Family reunification is essential to making family life possible and plays a crucial role in enabling refugees who have fled persecution to rebuild a normal life.

This report examines the procedure on family reunification for recognised refugees in Greece whose family members reside outside the European Union. It analyses the implementation of Presidential Decree 131/2006 and the EU Family Reunification Directive 2003/86/EC within the Greek legal and administrative framework. Alongside a step-by-step overview of the procedure, the report identifies key legal and practical challenges and offers recommendations to safeguard family unity in line with international and European law.

Although the right to family life is a fundamental human right, the report reveals that, in practice, recognised refugees and their families face numerous legal and practical obstacles, from the gathering and certification of documents to limited access to Greek consulates and delays or denials in visa issuance. Among other issues, the report documents difficulties in the submission of family reunifications applications at certain Regional Asylum Offices or the Headquarters of the Hellenic Police, hurdles in the issuance of travel documents, challenges in the certification of required documents, and disproportionate difficulties in the issuance of visas. Such obstacles render the right to family reunification theoretical and illusory

This report presents targeted recommendations, grounded in the extensive experience of the Greek Council for Refugees in family reunification cases of recognised refugees in Greece. These recommendations aim to ensure that the right to family life does not remain a theoretical legal provision without practical implementation, but is effectively safeguarded in practice, as required by international and European law.

Read the full report in english here.