Family reunification for a third country worker in Greece: the two year rule and the income threshold

A third country worker can apply for family reunification in Greece after completing two years of lawful residence, as Article 71 of Law 5038/2023 sets out. The worker must also show annual income of at least 8,500 euro, raised by 20 percent for a spouse and 15 percent for each child. The Decentralised Administration decides the application.

Where the rule comes from

The basis is Council Directive 2003/86/EC on the right to family reunification, now transposed into the Greek Migration Code, Law 5038/2023. The Code replaced the earlier regime and gathered the conditions into two provisions an employer needs to know. Article 71 states who may ask for reunification and on what substantive conditions. Article 72 governs how the approval application is filed and examined.

The two year rule is where employers most often misjudge a move. The sponsor, meaning the worker already present in Greece, must have resided lawfully in the country for two years before filing. A worker who arrives in March on a residence permit for employment cannot bring a spouse and children in September of the same year, whatever the state of the contract or the level of the salary. The two years run from lawful residence, not from the first day of work and not from the date the first permit application was submitted.

Case law has settled a second point. Decision 34/2025 of the Administrative Court of First Instance of Thessaloniki confirms that the criteria are examined cumulatively and at the time the application is filed. It is not enough for the worker to meet the income threshold a few months later, nor to satisfy the two years while falling short on income. Both must hold on the same day, on the evidence filed with the case.

The income threshold and how it is proved

The Decentralised Administration document list for family reunification, in its 2024 version, sets the threshold at 8,500 euro of annual income for the sponsor. The figure rises by 20 percent for a spouse and by 15 percent for each minor child who follows. Income is proved with the tax clearance statement for the most recent tax year, that is with a tax document rather than an employer letter.

The table shows what the uplift means in money.

For an employer the practical reading is direct. A salary that satisfies the statutory minimum for a post does not automatically satisfy the threshold for a family of four, especially when the tax statement covers a year with only a few months of employment. Anyone who tells a candidate that the family will follow should first look at the tax statement that will be filed, not at the contract that was signed.

Timeline, cost and the order of steps

The approval application is filed with the competent service of the Decentralised Administration for the sponsor's place of residence, under Article 72 of Law 5038/2023. The electronic fee for a family member residence permit is 150 euro under Law 5038/2023 and is filed with the case. Once approval is granted, the consulate in the country where the family members live issues the national entry visa, and the members apply for their residence permit within one month of entering Greece.

The order that works, on the same two articles:

1. Confirm the sponsor's two years of lawful residence, using the earlier residence permits.
2. Pull the tax clearance statement for the most recent tax year and compare it with the threshold for that family composition.
3. Obtain the family status certificate and the civil registry records for each member, certified and translated.
4. Arrange sickness insurance that covers the members, and evidence of suitable accommodation.
5. File the approval application with the 150 euro fee.

Accommodation is where a case stalls without warning, because worker housing designed for a single adult rarely reads as a family dwelling on paper. What the service expects on housing is set out in worker accommodation obligations in Greece. The wider frame of residence permits for employment is in the Migration Code 5038/2023 for employers, and the rule on changing the employment relationship is in change of employer for a third country worker.

Family reunification runs as its own application rather than as a step inside a hire, with its own start date, its own income test and its own deciding authority, and the two years in Article 71 mean the conversation with the worker belongs to the third year onward. If you are planning housing, pay scales or contract renewals for a group of third country workers, the figures in the 2024 document list are the numbers that have to appear on the tax statement. More on the hiring procedure is on the employers page.