Why the Greek Diaspora Is Reconnecting With Greece More Than Ever
- tony
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
Written by Tony Kariotis, founder of GetGreece.
The Greek diaspora has always maintained a deep emotional connection to Greece, but over the last few years, something has shifted. Interest in returning, participating, investing, and reclaiming identity has surged in ways I have never seen before. I see it every day across my platforms, my events, my inbox, and in the thousands of people who contact GetGreece for help with Greek citizenship and property inheritance.
This movement reflects a clear trend of the Greek diaspora reconnecting with Greece in ways that are deeper, more intentional, and more long term than ever before.
The trend is real, measurable, and accelerating.
Why the Greek diaspora reconnecting with Greece is accelerating
For decades, many Greeks abroad held onto Greece primarily through memory, tradition, and family stories. But the new generation is taking active steps, not passive ones. They want:
Greek citizenship
Family property reclaimed
A foothold in Greece for their children
Trips that feel deeper than tourism
Community connections
Cultural fluency
Long-term involvement, not just summer vacations
The difference today is that the diaspora isn’t looking to admire Greece from a distance. They want to participate in it.
Digital media created a bridge that didn’t exist before
Social platforms changed everything. When I started building the Greece community online, I saw quickly how powerful the reaction was. A single photo of an island or a short clip of a yiayia speaking Greek triggers something emotional for people abroad.
But more importantly, digital media dissolved the distance. Greece is no longer far away. It is on your screen daily. It is in your feed. It is part of your routine.
As the founder of @greece on Instagram, I have shared content from every corner of the country. Nearly a billion impressions across my platforms. It is an honor I do not take for granted. This constant presence brought many people back to a simple truth they had forgotten: Greece is still part of who they are.
Practical barriers have finally been removed
For years, people wanted to reconnect but felt blocked by bureaucracy. To reclaim citizenship, manage property, fix paperwork, or handle inheritance, you had to fly to Greece, visit offices, take time off work, and hope the timing lined up. That stopped many from even trying.
Today, the Greek government’s digital modernization has changed the landscape. I first noticed this shift clearly at the 2023 Thessaloniki Expo, where entire ministries showcased their new online systems and digital services. Seeing streamlined processes, online certificates, updated platforms, and modern infrastructure showed me that Greece had officially entered a new era.
Through these digital transformation efforts, people finally feel empowered to reconnect.
Key steps people can now take more easily include:
Handle property inheritance
Fix ENFIA issues
Manage tax representation
Resolve title problems
Major companies planting roots in Greece changed the perception of the country
Major companies planting roots in Greece has changed the way the world views the country. Seeing Microsoft, Amazon, Pfizer, Meta, and other global brands invest in Greece has created new credibility. It signals long-term stability, new opportunities, and a country that is building for the future.
In 2025, Greece is widely considered among Europe’s fastest-growing economies, with real GDP growth and investment rates outpacing the Eurozone average.
Economic stability in Greece is reversing the psychology
When Greece went through financial crises, many in the diaspora saw the country as unstable. That perception is gone. Greece has become one of the fastest-growing economies in Europe, tourism has exploded, major global brands have opened offices, and digital nomads have taken notice.
The diaspora is realizing that Greece is not only beautiful, but also:
Economically improving
Entrepreneur-friendly
Increasingly digital
Globally competitive
Open to investment and new residents
People want to attach themselves to a country that is rising, not struggling.
Greek identity became more valuable, not less
As the world globalizes, something interesting happened: heritage became more important. People want to belong to something real, something rooted, something cultural.
Greek identity has enormous emotional weight. It represents:
Family
Pride
History
Language
Tradition
Food
Memory
For many people abroad, reconnecting with Greece is reconnecting with themselves.
Through GetGreece, I see adults in their 20s, 30s, 40s, even 60s saying the same thing:
“I felt like something was missing. Getting my citizenship or fixing my family’s property makes me feel whole.”
That is identity.
The diaspora is building community again
One of the biggest signals I see is how quickly people show up when I host networking events and Greek community gatherings around the world. They want to meet each other. They want to belong. They want shared experiences.
This is the strongest indicator that the movement is not a phase. It is generational.
The diaspora wants to:
Rebuild Greek communities abroad
Strengthen cultural ties
Support Greek businesses
Celebrate Greek heritage
And most importantly, they want Greece to be part of their future, not just their past.
Greece is becoming a long-term option, not a vacation spot
The idea of moving to Greece, starting a business there, or spending multiple months per year in the country used to be rare. Now it is normal. With remote work, dual citizenship, and smoother processes, it is achievable.
People are asking:
How do I get long-term residency?
How do I retire in Greece?
How do I inherit family land?
How do I buy property on the islands?
How do I keep Greece in my children’s lives?
This is long-term thinking. This is generational planning.
A new chapter for the diaspora
For the first time in decades, Greeks abroad are not drifting away. They are moving closer. They are reconnecting not because they have to but because they want to.
As someone who has spent years traveling across Greece, visiting more than fifty islands, exploring most of the mainland, and meeting countless locals across the country, I have seen firsthand how Greece continues to evolve. I even created a photography book along the way that captures the places, people, and moments I experienced across Greece.
As someone who also meets Greeks abroad every week, from the United States and across the rest of North America, Europe, Australia, Africa, Asia, and South America, I see the same message repeated everywhere. People want Greece in their identity, their paperwork, their property, their travel, their future, and their children’s future.
And they are taking real action to make that happen.
My experience with the system
There was a moment years ago during my own citizenship process in Greece when everything clicked for me. I had submitted my paperwork at a KEP office in Greece, waited months, and heard nothing back. When I finally called more than four months later, the woman answered the phone, apologized, and openly admitted they hadn’t even begun processing my file yet. She was polite and sincere, and she even refunded me fully. That moment showed me exactly how unpredictable the system could be inside Greece itself, and it made me realize how many people abroad were facing these same issues without the ability to physically be here.
That was the moment I knew something had to exist for Greeks abroad, a way for them to complete their Greek citizenship, property inheritance, and documentation cases without the stress of navigating offices from afar, coordinating paperwork across countries, or interrupting their daily lives. That experience is what led me to build the services we offer today.
Over time, as I continued helping people with their cases, I learned what truly causes most delays. It isn’t people failing to submit paperwork or offices being slow for no reason. The real issues are inconsistencies inside government records, missing municipal entries, or archived documents that don’t align with the digital system. These internal gaps create bottlenecks the applicant never sees, and they are often the reason a case sits untouched for months.
Helping the diaspora at scale
Through GetGreece, my team and I help hundreds of people each year navigate Greek citizenship, inheritance cases, and the documentation challenges that come with reconnecting to Greece from abroad. The volume of real cases we oversee gives us a clear view of patterns, obstacles, and the solutions that actually work. And recently, we have also begun helping people start businesses in Greece, adding another layer of support for those who want to build a long-term future in the country.
Authors Recognition and credibility
My work in the Greek diaspora space was recognized by the Boston Red Sox on field at Fenway Park during Greek Heritage Night by the Alpha Omega Council, where I was honored as a Hero Among Us. My work has also been featured on MEGA TV and on the Eleni Menegaki Show. I was selected for the Class of 2020 Forty Under 40 Greek Americans by the Greek America Foundation and recognized as a Rising Greek American by The National Herald. These acknowledgments strengthened my connection to the global Greek community and reinforced my responsibility to support Greeks abroad and Greeks in Greece in meaningful and practical ways.
I have also selected more than fifty scholarship recipients in the Greek diaspora in the United States over the last seventeen years through the Teddy Kariotis Foundation, further strengthening my long-standing involvement in the community.
About the author - Tony Kariotis
I am the founder of GetGreece and the creator behind @greece Instagram. My personal social media presence exceeds 250,000 followers across Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, and my company GetGreece has another 500,000 followers. I have traveled extensively across Greece and visited more than fifty islands. My work reaches millions each month and focuses on helping Greeks abroad stay connected to Greece in meaningful, practical, and long term ways.
–Updated December 2025
