In Greece ~ Is this it?

With due respect to the original lyrics of this popular 'Drifter's' song. . .

. . .And then it happened, it took me by surprise. 

I knew that he felt it too, by the look in his eyes. . .

It was a look of disbelief, actually.  

The text message had arrived on our Greek phone Monday morning. But, as with regular mail, we've become rather relaxed about checking for texts in this expat life of ours. So it was late Tuesday when I noticed the message that seemed different from those of  the usual telemarketing kind.

'But, of course', as we say here, it was in Greek ,as most text messages we receive are. We tried sounding out words. Google translate indicated two of them were something to do with 'residence permit' and we promptly forwarded the message to our attorney with the question, 'Is this it?'.


It was at our attorney's house last Sunday morning, while chatting on her porch (it was an appointment; we were picking up legal documents, but as I've said before, we do things differently here) that she'd reminded us to watch text messages: that is how we would be notified of our residency permits.

Now for those who've been following the saga here and on Facebook you know that we've been in the midst of the renewal process for what feels like forever.  Those plastic cards are what allow us to live full-time in Greece and conversely, to leave Greece. Back in December we began identifying the required documents. In February we gathered them, had them notarized and apostilled. They were translated into Greek and submitted to immigration officials in mid-March.

At that time we received  temporary -- papers with our photos stapled to them -- residency permits which would serve as identification until the small plastic cards were issued.

Two years ago after receipt of our first residency cards -

Two years ago when we first went through the process, it took - what we thought at the time - a very long seven weeks to get the cards.

This year it took 4.5 months.  

Why we live in Greece - views like this

While one can speculate on any number of reasons why there was such a delay, the most universally accepted one seems to blame the country's "Golden Visa" - an enticement for investing in the country. The Golden Visa' is a five-year residency permit offered to those who purchased property valued at 250,000 euros or more. A plum, you might say, while the rest of us apply for two- and three-year visas. The Golden Visas applications have overwhelmed the centralized review conducted in Athens. Recent media reports say some hopeful purchasers were told they'd have interview/application appointments in 2021!  And some investors, according to the same report, have decided to look for property elsewhere in Europe where the visa offer is the same, but the processing time far shorter.

With that kind of backlog, we probably should have been pleased back in early July when we stopped at the Immigration office and was told by Mr. Milas (the face of authority who sits behind the glass enclosed counter holding your life in his computer), that we needed to be patient as it would likely be six months and we'd maybe have cards in September. . .

We couldn't leave Greece so we flew to Thessaloniki from Kalamata

He clarified again that we could not leave Greece (other than to go back to the US) without those cards.  So the spring and summer travel seasons passed us by and as we've watched them go, we learned several important truths about ourselves:

 * We really aren't good at being patient! ('We've already lived here for two years! How long can it take to issue two plastic cards?!' we'd snarl periodically.)

* We are getting older and our travel days are limited. (Do we really want to be in a position of not being allowed to travel while we are able? - That well may be a question that determines whether we decide to renew our residency permits again in three years.)

Greece - we can call it home again for another few years

 * Our move to Greece was to be a launch pad for travels on this side of the world and when  grounded, we get cranky. (Yes as we watched great travel deals come and go on the computer screen, we'd sigh and say, 'If we weren't being held in detention. . .')

*We value our freedom yet have taken it for granted. ( We Americans pride ourselves on being from the 'land of the free' so when some government tells us that we aren't free to travel, it feels very uncomfortable.)

*The immigration process is humbling and intimidating. We finally understand the concept of being square pegs trying to fit in round holes.(Do we meet the financial and health insurance requirements? Did we get the right documents? Will they accept 'xyz' document as proof of. . .?) 

 *We empathize with immigrants. 

 *We have learned and grown. When I first wrote here about our frustrations of 'being grounded', I received many interesting responses from you, telling of your own, or the experiences of your friends and family members when applying for residency in the United States. They were enlightening, some downright amazing.

You are not allowed to smile in these photos but you can laugh out loud when you look at them!

The text message turned out to 'be it' and the next morning we raced to the Immigration Office to collect those precious cards.  It was all over in less than 10 minutes, and really rather anti-climactic. 

But I can assure you that as we handed over the temporary permits, our passports and watched as the official checked one document against another and studied his computer screen, we held our collective breaths (we've learned nothing is 'a given' in this process). It wasn't until we had the cards in hand and were leaving the parking lot that we breathed a sigh of relief.

A toast to you all for your support and encouragement: Yamas!

Let us offer a toast of thanks to you all! You helped ease us through a most tedious process.

So many of you have been  cheerleaders -- and you know who you are. You left encouraging messages on FB posts, you wrote comments on the blog posts,  you wrote emails inquiring about the process, you let us know you were out there cheering us on. 

Our friend and attorney, Voula

Also a 'shout out' to our attorney, who has held our hands and gone 'to bat' for us with Immigration officials.Voula Spireas came into our lives nearly four years ago at the recommendation of fellow American expats.  She divides her time between her law practice in Kalamata and her family home in Kardamyli, now called Yioryitsa's Backyard.  There she operates an Airbnb and the courtyard has become a gathering place for special events. Voula is a stalwart of the arts, culture and historical community. And the best part of this process has been that she's gone from being 'our attorney' to being a good friend as well.


I close with a promise no more posts about residency permits (for at least two and a half more years when the renewal process starts up again).Safe travels to you and yours!  And next week I will get around to telling you about driving in Greece. . .I've got a real horror story for you!

Linking soon with:

Through My Lens
Our World Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday

'It's the Rule' ~ You can't leave Greece. . .

Oh, the places you will go! 
-- Dr. Seuss

Our list of spring travel possibilities was lengthy: a cruise, a ferry trip from Greece to Venice, a visit to Prague, Vienna and Budapest, my birthday trip (carried over from last year) to Morocco, and perhaps a rendezvous with a friend from the States in Geneva.

Regulars here know that one of the reasons we decided to move to this side of 'the pond' was the launch-pad our Greek location provided for travel on this side of the world.

Grounded: 'Because it is the rule'

Hydra Island - Leonard Cohen made his home here

But our trip in late March to the Immigration Office to renew our Greek residency permit put an end to the possibility of those spring trips real quick.

It was at the glassed-in counter in the rather drab office in the outskirts of Kalamata where our applications began their journey through layers of bureaucratic reviews.

They were reviewed first at the ground floor counter as we stood there watching and answering questions about them, then they headed 'upstairs' and if they passed the review there, they'd be off to Athens for further review. We don't know where they are now.

Temporary residence permits - do not smile, we were told

We'd passed the first inspection and were issued our temporary permits; paper versions (pictured above) of what will be plastic cards one day when The Scout asked what he thought was a logistics question,

'Now, we can travel with this document, right?'

'You can return to the United States,' said our attorney,  'but  you can't travel anywhere else outside Greece until you have your permanent resident's permit. . .or you risk forfeiting your right to residency.'

"We could last time,'.  said The Scout, a retired attorney, in reference to the waiting period for our first permit. 'Why can't we now?'

"Because it is the rule," answered our attorney. We all chuckled.

The Scout redirected his question to the official behind the counter, who answered, "Well, because it is the rule!" Again we all chuckled. . .

. . .because 'it is the rule/law/way it is done' is such a standard answer that you almost expect it as an explanation to a myriad of situations.

We quit chuckling when they said we'd likely get our plastic cards in LATE June or MID-July, some four months down the road.

Goodbye spring travels in Europe.

From the Land of the Free

Greek beach at Kitries - Peloponnese

You can't leave.

Such a simple phrase. But let me tell you it doesn't jive with the American mindset.

We 'Yanks' hail from the 'land of the free' where we sing out  'Let Freedom Ring' and where our 'unalienable rights include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness'. (And travel, you've probably figured out, is that pursuit of happiness for us.)

Kythira Island - Greece

Many of you are probably thinking, 'So what's the big deal? You are in Greece -- tough place to be stuck, right?'

And in a way, that's a reasonable observation.  Greece offers multitudes of destinations.  We will likely add a few more to our 'been there' list by mid-summer.

My point here is that being told by a government --wherever you are living in the world -- that you can travel to one place but the rest of the world is off limits, just doesn't compute.

Living Life Differently

While I generally write about the good side of 'living differently', there are frustrations that come with living an expat life.  And this immigration process is one that anyone considering making an expat life in Greece needs to take seriously.

A ferry trip may be in the offing this spring to some Greek destination

You see, it isn't just us.

Two other American couples living in our area re-applied for residency permit renewals the end of November 2018.  One of the four got his permit -- the plastic card -- a month ago, but because of errors made in the immigration office, his wife got hers two weeks ago.  An even better tale from their experience was: they overpaid by 50 euros but Immigration will only make a refund into a Greek bank account. Not having one, they tried to open one but to do so the bank needed the residence permit which she didn't have. . .you get the idea. . .

Immigration officials lost a document submitted by the other American couple so they had to round up a replacement copy and submitted it a couple months ago. It is going on a five month wait for them. They've yet to receive their plastic cards

Another friend who spends a portion of his life living in Mykonos had his original residence permit expire while he waited for his renewed permit - he'd submitted the paperwork more than a year before. The government allowed him to stay despite the expiration, but not to leave until the new permit was issued without risking his residency status.  In that case, the delay was the backlog of applications to review.

When we first applied in 2017 our cards were issued in seven weeks -- at the time it seemed an eternity. But the plastic card system was new to Greece then and the delay was caused by fingerprint machines and the photos that had to be incorporated in the process.

Two years later it is taking months for the review of documents to be completed and the cards issued.  The cost, by the way, went from 300 euros application fee to 1,000 euros per person.

The reality: We are Immigrants

Immigrant -A person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence.

We are immigrants - and delighted two years ago when our cards came

The fact is we are immigrants. We've chosen to be and we are working our way through the legalities - and 'rules' -- that are associated with our choice.

As I've told you before going through an immigration process, even when you choose to do it, is humbling. It is also frustrating and rather un-nerving at times.

Our experiences have made us more sympathetic to all immigrants world-wide.  It isn't easy even when you have the time and money required. We can't imagine how it must be for families uprooted by war, famine or who just hope to make a better life for themselves to set forth seeking a new country.

I read a FB post recently that was a statement about people coming to the United States and an abbreviated version of it was, "if they want to live here, then they need to speak English."

I thought about our efforts and desires to live in Greece. And our lack of ability to speak Greek. Thankfully speaking the language isn't a requirement for residency permits. Our Greek friends cheer us on when we conquer a new word or phrase but no one had demanded we speak the language in order to be allowed to stay here or to be a part of the community.

Road trip in the Peloponnese

Come to think about it, that is a pretty kind way of treating us. It is a good life here, even with rules that we question.  The Scout's been at work with Greek guidebooks and maps for the last couple of days. . ..

Thanks as always for being with us on this journey through our new world.  We appreciate your time and interest.  Your comments and emails are so welcome.  We'll be back next week and hope you will be back as well for another tale from Travelnwrite. Safe travels ~


Linking this week with:


Through My Lens
Our World Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday

Road to Greek Residency: Next stop – Olympia, WA

The last couple of weeks our travels on the U.S. stretch of the Road Trip to Greek Residency have felt a bit like we were contestants on some reality television show. We’ve raced to gather documents and then raced to destinations to have them reviewed. We’ve questioned ourselves – and our sanity – at each milepost along the way.

On the flip side, we’ve learned much. We’ll be armed with cocktail party conversation trivia for years to come. For example, we can now tell you about the 1961 Hague Convention. ‘The what?’ you are probably asking yourselves.

Well, let me tell you. . .

I was eight and The Scout 12, when the convention took place. We’d heard of it during our ensuing 60 years,but had no reason to care about what took place there. That is until this ‘road to residency’ brought us up close and personal with it.

Roadway in the Greek Peloponnese

It was the outcome of that convention that dictated our next stop on our somewhat twisting, turning ‘road to residency’ in Greece.

The Stone House on the Hill - The Mani, Greece

Recap for those just tuning in: We’ve decided that with two years of full-time home ownership and part-time occupancy in the Greek Peloponnese under our belts, we’re ready to apply for residency permits. The permits, similar to the U.S. ‘green cards’ grant residency and eliminates the inflexible 90-day in and 90-day out rule that applies to tourists.

Obtaining the residency permit requires several steps involving strict vetting of documents and interviews both in the United States and again after arriving in Greece. The documents presented must be current, i.e. the most recent bank account statements and such. So that means getting them issued as close to your departure to Greece as possible, while giving yourself time to pass all the required mileposts on the U.S. segment of the road trip.

While I sorted documents, The Scout organized the travel.

With the issuance of an ‘entry visa’ by the Greek Consulate in San Francisco last week, the real time clock started ticking. We’ve got a year in which we can apply for and hopefully be granted residency permit in Greece.

Before setting out for Greece, we had one more required trip in the United States. 

And that brings us back to The Hague Convention. . .

That convention: resulted in the creation of apostilles – not to be mistaken for apostles!



What? Never heard of them? As I said, we hadn’t either. . .

Preparing our packets for vetting - our life spread out before us in other words

’

‘Apostille is the documentary device by which a government department authenticates a document as genuine, thereby legalizing it for use in another member country under the terms laid out in 1961. Once a document has been ‘Apostilled’, thereby providing official government authentication of the signatures and stamps appearing on it, it is automatically deemed legalized for use in another member country.’

-- Greek Consulate web site

Some 82 countries – from Albania to Zambia -- participated in that Convention in 1961, which was called "Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents" and later known as the "Hague Apostille Convention".

Next stop:  Olympia, Washington

Before immigration officials in Greece will review those same documents we presented in San Francisco we needed to get them apostilled. Each document must carry our government’s seal of approval before they will be considered legal documents in that country.

The Secretary of State issues apostilles – and only on documents that first have been notarized. Next stop on the road trip, our state capital, in search of the apostilles.

Interstate 5 - between Seattle and Tacoma - Washington State

This segment of the road trip was undertaken yesterday -  one of the wettest, nastiest days in recorded history in the Pacific Northwest. It was a bleak 120+-mile day trip to our state capital, Olympia, Washington and back.

Olympia, Washington

In fairness though, on a sunny day Olympia is a beautiful city. From it you can see our state’s stunning Olympic Mountain Range. It was that mountain range on the region known as Olympic Peninsula for which the city was named. 

That mountain range got its name back in 1788 when a British mariner is said to have been so struck by them that he claimed they would be a perfect dwelling place for Greek gods. (Guess there is a tie-in to Greece after all.)

Subsequently, the state capital was named for them.

Original Washington State capitol building built 1892

Olympia, a city of 40,000+, swells when our Legislature is in session. However the bad weather kept traffic to a minimum and we were able to get documents notarized and apostilled in a few hours time.

An Apostille is required for documents in the immigration process

As we handed our stack of notarized documents to the staff member at the Secretary of State’s office, explaining they were for a Greek residency permit, she flipped through them and said, “Boy, they want to know everything don’t they?”

Ready for the next segment in Greece

‘Yes, they do!,”  we replied, feeling a bit better at the thought someone else had noticed the quantity of information we’d gathered.

A short while later 18 documents had been apostilled at a cost of $15 per document, plus $50 for in-person service. Notarizing those documents had cost $125.

Our application packets are now official and ready to be presented to Greek authorities. We have the required entry visa pasted in our passports. If this were a reality show, we’d have made it past the first two rounds and are ready to enter the finalist challenge in Greece this spring.

While we are off doing that, you might want to keep Olympia in mind as a summer travel destination.

There are guided tours of the Capital Campus, and other guided tours of the town and campus offered by Oly WAlks; there's the Olympic Flight Museum, the State Capital Museum and the Hands-on Children's Museum. And a stop at their Farmer’s Market is a must!


Thanks much for being with us – you continue to be a great cheer and rally squad. Your words of encouragement have given us confidence. And the welcome messages from our Greek friends have made the effort even more worthwhile.  As always we appreciate the time you spend with us. 

We all need a break from this road trip so next week I'll give you a laugh or two as I tel
l you about these two city slickers and their DIY projects in Greece. Hope you’ll be back with us!
Wishes for safe travels to you and yours ~

Linking up this week with:
Through My Lens
Our World Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday
Travel Photo Thursday
Photo Friday
Weekend Travel Inspiration