According to Article 4 of the Greek Citizenship Code:
1. Aliens of Greek ethnic origin, admitted to military academies as officers or non-commissioned officers of the armed services or enlisted in the armed services as volunteers, in accordance with current regulations, lawfully acquire Greek citizenship from the time of their admittance to such institutions or from their enlistment.
2. Aliens of Greek ethnic origin who enlist as volunteers in time of mobilization or war, in accordance with the current regulations, may acquire Greek Citizenship by petition to the Secretary General of the Prefecture without any further formalities.
3. Those receiving promotion to officers, whether in the standing Armed Services or in the reserves, acquire the Greek Citizenship without any further formalities.
4. The military oath taken by the persons mentioned in paragraphs 1, 2, and 3, substitutes for the oath of the Greek citizen.
5. The children of aliens of Greek ethnic origin, who acquire Greek Citizenship in accordance with the previous paragraphs, are entitled to become Greek citizens at the same time their parents acquire Greek citizenship provided they are minors (under the age of 18 ) at the time of their parents’ petition to the Secretary General of the Prefecture.
Have a question?
The preceding text is quoted directly from an English translation of the old Greek Citizenship Code, and there were no amendments announced in the new, 52-page Greek Citizenship Code that took effect May 28, 2010.
I do not know anyone who has acquired citizenship by this method, and I do not represent the Greek military or Greek government, so I cannot interpret its meaning or answer questions.
Go to the Mandatory Military Service in Greece article and retrieve the contact information from there to inquire directly, as each case is uniquely different. The other option is to consult directly with the Greek consulate/embassy if you are outside Greece. Do not consult a forum, listen to rumors from friends/relatives or lawyers advertising themselves on the Internet, or you risk getting misleading information.
*Article last updated January 4, 2012
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Kat Reply:
June 24th, 2009 at 21:22
If your brother stayed 6 months in any one-year period in Greece, then his permanent resident abroad certificate would have been revoked, no matter what the reason was. To answer your questions:
a) They do check things like that. If this is his first tautotita (and it sounds like it is), he’ll need to go to the police station to make an appointment and fill out a dilosi, which they use to check his background in preparation for his appointment. If his background is clear and he brings all the right documents on the scheduled date, he’ll be issued the ID straight away. If not, he’ll be told why he won’t get one. (See “Greek national ID or tautotita“).
b) I don’t know if he’ll be arrested because everyone I know has served military time. Greece, as you know, operates on rumors and I won’t contribute to them.
c) He can’t legally stay in Greece beyond 90 days. If he does and doesn’t want to get caught, he’ll only accomplish this by completing no transactions here (no ID, no phone, no purchases, no bank account, no social services, no taxes) and not working. That’s a bit like being a prisoner, and his record will remain unclean until he makes things right.
There’s a very easy way to determine if he was indeed called up for service and labeled a draft dodger. Call the military recruiting office. If he gave a valid address, a letter would have been sent to notify him of mandatory conscription. It’s his responsibility to keep track of these affairs or correct outdated addresses. I’m sorry to say that I don’t see how his situation is an example of a dozen steps back. Greek bureaucracy has been this way for decades, and he opened the door to consequences by not following the rules, no matter how arcane or ancient they are.