Asylum seekers face new rules in mainland areas

Two new reception and identification centers in northern and southern Greece will be designated by the Migration Ministry in the coming days to record the biometric data of all foreign nationals in mainland areas who were not registered at existing centers on the islands and the Evros border outpost.

Migrants who do not enter Greece via these points usually go to police stations to apply for asylum, bypassing the identification process. Once there, they are provided with a pass giving them 30 days to register at an asylum service. Most do not.

Ministry sources told Kathimerini that in some cases the same person appears two or three times at different precincts. Some 200 people a week show up at police stations, mainly in the north, to obtain an asylum seeker’s card valid for a period of one month.

From now on, those who appear at precincts will be transferred to a reception and identification center.