The Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Miltiadis Varvitsiotis presented in the Plenary Session of the Parliament the upgrade of the extroversion of the Greek economy with the introduction of the Digital Nomads Visa, during the discussion of the relevant provision “Attraction of investors and digital nomads” included in the bill “Reform of deportation and return procedures for third-country nationals” of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum. As he characteristically stated, “Greece is a pioneer and is held up internationally as a model of extroversion, it is once again becoming a pole of attraction for innovative entrepreneurship and foreign investment”.
“Remote working and working from home are now among the dominant ways in which the global economy is developing”, Mr. Varvitsiotis noted. In the face of this challenge, he added, Greece, after Estonia and Croatia, is introducing for the first time the hospitality and work status for the so-called digital nomads, in order to attract visitors of even higher quality and efficiency”. In fact, the goal of the regulation is for the visitors to finally choose our country as one of the places where they can invest. This is the reason for simplifying the procedures for obtaining a 12-month residence visa in Greece, as well as for its extension.
The Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs did not fail to point out that the Mitsotakis government took over in 2019 “a country that was dramatically lagging behind in attracting talented professionals and students, according to a relevant OECD survey”. To this end, the government concerned itself with the extroversion of the Greek economy by introducing the Blue Carpet Policy for the attraction of investors and visitors, which includes the Business Visa, the Student Visa and now the Digital Nomad Visa, as well as the modernization and digitization of the services of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in order to make the visa regime faster and more flexible. He further added that the initiative for digital nomads deserves the support of all political parties.
The specific provision is part of a comprehensive bill for the reform of the legal framework for immigration, which, as Mr. Varvitsiotis stressed, “further shields our country against the phenomenon of illegal immigration”. In particular, he pointed out that “our pledge to the Greek people was to fix all these holes that had opened in the entry and visa regimes as well as in the management of immigration issue”.
Concerning the forthcoming influx of migrants from Afghanistan, the Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs noted that the EU should support "all Afghans leaving Afghanistan to stay in neighbouring countries so that this does not turn into problem that will divide Europe once again”, while Greece “has amply demonstrated the spirit of hospitality to persecuted refugees”.
September 4, 2021