Digital services for Greeks abroad – myConsulLive.gov.gr in pilot operation
MyConsulLive, a platform for serving Greek citizens living abroad through video calls to the Foreign Ministry’s Embassy Consular Sections, Consulates General and Consulates, went into pilot operation on Tuesday. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Dendias, and the Minister of State and Digital Governance, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, presented the platform to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in a videoconference.
The platform was designed by the General Secretariat for Public Administration IT Systems, based on similar digital appointment services already provided by Citizens Services Centres (KEP), the Greek Manpower Employment Organization (OAED), and the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (IAPR). Greeks abroad will be able to use this service to carry out transactions remotely with the Foreign Ministry’s Missions, through scheduled video calls with competent staff.
The procedure for selecting a digital appointment and being served via video call is based on the same system used by the already active platforms. Interested parties start by entering myConsulLive.gov.gr and confirming their data with their Taxisnet codes, and they then choose a time and date from a list of available appointments. At the start of the video call, callers prove their identity by presenting identification documents (ID card, passport, etc.), and the consular employee then processes the
requests specified for the appointment.
The following services are provided via video call:
• Issuing of Certificate of Permanent Residency Abroad
• Marital status or birth certificate
• Residency certificate
• Copies of or excerpts from registrar acts
• Pension eligibility declaration
• Submission of applications or declarations to the Consular Authority.
During the pilot operation stage, the service will be provided by the Greek Embassy in the United Kingdom and the Consulates General in New York and Toronto. The Consulates General in Düsseldorf, Istanbul and Boston, as well as the Consulate in Perth, will be added soon.
The launch of the myConsulLive platform included a presentation of the Virtual Assistant service, which was developed with the assistance of Information Society S.A. It is currently in pilot operation at the Consulates General in London and New York, and will be extended to all consular missions within 2021.
Virtual Assistant is an innovative virtual assistance service that utilises artificial intelligence (chatbot), which is linked to all of the Foreign Ministry’s existing and planned digital information/services platforms. It provides access to all of the information/applications submitted to consular missions and guidance (in Greek and English, for the time being) on how to complete procedures.
December 29, 2020