American marrying a Greek in Greece

[wka]

I thought I was done, but I wasn't. Since I now have my health insurance all set, I needed to sign up for an AMKA. You can do this at any KEP, it's not a big deal. I now have my AMKA number and they'll send the card at some point. This is required for all people insured under one of the Greek public insurance companies like IKA or TEBE or Dimosio or whatever.

[wanderlusting]

I realize that you're not an official of the state, but I was wondering more about your situation...

Do you know if you need a permit already to apply for the 5-year spousal permit? I know there's a lot of references online about how you cannot apply for the new permit until two months before your previous one expires (I know you mentioned that elsewhere, too). But what if you get married on a tourist visa?

Speaking of tourist visas... assuming I had all the necessary documents needed from the US when I went, how quick do you think we could get the whole process done? I realize this depends a lot on so many little factors, but I'm just curious as to your musings.

I know that you mentioned a birth certificate with a "live signature" - is that the same as the certified copies?

Thanks!

[wka]

Hi Wanderlusting,

I really don't know anything except what I've personally experienced, and I haven't asked for any further info. I would suspect that it would be fine to get married on a tourist visa as long as you did it before the end of the first month that you were in Schengen so that you still have two full months to file for your residence permit before you become illegal, as required. Lots of people get married in Greece as tourists - I mean LOTS of them - just go to Santorini and you'll see what I mean - and they don't have residence permits, so I don't see why you shouldn't be able to.

That said, I SUSPECT it would be necessary for you to already have obtained your marriage license in the USA and go through the typical "tourist wedding" process, because obtaining a marriage license in Greece is impossible if you cannot prove that you live here. Now, they may let you get away with it, I have NO idea, if you, for example, showed that you "lived in a hotel" for a certain amount of time, but I applied for my marriage license with proof of residence in Athens along with my residence permit.

It sounds like that's what you want to do anyway, based on your next question. How long would it take.... well, it would depend on whether you worked with a wedding planner in Greece and sent your paperwork ahead of you for them to translate for you. If you want to do it yourself (I saw a reference a few minutes ago on a travel forum I post on, where someone said they had paid their wedding planner €300 to handle the translations. If you do it yourself it's like €20 or something.) then you will need at least 7 business days because that's how long the translation says, and you do have your marriage license officially translated. Ask your local Greek consulate/ the embassy if they can do it, which should save you a lot of trouble and money.

The live signature thing - that's the term that the Department of Vital Statistics in my home state uses, and I honestly don't know what it is. Whenever you get something that will need an apostille (like your marriage license), make sure to tell them it will need an apostille, so they will know what to give you. My birth certificate LOOKS like an actual original, of course it can't possibly be, as my mother's obstetrician died years ago, but it looks very good. It's on multicolored paper and has lots of stamps It's clearly not just a regular photocopy that's been certified.

In OUR case, the whole thing took, start to finish, 3 months, but some of that would have been avoidable. I think if you didn't have the annoying problems we had, it could be done in a month. Again, I mean OUR kind of situation. Your situation is quite different and could take more or less time, I don't know and don't want to speculate.

Sorry I can't be more helpful - keeping my own situation straight is pretty much the most I'm able to handle, so I purposefully avoided finding out details for other kinds of situations!

[wanderlusting]

Hey WKA,

So I'm in Greece now and I went to the Embassy today and filled out my Affadit form. I was just going over your process again and comparing it to what we have planned, and the biggest difference I noticed was that you needed a translated copy of your Passport! When my fiance spoke with the office in Athens (I don't know what it's called, sorry) they just said I had to bring my passport (and maybe a copy but definitely no mention of translation). Were you told specifically to have the translated copy? If so, may I ask by whom/what office?

I've already had my birth certificate with apostille translated and certified by the Greek Consulate in LA so I don't need a translation service or lawyer regarding that.

Ooh, also... what newspaper did you go to? Just out of curiosity!

[wka]

You don't need your passport translated but you need the επικύρωση done by a lawyer if it's not a Greek passport, because KEΠ (and such) can only do Greek papers. I lumped them together in the lawyer part, didn't mean it was to be translated also, sorry.

Kathimerini.

[Espiritu]

Hello,

Yes, you can get married on a tourist visa without a problem. I did it about 4 years ago without any problems. I do not remember doing anything nearly as complicated as what WKA has described to get a marriage license. I had all the required documents and apostilles before I came. I believe we just took all the required documents to the dimarxeio and were then given a date for the ceremony. I don't think it all took more than a few weeks.

No, you do not need a permit to apply for the 5 year spousal permit. You only need to take the required papers before your 3 months tourist 'visa' expires (I don't remember what all they are, we got a list and the application ahead of time from the KEP office) to your KEP office to make the application. You should call first as we found out when we got there, that they do it by appointment only. Luckily for us the guy had an opening (I think it also helped that my husband went to school with his brother!) so we were able to do it that day. Also, you should go together, we were told that because my husband (a Greek citizen) was making the application there would be no cost otherwise there is a charge for the application.

Hope this helps

BTW the newspaper we used was Ethnos

[Espiritu]

I forgot to add that we were told a visa interview is no longer done/required for US citizens

[wka]

Espiritu, the reason yours was less complicated is because you brought paperwork with you. I was already a legal resident of Greece when I applied for my marriage license.

It is absolutely the case that my post only describes MY situation. If you are just a tourist, things are different. I was never a tourist in Greece, thus the differences.

[Espiritu]

Yes, I realise that each persons experience will be different in some ways. I was only trying to answer Wanderlusting as to what happens when you are married while on a tousit visa and then applying for a resident visa.

[wanderlusting]

Thanks to both of you for contributing! I can't wait to see how my process differs!!