Updated
GR-CBD
Citizenship by descent
We help you obtain Greek citizenship by descent, from finding your ancestor and restoring documents to filing the application and receiving the passport.
01 / The mechanism
Greece recognises citizenship for descendants of Greeks and grants citizenship to ethnic Greeks from the countries of the former USSR. The ground is documented descent. Investment, residence in the country and a language exam are not conditions.
Greece has no citizenship-for-money programme. An investment gives an investor residence permit, which is a different status and a different page.
For descendants, the law does not require living in the country for a set period. You can live where you live now, while the process runs in Greece.
The law speaks of descent from a Greek citizen and does not say how many generations ago they lived. The limit is documentary: each link of the family line has to be proven by a record.
If the exact history of the ancestor is unknown and you have almost nothing in hand, we start from surnames, towns and relatives’ names and rebuild the line through the archives.
The ground is the Greek Citizenship Code, Law 3284/2004, and the ministerial decisions in force. BRIDGES checks the family history, finds the documents, prepares the application and supports the process. The decision is made by the competent Greek authority.
02 / Checks
It is a full European Union passport.
Live, work, study and run a business in the 27 EU countries, as well as Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. No visas, permits or quotas.
Borderless Schengen, the UK, the USA, Canada, Japan and almost the whole world, visa-free or under simplified rules.
European universities on equal terms with locals: local tuition fees and access to European scholarships.
The European Health Insurance Card and EU social systems on equal terms with citizens of the country where you live.
Children born after you become a citizen acquire Greek citizenship by birth, whichever country they are born in.
At registration you can record the Greek form of your name and the ancestor’s surname as it appears in the Greek records.
Preliminary assessment
We study the family history and the grounds of each applicant. Then we set the cost of support, the indicative timeline and the stages of the process.
Who is applying for citizenship?
about 1 minuteno obligationconfidential
03 / Why it matters
Every family has its own reason, but most often there are four.
EU citizenship removes visas, work permits and quotas. The passport is Greek, but you can live in Germany, Austria or the Netherlands: one right across the whole union.
A European university at local fees and an open labour market after graduation. Citizenship then passes on to their own children.
For many it is the return of what history took away: resettlements, shifting borders, forced departure from the Black Sea region and Asia Minor.
Citizenship is not renewed and is not lost because you live in another country. The decision is made once and stays for good.
EU citizen rights come from citizen status, not from the passport itself. Entry regimes for third countries are set by the receiving states and change without notice.
04 / Grounds
One ground can extend to several generations of one family. The documents on the ancestor are gathered once and then used to prepare the relatives’ applications. Each adult still files their own application.
05 / Evidence
We prepare the full set for recognition of Greek citizenship by descent. Some documents you have; others we find in the archives.
01You gather
02We gather together
03We do it for you
04Our work
06 / How we work
We run the whole process from analysing the family tree to the passport. Everything that can be done without you, we take on.
You tell us about the family and pass on what you have: certificates, old passports, letters, photos. If there are few documents, names, dates and town names are enough.
We determine which ground is yours and say straight away if it is weak. This is also where the volume of archive work becomes clear.
We agree the family members, the scope of archive and legal work, the stages, timelines and budget.
Once signed, you are assigned a lawyer, an archive specialist and a coordinator.
Requests to Greek municipal registers, church books and archives of the Black Sea and Azov regions, restoring birth records and resolving differences in surnames.
The least predictable stage: in some places the answer comes in a month, elsewhere a book is lost and the family link is proven another way.
We prepare the application and annexes, sworn translations and legalisation of the documents.
We check the set for discrepancies in names and dates to avoid an additional request on the application.
The application is filed in Greece through the municipality where the ancestor was registered. We support the process of its review. The applicant takes part in person where the procedure requires it.
The application is then reviewed by the Greek authority. After a positive decision we support the registration and the passport.
In our practice the full cycle takes from 9 to 16 months. The main variable is how well the archive records for your line have survived.
Citizenship by descent helps restore the link with your family’s history.
Check the ground07 / After the decision
After a positive decision, registration and the citizen’s documents remain. You do not need to move to Greece for this.
The entry is made in the municipal register and, for male applicants, the male population register. From this point citizenship is complete.
Issued after registration together with an identity card. We book the appointment and prepare the documents.
We handle registration and passports for all family members who filed separate applications.
They acquire Greek citizenship by birth, whatever the country of birth; nothing has to be proven separately.
Greece does not require you to give up your previous citizenship. We only check whether the country of your current passport allows a second citizenship.
Men aged 19 to 45 are registered. For those living permanently abroad there is a deferral and reduced service. We go through this before filing, not after.
08 / Our role
The process rests on archive documents: the key is to find the ancestor, prove the family line and prepare a complete set for the application.
Before the contract we analyse the family tree and say plainly: there is a ground, there is none, or an archive search with an uncertain outcome is needed. We do not offer work with no prospects.
Greek municipal registers, church books, archives of the Black Sea and Azov regions, Soviet resettlement records and different spellings of surnames. You do not need to write the requests yourself.
The work goes through the municipality where the ancestor was registered. This is our standard support procedure for this ground.
We do not guarantee the state’s decision or name timelines that do not exist. Our job is to prepare a complete, consistent set of documents and show the risks in advance.
09 / Team
A permanent team supports the family: a citizenship lawyer, an archive specialist and a family coordinator. You know them all by name from day one.
Irena SokolovskaHead of European PracticeSupport strategy and complex cases
Karim NaserHead of Istanbul OfficeLegal handling, documents and filing
Martina VeberHead of Case ProcessingThe Greek practice, archives and translations
Sofia MendesInvestment Migration ExpertFamily coordination and contact at every stage10 / Questions
No. Greece has no citizenship by investment programme. An investment gives an investor residence permit, which is a different status and a different page.
The law does not set a number of generations. The limit is documentary: you need a record of the ancestor and a proven family line down to you. A great-grandparent or great-great-grandparent both qualify.
No. Citizenship by descent does not require a period of residence in the country. You can live where you live now.
This ground does not provide a language exam. However, the authorised official may hold an interview: questions may be asked in Greek, and answers through an interpreter are allowed.
This is a common situation. The family link is proven with neighbouring archive records, documents of other family members and, if necessary, through the courts. The process takes longer, but the search for evidence continues.
It applies to men aged 19 to 45. For those who live permanently abroad, the law provides a deferral and reduced service. We work out the consequences for each man in the family before filing.
In our practice the full cycle takes from 9 to 16 months. The main variable is how well the archive records for your line have survived.
Greece does not require it. What needs checking is the opposite: whether the country of your current passport allows a second citizenship.
Yes. The documents on the ancestor are gathered once and used to prepare the relatives’ applications. Each adult still files their own application.
Surnames, names, approximate dates and town names are enough. The archive search starts from there: we rebuild the line from records, not family stories.
11 / Materials
The conditions for citizenship, the document requirements and how the work runs. The materials are prepared both for families who know their ancestor and for those just starting to research their origins.
Main materialPresentation
The key information on recognition of citizenship for direct descendants of Greek citizens and for ethnic Greeks from the former USSR.
Inside:
PDF · free · current as of September 2026
A short family tree check: which details about ancestors point to Greek descent and when an archive search is needed.
A list of documents for the applicant, the family line and the ancestor, noting what needs translating and legalising.
Who has to register, and how the deferral and reduced service work for those living permanently abroad.
12 / Timeline
The right of descendants of Greeks to citizenship has existed for a long time, and the conditions regarding the ancestor have not changed in recent years.
Greece joins the European Communities.
From then on a Greek passport gives the rights of a citizen of the union in all member states.
The Greek Citizenship Code, Law 3284/2004, is adopted.
The current version of the code remains the basis for recognising citizenship by descent today.
Law 3421/2005 sets the rules on military service, including a deferral and reduced service for those living permanently abroad.
A clear procedure appeared for men who obtain citizenship while living in another country.
The conditions regarding the ancestor and the family line have not changed, and Greece still has no citizenship by investment programme.
We follow the wording of the code and municipal practice and tell clients about changes.
Worth having
We have gathered the documents and the sequence for checking the family line, from finding the ancestor’s record to preparing the application and registration.
Inside the document
After a short form, with no call and no obligation
13 / Sources
The information on this page was checked against the text of the code and materials of the government authorities on the date of the update.
INITIAL ASSESSMENT
We will design a solution for your case, choose the country and the right status, and take the whole process through to the result.
