Greece will start bringing in seasonal farm workers from Egypt starting this summer.
The decision has been confirmed by the Greek Ministry of Migration and comes following an agreement reached between the two countries in 2022 as part of efforts to tackle labour shortages noted in several fields, SchengenVisaInfo reports.
Through a statement, the Greek Migration Ministry said that Greece and Egypt have also discussed plans to further expand the “mutually beneficial” scheme to the tourism and construction sectors of Greece.
Last week, Greece’s Migration and Asylum Minister Dimitris Kairidis received by the government of Egypt the first list of 2,400 Egyptian nationals who will work in the Hellenic Republic.
Workers from Egypt will head to the Hellenic Republic gradually until the end of this year, mainly to fill in labour shortage gaps noted in the agricultural sector. The agreement was ratified in November 2023 and covers 5,000 workers, a number that can be increased in order to meet the labour needs in other sectors as well.
New Legislation to Reduce Waiting Times for Residence Permits
Earlier this year, Greek Minister for Migration and Asylum, Dimitris Kairidis, introduced plans to create new laws in order to update the process of granting residence permits.
Changes to residence permits are based on laws that attempt to grant legal status to nearly 30,000 irregular migrants. In order to qualify, migrants should prove that they have three years of residence in the Hellenic Republic and employment.
Through the approval of the new Migration Code (Law 5 038/2022, G.G. A ’81), in March 2023, that became effective on January 1, 2024, Greece also aims to correct malfunctions detected over the previous years.
Greece & Egypt Cooperate to Combat Irregular Migration
During the visit of Greek Minister Kairidis, to Egypt, he also talked about the issue of irregular migrants, emphasising the need for closer cooperation in order to jointly halt irregular migration flows from the Central Mediterranean route.
In addition, he also stressed the need to intensify the efforts to return rejected asylum seekers from Egypt to their country of origin.
Greek-Egyptian relations are currently at the best level in their history.
Based on the figures from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, the Central Mediterranean route was among the most active migratory routes last year.
According to Frontex, in 2023, the number of irregular border crossing attempts through the Central Mediterranean route stood at 158,000, accounting for an increase of 50 per cent compared to 2022 statistics.
