The glaring failure of  Greece to serve its expatriate citizens is highlighted in a parliamentary question submitted by Mr. Georgios Rountas, Vice President and Member of Parliament of NIKI, addressed to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and the Interior.

NIKI denounces as unacceptable the current situation in which Greeks abroad must wait up to two years to obtain Greek citizenship or a passport. In consulates of countries with a significant Hellenic presence — such as the United States and Australia — bureaucracy has become a true ordeal, effectively depriving thousands of expatriates of their fundamental rights.

The so-called digital initiatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are inadequate and purely cosmetic. “Digitalization” cannot be used as an excuse for inertia when citizens wait months for an appointment and years for the completion of a citizenship process. Such delays diminish Greece’s stature and alienate her children across the world.

Mr. Rountas stresses that the solution lies not in patchwork regulations but in a comprehensive national strategy for the Greek Diaspora, beginning with the establishment of a Ministry for the Greek Diaspora. This ministry would consolidate all related responsibilities, coordinate consular operations, oversee digital transformation, and establish Diaspora Support Centers both in Greece and abroad.

These Centers would provide a single point of service for critical procedures: citizenship and passport applications, legal and administrative assistance, access to educational and cultural rights, and expedited communication with Greek authorities.

NIKI reminds that Greeks of the Diaspora are not applicants — they are Greek citizens, bearers of our language, faith, and history. The State must treat them with respect, dignity, and efficiency — not with intolerable bureaucracy and delays that tarnish Greece’s reputation internationally.

“The delays in granting citizenship are a disgrace to the State. Greece cannot ask her children to love their homeland and then leave them waiting for years. NIKI demands solutions — starting with the creation of a Ministry for the Greek Diaspora,”
said Georgios Rountas, Vice President of NIKI.

Full text of the parliamentary question:
https://www.hellenicparliament.gr/UserFiles/c0d5184d-7550-4265-8e0b-078e1bc7375a/13075510.pdf