence. Art. 83(2) excludes sponsors who are applicants for or beneficiaries of international, temporary or subsidiary protection. Sponsorship by a Greek citizen is a separate route (gr-family-of-greek-citizen); the three closest sponsor_statuses values are recorded together, with the actual test captured structurally in requirements.sponsor_qualifier below. |
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| Eligible relations | spouse, minor child, adult dependent child as of 2026-02-06[2][3][4][6] Art. 4(le) as amended by Art. 9 L.5275/2026: (i) the other spouse, provided he or she is 18 or over; (ii) the couple's unmarried common children under 18, including children lawfully adopted in Greece or under a recognised foreign judgment; (iii) other unmarried children under 18 of the sponsor or of the spouse where custody has lawfully been assigned to that parent; and, new since 6 February 2026, (iv) adult children of the sponsor or spouse who lack legal capacity, regardless of age, who live with and are supported by the sponsor, proved by a final court judgment or equivalent authenticated foreign document. Ascendants are not included. Art. 84(3) bars reunification with a second spouse in cases of polygamy. |
| Sponsor income requirement | 14 × Statutory minimum monthly wage for employees (a monthly figure), assessed annually as of 2024-09-17[4][5][6][7] |
| Sponsor accommodation requirement | Yes as of 2023-04-01[4][6] Art. 84(2)(a): accommodation adequate for the sponsor and the family members for whom reunification is sought. Art. 84(2)(c) additionally requires full sickness insurance covering the family. |
| Sponsor waiting period | 2 years as of 2023-04-01[4][6] Art. 84(1): the third-country national must have resided lawfully in Greece for two years before becoming entitled to apply. Art. 42(2) disapplies this for EU Blue Card holders. |
| Pre-entry language test | No as of 2023-04-01[4][6] Absence-based: Arts. 84-86 impose no language or integration test as a condition of reunification or of the initial permit. |
| Who qualifies as a sponsor |
|
Process
| Where to apply from | from abroad only as of 2023-04-01[4][6] Art. 84(1): the application is lodged and examined while the family members are outside Greece, although prior presence in Greece does not bar it. Art. 92 separately allows a permit where the family is formed in Greece by marriage or civil partnership between third-country nationals already holding permits, and Art. 12(2) allows a move into the 'O' category on marriage, civil partnership or the birth of a Greek child. |
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| Statutory processing time | 9 months as of 2023-04-01[4][6] Art. 85(3) and Art. 86(3): the reunification procedure is completed at the latest within nine months of the approval application, extendable by up to three further months in exceptional cases. The police and consular opinions are due within three months, extendable by 30 days (Art. 85(2)). |
| Fees |
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| Quota |
Your next step
Read the requirements above considering your own situation: the income multiple, the absence limits, who you can bring. Check the country record for the reference figure those amounts are calculated from, and for anything that has changed recently.
The next step is your own case. That assessment is legal work. Create profile for our assistance in this.
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Verification
| Sources cited | 8 |
|---|---|
| of which official (tier 1) | 7 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2023-04-01 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-08-04 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-11 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] Council Directive 2003/109/EC concerning the status of third-country nationals who are long-term residents
EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU) · statute · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-04 - [2] Law 5275/2026 – promotion of legal migration policies and transposition of Directive (EU) 2024/1233 (full text reproduction)
e-nomothesia.gr · press · Tier 2 · Published 2026-02-06 · Accessed 2026-08-04 - [3] Law 5275/2026 – promotion of legal migration policies, transposition of Directive (EU) 2024/1233 (Government Gazette A' 17/06.02.2026)
National Printing House (et.gr) · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2026-02-06 · Accessed 2026-08-04 - [4] Law 5038/2023 – Migration Code (Government Gazette A' 81/01.04.2023)
National Printing House (et.gr) · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2023-04-01 · Accessed 2026-08-04 · Archived copy - [5] JMD 225679/2024 – sufficient resources amounts under L.5038/2023 (Government Gazette B' 5223/17.09.2024)
National Printing House (et.gr) · gazette · Tier 1 · Published 2024-09-17 · Accessed 2026-08-04 - [6] Migration Code, Law 5038/2023 (Government Gazette A' 81/01.04.2023) – full text hosted by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum
Hellenic Ministry of Migration and Asylum · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2023-04-01 · Accessed 2026-08-04 · Archived copy - [7] JMD 225679/2024 – determination of the level and means of proof of sufficient resources under L.5038/2023 (Gazette B' 5223/17.09.2024), copy hosted by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum
Hellenic Ministry of Migration and Asylum · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2024-09-17 · Accessed 2026-08-04 · Archived copy - [8] Residence permit of a highly qualified employee ('E.1') following admission with a uniform visa or visa-free regime – initial granting
National Registry of Administrative Procedures (Mitos), Hellenic Republic · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-04 · Archived copy