Guidance

Greece: Knowledge Base profile

Published 12 March 2024

About: Greece

This document contains useful information about Greece which will assist HM Passport Office staff process passport applications.

Contacts

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Publication

Below is information on when this version of the document was published:

• version 2.0
• published for Home Office staff on 8 March 2024

Changes from last version of this document

This document has been updated with minor formatting changes.

Greece: names

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about names in Greece.

Names in Greece consist of:

• one or more forenames
• a family surname.

Children can either:

• take their father’s surname
• have a double-barrelled name which is usually father’s-mother’s surname

Surnames often denote the gender of the holder therefore female surnames may be different from their father’s or male siblings. The female version of a surname often ends “ou”, “i” or “a” whilst the male version ends “os”, “is” or “as”, (for example, Papadopoulos for the male, Papadopoulou for the female).

Names in Greece passports are written in Greek with a transliteration into Latin. For example, the name Αικατερίνη Οικονομοπούλου could appear as Ekaterini, Aikaterini, Ekaterina or Catherine.

Change of name

Where the child has been baptised after a birth registration and given a middle name, the Baptism certificate can be accepted as confirmation of the middle name.

Following marriage, Greek men and women must keep their birth surname. They can add their spouse’s surname to their own as part of a double-barrelled name. The addition must be made by joint declaration before the Registrar and is valid until:

• it is withdrawn before the Registrar by a joint declaration (by the spouses); or
• by a unilateral decision where the other is informed

If the marriage is resolved by divorce, the statement is deemed revoked. If the marriage is terminated by death, the addition shall remain in force unless the surviving spouse has entered into a new marriage or made a rescinding declaration before the Registrar.

Change of surname (other than by marriage) is only allowed in exceptional cases, where there are serious reasons for changing a name and in no instance to a foreign name. The person must update their Greece identification card and passport (if they have one).

Name alignment

There are some variations in the way the authorities translate, for example, some authorities will translate into Latin, and others into English.

Where a variation in the name requested on the British passport is due to transliteration, HM Passport Office will not request alignment.

Greece: nationality

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about nationality in Greece.

Dual nationality is allowed in Greece.

Greece: legitimacy and parental responsibility

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about legitimacy and parental responsibility in Greece.

Legitimacy

Greece recognises a difference between illegitimate and legitimate births.

A child will be considered:

• legitimate when:
  • the parents are married at the time of the birth
  • the parents marry after the child’s birth, from the date of marriage if the father makes an official declaration of paternity
  • a child of the mother’s ex-husband if the child is born up to 300 days after the dissolution or annulment of the mother’s marriage
• illegitimate if their parents never marry

Parental responsibility

Parental responsibility is shared equally between both parents in Greece. Where parents divorce, parental responsibility is decided by the courts.

Where either of the parents is unable to exercise parental responsibility, that parent remains a simple holder of the right while parental responsibility is exercised solely by the other parent. This can be for:

• practical reasons (for example, hospitalisation, imprisonment)
• legal reasons

If neither parent is able to exercise parental responsibility, the child will be placed under guardianship. The parents will keep parental responsibility as simple holders of the right, but they will be unable to exercise it.

Greece: adoption

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about adoption in Greece.

Adoption is legal in Greece.

Adoptive parents can legally use a pseudonym during the adoption procedure to protect their own and their adoptive child’s anonymity. Additional documentation may be needed in such cases to confirm the identity of the adoptive parents as the adoption papers may have a different name.

Same sex couples can adopt in Greece.

Greece: gender recognition

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about gender recognition in Greece.

Transgender citizens are recognised in Greece. Gender change is by court order.

See the list of approved countries and territories for Gender Recognition Certificates for more information.

Greece: civil partnerships and marriage

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about civil partnerships and marriage in Greece.

Same sex civil partnerships are recognised in Greece.

Same sex marriages are legal in Greece.

Greece: documents

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about documents from Greece.

Following the withdrawal of the UK from the EU, HM Passport Office cannot accept Multilingual Standard Forms (MSFs) issued by member states. An MSF will:

• contains a reference to the convention signed at Vienna on September 8 1976, this may be on the reverse of the document
• be marked as a Formul A (birth certificate), normally in the top right corner on the front of the document in the language of the country where the document was issued
  • there will also be marriage certificates and death certificates that will have a different Formul version that is also not acceptable

These documents are an extract of a civil registration record translated into the language needed and not a full, original certificate.

Birth certificates

The parents or any person present at the birth may complete the birth registration and submit a birth declaration to the local Registry from the attending midwife or obstetrician.

If the birth occurred at a hospital or clinic, they are responsible for registering the birth at the local Registry within 10 days. The parents will be given a hospital notification record, which they send to the local Registry, where a birth certificate will be provided.

Births must be registered within 40 days of the birth. Late registrations are allowed.

Unmarried parents can register the father’s details if both parents create an agreement (using a notary public) declaring who the father is. Both parents will sign the declaration. The parents submit this document to the Registrar where a new birth certificate is issued confirming father’s details and showing the child’s full details.

A birth certificate in Greece can be initially issued without the child’s forename. HM Passport Office will not accept a birth certificate without a child’s forename as both the forename and surname must be recorded. Where a birth certificate is received without a forename, the applicant or parents must register the forename with the Greek registry office.

There is no central register of births in Greece. There are 3 different documents certifying birth. These are:

• the Registered Birth Act (Lixiarchiki Praxi Gennisis) (ΛΗΞΙΑΡΧΙΚΗ ΠΡΑΞΗ ΓΕΝΝΗΣΕΩΣ) is issued by the registrar where the birth was registered. This birth certificate is a living document which shows all changes and is issued to Greek and foreign citizens (acceptable for HM Passport Office purposes)
• the birth certificate (Pistopoiitiko Genniseos) is issued by the Citizens’ Registry of the Municipality where the person named is a citizen and is only issued to Greek citizens (acceptable for HM Passport Office purposes)
• the Extract of the Registered Birth Act ‘Apokoma Lixiarchikés Praxis Gennisis) (ΑΠΟΣΠΑΣΜΑ) does not have the full details of parents (not acceptable for HM Passport Office purposes)

Where an error was made when the birth certificate was issued, marginal notes can be added to the record.

Marriage certificates

A marriage must be registered within 40 days at the vital statistics office (Lixiarhio) of the city where the ceremony was held. Late registrations are allowed. Unregistered marriages are not legal.

A marriage can be registered by either spouse, or by a third party who has power of attorney signed before a Notary Public giving them authority.

A marriage certificate is issued for all marriages registered (ΛΗΞΙΑΡΧΙΚΗ ΠΡΑΞΗ ΓΑΜΟΥ).

Death certificates

The civil registry in Greece issues all death certificates.