Greek citizenship by marriage: what spouses actually need

Greece has no special citizenship route for spouses, and you can’t use marriage to apply from abroad. A foreign spouse of a Greek citizen naturalises like any other foreigner living in Greece. The one real advantage: if you have a child, you can apply after 3 continuous years of legal residence instead of 7. Either way you need a qualifying residence permit, the PEGP exam in Greek language and civics, proof that you’ve integrated financially and socially, and a EUR 550 fee.

This is a separate route from citizenship by descent. If you have Greek ancestry yourself, read the Greek citizenship by descent guide first. You may already be Greek through a parent or grandparent, or you may qualify for the consulate route for people of Greek origin (see below). Both can be done from abroad.

The rules at a glance

• Where you apply: in Greece, at the Regional Citizenship Directorate for the area where you live. There’s no consulate route for spouses who aren’t of Greek origin.
• Spouse of a Greek citizen with a child: 3 continuous years of legal residence in Greece.
• Spouse without a child: the normal 7 years.
• Exam: the PEGP, Greek at about B1 plus history, geography, culture and institutions. You need it before you apply.
• Fee: EUR 550.
• Official handling deadline: 1 year. Actual times aren’t published.
• Dual citizenship: you aren’t asked to give up your current citizenship.

Who qualifies

The rules are in Articles 5 and 5A of the Greek Citizenship Code (Law 3284/2004). The Interior Ministry’s requirements sheet, updated January 2026, says you must:

• be an adult when you apply;
• have no final conviction in the 10 years before applying for a deliberate offence carrying at least 1 year in prison, or at least 6 months for certain listed crimes;
• not be facing deportation or have any other unresolved problem with your residence status;
• hold one of the listed residence permits. The list includes the residence card for family members of a Greek citizen, long-term resident permits, EU citizens’ registration and some investor permits. Temporary permits don’t count;
• have lived in Greece legally for long enough: 7 continuous years, or 3 for the spouse of a Greek citizen with a child. On any other valid permit not on the list, it’s 12 years; and
• pass the PEGP and show you’ve integrated into Greek economic and social life, with no public-order or national-security objection.

The 3-year rule. Law 4674/2020 gives the current wording: 3 continuous years for “spouses of a Greek man or woman with a child”. The same 3-year period applies to EU citizens, stateless people and parents with custody of a Greek child born in Greece. Neither the law nor the ministry’s pages say whether the child must be from your marriage or must be Greek. We couldn’t confirm that officially, so check with the regional citizenship office before you plan around it.

Spouses of Greek diplomats are the only spouses who can count time spent abroad. Time abroad because of the Greek spouse’s posting counts toward the 3 or 7 years, as long as you’ve lived in Greece for at least a year at some point.

Your spouse’s Greek citizenship has to be on record

The ministry lists a Greek marriage record with a Greek citizen, and a recent family-status certificate, as evidence of social integration. If your spouse is Greek by descent but has never been registered, or your marriage took place abroad and was never registered in Greece, sort that out first. Our guide to the Greek municipal register explains how registration works, and Greek citizenship through grandparents covers registering a family line.

The PEGP exam

Since Law 4735/2020, everyone in this route must first get the Certificate of Adequate Knowledge for Naturalisation (PEGP). The law describes a Greek language test at a level “analogous to B1” plus questions on Greek history, geography, culture and political institutions, drawn from a public question bank. The exam is held twice a year. The ministry’s exam site publishes the question bank and past papers with answers.

• Oral instead of written: if you’re over 62 and prefer it, or if you have a certified disability of 67% or more or a certified learning difficulty.
• Exempt: if you completed nine grades of primary and secondary school or six grades of secondary school at a Greek school, or a Greek-language degree, master’s or doctorate at a Greek university.
• Exam fee: Law 4735/2020 set it at EUR 150. We didn’t confirm the current amount, so check the exam site when you register.

Our language requirements guide compares Greece’s test with other countries.

Proving you’ve integrated

Financially: you show a stable income, paid taxes and social insurance. On the 3-year route you prove this for the 3 years; on the 7-year route, for at least 5 years. The ministry publishes a minimum income per tax year. For 2019 to 2022 it was EUR 7,500 for a taxpayer with no dependants, rising by EUR 750 per dependant. For a married applicant, the spouse’s declared taxable income also counts.

Socially: a family tie with a Greek citizen is the first item on the ministry’s list, alongside Greek schooling, vocational training, volunteering and steady residence. If the office has doubts, it can call you to an interview before a three-member panel. If you don’t show up without good reason, or the summons comes back undelivered twice, the application is refused.

Documents

The ministry and the MITOS registry list these for the application:

• a certified copy of every page of your passport;
• your valid residence permit;
• the PEGP certificate, or proof you’re exempt;
• your original birth certificate with an apostille (for example, a US birth certificate), plus an official Greek translation. The decision is drawn up from the names in the translation, so check spellings;
• your marriage certificate if you married abroad, apostilled and translated, showing any name change;
• Greek tax assessments for the 3 or 7 years of residence, and your social security number (AMKA);
• evidence of financial and social integration (see above); and
• the receipt for the EUR 550 e-paravolo.

Translations must come from the Greek Foreign Ministry’s translation service, a Greek lawyer, or a translation graduate of the Ionian University. The citizenship office checks your Greek criminal record and deportation status itself. Our apostille guide and certified translation guide explain those steps.

Applying, step by step

1. Move to Greece on a qualifying permit, usually the residence card for a Greek citizen’s family member, and build up 3 or 7 continuous years.
2. Pass the PEGP. Cases are assigned in order of filing date combined with the date you got the PEGP.
3. Pay the EUR 550 e-paravolo online or at a bank.
4. Submit the application to the Regional Citizenship Directorate where you live, in person, through a lawyer with power of attorney, or by registered post. Every field on the form must be filled in, in capitals.
5. Wait for the checks: first the formal conditions and criminal record, then integration, then a police opinion on public order and security.
6. Take the oath. A summary of the decision is published in the Government Gazette, and you must take the oath within one year of publication or the decision is revoked. You become Greek on taking the oath, and you’re then entered in the municipal register.

Your foreign children who are minors, unmarried and living permanently in Greece on the day of your oath become Greek automatically.

Cost

• EUR 550 application fee (e-paravolo code 2159).
• EUR 200 to resubmit after a refusal.
• EUR 100 instead if you’re an EU citizen, and EUR 100 for an appeal to the minister.
• The PEGP exam fee, plus apostilles, translations and a lawyer if you use one.

If you’re refused

If you’re refused for not meeting the formal conditions (missing documents, a conviction, deportation), you can appeal to the Interior Minister within 30 days, with a EUR 100 fee. You can also reapply as soon as the missing condition is met, without waiting a year and without a new fee. A refusal on the substance (integration) is challenged with an application for annulment at the regional Administrative Court of Appeal.

If you’re of Greek origin yourself

Greek law treats people of Greek origin (omogeneis) separately, and that’s the only spouse situation where applying from abroad is possible. It depends on your own origin, not your spouse’s.

• Living abroad: Article 10 lets foreigners of proven Greek origin apply through the Greek consulate for where they live. The consul checks your origin and your Greek “national consciousness”. The fee is EUR 100 and MITOS estimates about 18 months.
• Living in Greece: there’s a separate procedure for people of Greek origin who have made Greece the centre of their life, with a EUR 100 fee and no 7-year count.

Neither procedure mentions spouses. If you have no Greek ancestry, marriage alone doesn’t open these routes. Start by contacting the Greek consulate for where you live. Greece’s embassy in Washington, for example, tells US residents to contact the consulate for their state.

Same-sex spouses

Law 5089/2024, in force since 16 February 2024, amended the Civil Code so that marriage is between two people “of different or the same sex”. It also says laws on spouses’ rights and benefits towards the state apply to same-sex spouses, and it recognises same-sex marriages of Greeks performed abroad before then. The citizenship rules don’t limit “spouses” to opposite-sex couples, but we couldn’t find guidance on how the 3-year rule is applied to same-sex couples, so ask the citizenship office first.

Can you keep your current citizenship?

The naturalisation conditions and document list don’t include giving up another citizenship. Whether you keep your other citizenship also depends on your other country’s law: some countries end citizenship when you voluntarily take another, so check yours. The US, for example, takes it away only for a voluntary act done with the intention of giving it up. Our Greek dual citizenship guide covers the details, including military service for men. For other countries, see citizenship by marriage compared.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

• MITOS, National Registry of Administrative Procedures: naturalisation of foreigners not of Greek origin (conditions, 3-year rule, fees, documents, steps, oath), Greek
• Ministry of Interior, General Secretariat for Citizenship: naturalisation of foreigners (requirements sheet of January 2026, documents guide, income table), Greek
• Ministry of Interior: PEGP exam platform (exam format, exemptions, question bank), Greek
• Law 4674/2020, Government Gazette A 53/2020 (Article 94: the 3-year rule for spouses with a child), Greek
• Law 4735/2020, Government Gazette A 197/2020 (Articles 3, 5 and 6: integration, fees, PEGP), Greek
• Law 5089/2024, Government Gazette A 27/2024 (same-sex marriage), Greek
• MITOS: naturalisation of people of Greek origin living abroad (Article 10, consulate, fee, time), Greek
• MITOS: naturalisation of people of Greek origin living in Greece, Greek
• Embassy of Greece in the USA: Greek citizenship (consulate contacts by state)
• 8 U.S.C. 1481: loss of US nationality

Checked against these sources on 11 November 2026. Greek offices can interpret the rules differently, so confirm your case with the Regional Citizenship Directorate where you live.