Greece will scrap a law allowing illegal migrants to gain residency after seven years, Migration Minister Makis Voridis said Thursday, calling the current rules “an incentive” to stay unlawfully.
“The longer you were in the country illegally, the bigger your prize,” Voridis told Skai TV. Under the new draft law, approved by cabinet and set to pass parliament in June, migrants caught entering or residing illegally could face up to five years in prison.
Authorities say around 55,000 to 65,000 migrants enter Greece illegally each year, with only half granted asylum. Just 2,500 of 74,000 detained last year were successfully deported, Voridis said, blaming widespread abuse of asylum claims.
The bill also extends detention before deportation to two years and encourages voluntary repatriation to avoid penalties.
Greece’s tougher stance comes amid allegations that it has been issuing refugee IDs to migrants, allowing them to fly to Germany and bypass the Schengen system—what German lawmakers call an “asylum trick.”
Germany’s top court recently ruled that single, healthy men with Greek asylum status can be deported back, as they won’t face inhumane treatment.
Voridis promised new legal migration measures by July, acknowledging Greece needs 200,000 foreign workers.
