Newsletter on Immigration to Greece
Editor: Ioannis Kolovos
UK House of Commons Home Affairs Committee comments on RABITs performance on Greek-Turkish border
According to the Committee’s report “The Frontex operation is not performing a significantly different role from that played by the Greek authorities, other than providing increased personnel and provision of technical assistance in the form of cameras, helicopters and so forth” and the Team “cannot act to intercept migrants until they have already crossed the border into Greece, and they cannot send them back”.
The relevant article (The Daily Mail, 1/8/2011) can be read here (in English)
Ministry for Citizen’s Protection to co-operate with New York University’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice
The cooperation will cover areas such as terrorism, human trafficking and illegal immigration.
Another hidden cost of immigration
According to Bank of Greece data, billions of euros have been sent by immigrants from Greece to their countries of origin as remittances during the last eight years. More specifically, 2.2 billion euros have been sent to Albania, 1.5 million euros to Pakistan and about 200,000 euros to Afghanistan.
The relevant article (Athens News, 14/8/2011) can be read here (in English)
Making the legalization of immigrants easier
The Ministry of Interior has drawn up a new Bill that reduces from 12 to 10 the number of years required by an immigrant to have been living in Greece – legally or illegally - in order to be eligible for a temporary residence permit. The Bill is being debated in Parliament.
The relevant article (Athens News, 14/8/2011) can be read here (in English)