Anyone go through the Greek Citizenship by Ancestry route?

[christinamariep]

I'm a Greek-American and have been collecting the documents in order to prove a direct line between me and my paternal Grandfather. My husband and I will be going to Athens on honeymoon in September to get registered at the monastery, courthouse, and drop off the application in person. I'm just wondering if anyone else has been through this process and can share their experiences or offer any advice? I have done a lot of reading and research but there is a lack of info about individual experiences around! Any help would be hugely appreciated!

[rebartrees]

Originally Posted by christinamariep

I'm a Greek-American and have been collecting the documents in order to prove a direct line between me and my paternal Grandfather. My husband and I will be going to Athens on honeymoon in September to get registered at the monastery, courthouse, and drop off the application in person. I'm just wondering if anyone else has been through this process and can share their experiences or offer any advice? I have done a lot of reading and research but there is a lack of info about individual experiences around! Any help would be hugely appreciated!

I have been through the process and for me it was long and had many pitfalls along the way, but I now have a Greek passport and ID card.
Be sure to have the necessary documents, have an apostille affixed in the state in which they were issued (if in the USA). Go to the Greek Embassy and find out exactly which documents you need and how they need to be stamped or verified, and where you must apply, in England or if it is possible to do it in Greece.
The website [removed] has lots of useful info on the process.
Remember, you will be dealing with a byzantine bureaucracy, so remain positive and have patience.
I can recommend an excellent Greek-American lawyer in Athens who can help you.
Best of luck!

[christinamariep]

OK Thanks for the advice! I was only planning on being in Athens for a couple of days but from what I've been hearing that may not be enough. My (future!) husband is a UK citizen and we're going to be working on getting him an American green card in the meantime.

From what I've gathered from that website (which I've read about a dozen times now, haha!) I seem to have most of the relevant documents except my grandfather's birth certificate, which the embassy in London is trying to track down for me. Should I still visit the embassy to speak to somebody about the process?

I saw that you say it took you 6 years to complete the process - if you don't mind my asking, what were the major obstacles in this regard? Were there any discrepancies between your documents, names changes, or divorces in your family? Do you speak Greek? (I for example, know that on some documents it says my grandfather's birthday was the 5th of December and others say the 1st..)

I don't ask to be nosy, I just wondered if there is anything in particular I can avoid or make sure that I do ahead of time to speed up the process! Thanks so much again xo

[athenakoll]

Originally Posted by christinamariep

OK Thanks for the advice! I was only planning on being in Athens for a couple of days but from what I've been hearing that may not be enough. My (future!) husband is a UK citizen and we're going to be working on getting him an American green card in the meantime.

From what I've gathered from that website (which I've read about a dozen times now, haha!) I seem to have most of the relevant documents except my grandfather's birth certificate, which the embassy in London is trying to track down for me. Should I still visit the embassy to speak to somebody about the process?

I saw that you say it took you 6 years to complete the process - if you don't mind my asking, what were the major obstacles in this regard? Were there any discrepancies between your documents, names changes, or divorces in your family? Do you speak Greek? (I for example, know that on some documents it says my grandfather's birthday was the 5th of December and others say the 1st..)

Well, first of all you will need a lot of patience! The reason your Grandfather's birthday may differ from other documents is that he was born when Greece had the Grigorian calender, which is 12 days later! So that's a start. Find out when Greece changed from Grigorian to present day calender.

You will have to prove that your grandfather was married in the Greek Orthodox church

I don't ask to be nosy, I just wondered if there is anything in particular I can avoid or make sure that I do ahead of time to speed up the process! Thanks so much again xo

Well, first of all you will need a lot of patience! The reason your Grandfather's birthday may differ from other documents is that he was born when Greece had the Grigorian calender, which is 12 days later! So that's a start. Find out when Greece changed from Grigorian to present day calender.

You will have to prove that your grandfather was married in the Greek Orthodox church, so get his marriage certificate and his birth/baptism certificate.

I finally got my Greek ID after many years of gathering papers. My father is Greek, born in Athens, but my mum is English. Even though I was baptized Greek Orthodox, because my parents married in Canada in an English church, my baptism papers weren't enough. My mum firstly had to be baptized Greek Orthodox, then my parents had to get married in a Greek Orthodox church in order for me to submit those documents as well.

Good luck to you.

[christinamariep]

Originally Posted by athenakoll

Well, first of all you will need a lot of patience! The reason your Grandfather's birthday may differ from other documents is that he was born when Greece had the Grigorian calender, which is 12 days later! So that's a start. Find out when Greece changed from Grigorian to present day calender.

You will have to prove that your grandfather was married in the Greek Orthodox church, so get his marriage certificate and his birth/baptism certificate.

I finally got my Greek ID after many years of gathering papers. My father is Greek, born in Athens, but my mum is English. Even though I was baptized Greek Orthodox, because my parents married in Canada in an English church, my baptism papers weren't enough. My mum firstly had to be baptized Greek Orthodox, then my parents had to get married in a Greek Orthodox church in order for me to submit those documents as well.

Good luck to you.

Wow. So if his birth dates are off on his papers, is there any way of fixing them or changing them? I now have his birth certificate but it says he was born on the 9th July. (?!) He always celebrated his birthday on the 6th December, his name day, but his death certificate has that date recorded as his date of birth. Very confusing.

My grandfather was married Greek Orthodox and my father was baptised by them, but he married my mom in a Roman Catholic church and I was baptised Catholic too. I didn't realize that this was an issue? From what I read, you have to get any religious non-Greek Orthodox documents approved & registered at the First Court of Athens, and any non-registered Greek Orthodox documents registered at the Petraki Monastery in Athens. Did you have to do this? What were your experiences like with this??

I'm a bit shocked you actually had to convert and you parents had to re-marry under the Greek Orthodox church, if that's the case this is clearly going to take much much longer than I thought.

My dad is thinking about hiring an immigration lawyer to handle it all, and I think he might be right. I would hate to run all over Athens for my honeymoon for it to be a totally pointless exercise.

[athenakoll]

Hi Christinemariep,
I think that because your parents married in a Catholic Church, that the Orthodox church doesn't see this as an obstacle. Honestly, I wouldn't ruin your honeymoon running around Athens. Was your father born in Greece? Why not use your father's papers? As long as they're translated into Greek. I do seem to remember going to the Petraki monastery.The differences in the Gregorian callender is I'm sure a definate factor in the dates being wrong, but unfortunately, in order to change dates, you'll be opening yet another can of worms. I think hiring a lawyer would be your best bet. Either ask for a reference from the U.S. embassy in Athens, and also from the Greek Embassy nearest you, and COMPARE quotes!! You could also try the Athens News | Greece in english, since 1952 weekly newspaper as some English speaking lawyers advertise there also. Good luck to you, and congratulations on your wedding. As the Greeks say, Na Zisete! P.S. Now I know your Grandfather's name was Nicholas!, the same names day as my dad and son!

[christinamariep]

Aw thank you for the wishes! Yes, his name was Nicholas! Good strong name, I think. I hope he's looking down on us and he's on our side with this whole thing, we need all the help we can get! Appreciate your advice. Unfortunately, my father was not born in Greece. My parents and I are searching around to find a good lawyer now...preferably a Greek-American firm that has an office or representatives in Athens! Will let you know how things are proceeding. xxx

[Eleftherios]

Ya sas, Christina. I have been through the process; personally, I found it simple and straightforward, although my father was born in Greece, which simplified things. After obtaining his "pistopoitiko" (birth certificate) which the Greek Embassy even helped me obtain, marriage certificate, and my US birth certificate (the latter two having to be translated into Greek), I submitted my application and was officially a citizen in 3 months time. The Washington Greek Embassy staff is awesome (in my experience).

Greek Orthodox baptism/marriage concerns are non issues for current citizen applications.

That said, obtaining a passport was a little more complicated due to the military obligation that had to be satisfied, or in my case, a temporary waiver since I was a resident of the US. That process took a couple years.

I contemplated hiring someone but am glad I didn't. I guess what I am saying is it can be successfully accomplished on your own.

Kali Tihi!