New Immigration Code by 2022 announced by N. Mitarakis

A new Immigration Code “which will examine from a zero basis and deal with the real obstacles that actually exist today for land workers”, as he characteristically said, announced that he will submit to the Parliament, in 2022, the Minister of Migration Policy and Asylum, Notis Mitarakis , answering a relevant topical question of the independent MP, Angelika Adamopoulou.

For her part, Mrs. Adamopoulou pointed out that “the current legislative framework regarding the nine-month employment of land workers in Greece provides for extremely time-consuming procedures with the result that the Greek agricultural sector is threatened”.

“The government’s goal is to introduce a new Immigration Code for every category of land worker by 2022. We are looking at the issue from scratch, recognizing the problem that is created today with the existing framework, which gives us the possibility for 20,000 workers to cover needs in the agricultural sector”, emphasized Mr. Mitarakis.

“The needs of land workers in our country exceed 50,000 and the 20,000 provided by law are not enough. It is unacceptable for this to happen in a productive country. Simplify the procedures so that they come more easily. There is no need to cultivate xenophobic syndromes,” he argued. Mrs. Adamopoulou.

Responding, Mr. Mitarakis acknowledged that he too has received dozens of letters from agricultural organizations asking for the process to be simplified and added that “the government’s goal is to support legal immigration to meet the needs of Greek agricultural production, as opposed to illegal immigration, as was done in the past, so that a certain number of immigrants come for a certain period of time”.

“The new Immigration Code will deal with the real obstacles that actually exist by simplifying the bureaucratic procedures and submitting only the necessary certificates, so that land workers can come to Greece in a simpler way,” assured Mr. Mitarakis.