Migration Policy Ministry

A significant increase has been recorded in residence permits for British and Israeli investors through the Golden Visa program, alongside the "usual suspects" - i.e. buyers from China.

The arrival of migrants dropped 91 pct in May compared with the same month last year, according to data released by the Migration Policy Ministry on Thursday.

On four islands (Chios, Samos, Leros, Kos) there were no arrivals last month.

About 11,000 recognised refugees are facing an uncertain future as they will gradually have to leave their current accommodation facilities starting in June, as part of the Migration Policy Ministry's plan to replace them with asylum seekers from the islands, in a bid to decongest the local camps.

An accommodation facility in the town of Kranidi, in southern Greece, was placed in lockdown for two weeks on Tuesday after three more migrants tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Greek health authorities said Tuesday.

The only people who will be allowed in the hotel are its employees, healthcare professionals and police and military officials.

As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the migration crisis and the situation in Syria on Tuesday with the leaders of France, Germany and UK in a video conference, Greece said that migrant reception and processing centers on the Greek islands will be in lockdown for at least the next two weeks as part of the measures to prevent a coronavirus outbreak in any of the facilities.

New Citizens' Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis pledged to work hard to restore a sense of security for the public, noting that disasters like the deadly blaze in eastern Attica last year should never happen again.

The Migration Policy Ministry has announced that the procedures to issue residence permits for foreign nationals that live and work in Greece will be digitalized.

Employees in non-governmental organizations on Tuesday called on the Migration Policy Ministry to revoke a decision asking refugees to leave the apartments in which they had been living in order to make way for newcomers, saying these people have nowhere to go.

The residence permits issued last year to citizens of countries outside the European Union who bought properties for at least 250,000 euros each grew 46 percent from 2017, according to the latest data from the Migration Policy Ministry.

The number of migrants waiting for their asylum application to be processed in the notorious reception and processing center in Moria, Lesvos, dropped below 6,000, based on data from the Migration Policy Ministry on Thursday.