Following complaints, the NTA out inspections in two prefectures of the territory on the legitimacy of the issuance of residence permits for foreigners in Greece.
Findings of the Inspectors - Auditors during the audit in the first prefecture:
- Significant delays were noted in the processing of the procedure for granting residence permits to third-country nationals by the competent authority in all individual categories of permits, resulting in the exceeding of any reasonable time for the completion of the procedure
- In order for their stay in the country to become legal, applicants were required to submit successive applications for the replacement of the certificate of submission of the application for a residence permit due to the expiry of its duration. In some cases, the validity period of the residence permit had expired at the time the decisions granting the permit were issued
- Apart from the delays in the processing of the procedure for issuing residence permits, it was also found, in some cases of the sample checked by the inspectors, that residence permit decisions were issued despite the fact that the applications included attached documents that had obvious signs of forgery without the necessary authenticity check having been carried out by the competent authority
It should be noted that when the application and supporting documents were submitted, a certificate of filing was issued for a period of one year, with the consequence that the delay in the completion of the procedure, which amounted to an average of 40 months, resulted in third-country nationals moving around after the expiry of the certificate of filing without legal documents and without the right to work legally.
As a result of the above, third-country nationals have been inconvenienced due to the long waiting period for obtaining the necessary legal documents for their residence and work in the country and their confidence in the administration has been disturbed.
Proposals have been made to the relevant department for the immediate revocation of the illegal residence permits.
Disciplinary responsibilities were sought against the responsible officials and the report was sent to the Athens Appeals Prosecutor for the criminal evaluation of the allegations contained therein.
Findings of the Inspectors-Auditors during the audit in the second prefecture:
- In eleven (11) files, an irregularity was observed, inter alia, with regard to the validity of the relevant decisions issued for the granting of residence permits, in breach of the applicable provisions.
- In eighteen (18) files, there was a discrepancy between the declared residence data of the residence permit applicants and the documents submitted in the files. However, no further evidence was sought by the competent officials in order to ascertain the residence address of the applicants for residence permits, and they proceeded to issue the relevant residence decisions.
In addition, in two (2) cases a change of the applicants’ residence address was found, which was not reported to the competent Directorate of Aliens and Migration within two (2) months, in accordance with the relevant provisions. The Head of the above-mentioned Directorate did not confirm the fines provided for by law.
- Twelve (12) files were found to lack the legally required supporting documents and decisions to grant residence permits were issued in violation of the relevant provisions
- Finally, in two (2) files it was found that the legal supporting documents were missing, and at the same time a document accompanying the application, that was not legally valid, was accepted while one file was not properly kept.
Based on the above findings, the Secretary of the Decentralized Administration was asked to exercise his disciplinary authority:
a) Against the Deputy Head of the Directorate of Aliens & Migration of the Decentralized Administration, during the period under review, given that he signed decisions granting residence permits to third-country nationals (Georgian nationals), while the legal requirements were not met, as well as that he did not issue a fine for failure to declare a change of residence in time, in violation of the relevant provisions
b) Against the Head of the Residence Permits Department of the aforementioned Directorate of Aliens & Migration, during the period under review, for signing decisions granting residence permits to third-country nationals when the legal requirements were not met; and
c) Against employees of the Department of Residence Permits of the aforementioned Directorate of Aliens & Migration, because they drafted and countersigned decisions granting residence permits to third-country nationals, while the legal requirements were not met and/or they did not perform their duties properly when examining applications for the granting of residence permits and drafted and countersigned relevant decisions without requesting further evidence of the applicants’ declared postal address of residence.
Finally, the inspection team proposed the revocation of the above illegal decisions issued for the granting of residence permits to third-country nationals, as well as any subsequent decisions issued, which, at the renewal stage, took into account the previous defective decisions to be revoked.
The Audit Report has been forwarded to the Prosecuting Authorities for the criminal assessment of the allegations contained therein.