US Confirms Greece Meets All Visa Waiver Rules: What It Means for Greeks Abroad
After more than ten years under special watch, Greece is finally back in good standing with Washington on visa-free travel. According to a Greek Reporter story published today, Robert Law, a senior official at the US Department of Homeland Security, handed Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis a letter in Athens on October 6 confirming that Greece has completed every requirement of the US Visa Waiver Program.
For the Greek diaspora in the United States, Canada, Australia and beyond, and for the relatives who fly in from Greece to visit them, this is good news. It is also easy to misread. Here is what changed, what stays the same, and what to check before your next trip in either direction.
What actually changed
Greece is not new to the program. Greek citizens have been able to visit the US for short stays without a visitor visa since 2010. The trouble came later. After a weak US assessment of Greek travel documents and entry controls in 2014, Washington placed Greece on a provisional status, replaced the usual two-year reviews with yearly checks, and for a while cut ESTA validity for Greek travelers from two years to one. Two-year ESTAs came back in 2019, but the extra monitoring did not go away.
That monitoring is now over. As eKathimerini reported, Athens got there by issuing more than five million new identity cards, adding biometric data to passports and tightening security checks. Greek officials called it an institutional and diplomatic win, and Kathimerini's Greek edition reported that Law described Greece as a "success story".
What has not changed
The headline can sound like the end of paperwork. It is not. A Greek passport holder flying to the US under the program still needs:
An approved ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) before boarding. It is a travel authorization, not a visa.
A valid electronic passport with a chip.
A trip purpose that fits the program: tourism, family visits or certain business visits of up to 90 days. Working or studying is not allowed.
Final approval from the US border officer on arrival, who can still refuse entry.
Kathimerini suggests applications should now move more smoothly, without stricter checks on arrival, but no faster ESTA processing has been officially announced. Apply only through the official ESTA website run by US Customs and Border Protection. Many lookalike sites charge extra fees for the same form.
What it means for Greek Americans and dual citizens
If you hold both US and Greek citizenship, the Visa Waiver Program does not apply to you when you enter the US. American law requires US citizens to enter and leave the country on their US passport. Your Greek passport is the one you use in Greece and the rest of Europe. Our guides on holding US and Greek citizenship and using a Greek passport alongside another nationality explain how this works in practice.
The bigger benefit is on the European side. Land in Athens with a Greek passport and you use the EU lanes. You skip the EU's new Entry/Exit System, which records the fingerprints and faces of non-EU visitors, and you are not bound by the 90 days in any 180 rule that limits Americans, Canadians and Australians. The EU's planned ETIAS travel authorization still has no confirmed start date, and it will not apply to EU citizens either. Read more about passport control when entering Greece as a citizen and Schengen access with a Greek passport.
If family members are coming from Greece for a wedding, a baptism or a graduation, remind them to apply for their ESTA well ahead of time, to make sure their passport has a chip and stays valid for the whole trip, and to apply again if they get a new passport, because an ESTA is tied to the passport it was issued for.
Thinking about your own Greek passport?
News like this is a reminder of how much a Greek passport opens up. It is consistently ranked among the strongest passports in the world, with visa-free access to most of the globe, and our list of the advantages of a Greek passport goes further. Many children and grandchildren of Greek emigrants are already Greek in the eyes of the law but were never registered. Our Greek citizenship checker and our explainer on who qualifies for citizenship by descent are good places to start.
If you are already a Greek citizen, you can apply for or renew your passport from abroad. Here is what to know about Greek passport applications from abroad, processing times and our Greek passport renewal guide.
GetGreece helps Greeks abroad do all of this remotely, by power of attorney, without flying to Greece. Our team can locate your family's municipal records, handle your Greek citizenship registration, prepare your first Greek passport application or your passport renewal. And once your documents are in order, we can help you plan the trip itself with our Greece tours.
Sources: Greek Reporter, eKathimerini, Kathimerini. Photo: Rakoon, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
