My mother was born in Kalamata, Greece and immigrated to the US in 1940 or 1941. She is deceased and now my son wants to obtain dual citizenship and needs a copy of his grandmothers birth certificate.

How do I obtain a copy of her birth certificate or some other paperwork to assist my son?

Grandparents don't count for citizenship issues to countries. The mother or the father has to have been born in the country of choice for citizenship. But as for obtaining your mother's birth certificate, I guess you would have to contact the city hall in the place of origin and see if they have it on record.

My mother was born in Kalamata, Greece and immigrated to the US in 1940 or 1941. She is deceased and now my son wants to obtain dual citizenship and needs a copy of his grandmothers birth certificate.

How do I obtain a copy of her birth certificate or some other paperwork to assist my son?

Grand parents don't count...

In case your mother had dual citizenship but if she failed to report birth overseas to the nearest embassy when you were born, and now you are now over 18 years old, you are not eligible... not to mention about your son.

If she reported your birth to the embassy and you have official Greek birth certificate, but since you've never lived there, so citizenship is ended... cannot pass to your son.

To lawanwadee: your advice regarding Greek citizenship is not correct. People born to a Greek mother DO have the possibility to obtain Greek citizenship no matter whether the mother is deceased, etc.

To kcipete: per article 14 of law 3284/2004, "Τέκνο που γεννήθηκε πριν από την 8.5.1984 από μητέρα Ελληνίδα κατά το χρόνο του τοκετού ή της τέλεσης του γάμου από τον οποίο γεννήθηκε το τέκνο, γίνεται Έλληνας, αν δηλώσει τη σχετική βούληση του στον Γενικό Γραμματέα της Περιφέρειας ή στην Ελληνική Προξενική Αρχή του τόπου της κατοικίας του ή της διαμονής του. " Simply translated, any child that was born before 8 May 1984 to a mother who was Greek at either the time of the child's birth or at the time of the marriage out of which the child was born becomes Greek if he/she declares his/her request to the General Secretary of the Prefecture or the Greek Consular Service of the place of his abode or residence.

The fact that your mother is deceased may make the fact finding a bit more difficult, but probably not impossible. You need to find your mother's inscription in the municipal offices in Kalamata. Once you receive that, you will also need to find her marriage certificate. If she was married in a civil ceremony, then you are actually a Greek citizen by birth - while if she was married in a religious ceremony, then you will likely have to declare your wish to become a Greek citizen. The process will likely take a few years, and your local Greek Consulate can help you. Note that your current age has NOTHING to do with whether you are a Greek citizen or whether you can declare your wish to become Greek: the fact that your mother was Greek at the time of her marriage or your birth is the critical legal fact that would confer you citizenship.

Now, re: your son - he could fall under a number of categories depending on how your own Greek citizenship is conferred. A) If you are a Greek citizen by birth, then your son will also be Greek as of his birth [note that there may be a twist if he was born before 1982 and if you were married in a civil ceremony]. B) If you become Greek by declaration, then your son becomes Greek at the same time if he is a minor and is unmarried; if he is over the age of 18, then he can become Greek under article 10 of the same law, but that will be a little more tricky.

Your local Greek consulate can help you out with more specifics.

Hope this helps.

I am knee deep in this process and hoping it all works out with a citizenship. My greatgrandmother was born in greece, once we registered my grandmother (Easy), we did my fathers (more difficult) and now we're waiting for mine.

My questions:
1. Do the Baptism records need to be translated? We have the marriage and birth translated.
2. Do the Baptism and Marriage Records need to have the Apostilled seal? What about if they are from a Greek Orthodox Church? The birth certificates have a seal but not the other two documents.

Hi jiddic - good questions.

a) Baptismal certificates [assuming you were baptised in the Greek Orthodox Church] are generally written in both Greek and English for the Churches in the US, Canada, and Australia. I don't know what country you were baptized in. In any case, the priest in the Church you were baptized in can provide records in Greek. No Apostille required for the baptismal certificate.

b) Marriage certificates. If your parents were married before 1982, then for the marriage to be considered valid in Greece they have to be religious [not civil] ceremonies. It sounds like your parents marriage was in the Greek Orthodox church so you are likely good to go. No Apostille required in this case BUT the document needs to be authenticated by the Church of Greece. The marriage certificate [again, I am assuming the marriage occurred in US/Canada/Australia] has likely been signed by a bishop of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. That signature must be authenticated by the relevant office in the Church of Greece [it is located at Moni Petraki in Central Athens], and then taken to the Court of First Instance in Athens before it can be transcribed into the Special Registry in Athens. Your local Greek Consulate can help you through the process. NOTE: If your parents were married AFTER 1982, then the situation is much easier... take your normal marriage certificate [not the religious one], have it certified with an Apostille and translated and you are good to go.

As one who had made all the process to get the greek citizenship - I'm ust tell you that The way people here think about what is needed and how to get greek passport , is just can not be real.
People think that they can get the passport by getting the birth certificate of their grandamother !
Well I got news for you guys, you are just do not know what you are talking about,
First the process takes time 1- 2 years, also the rights for citizenship are under the law of citizenship, birth does not give citizenship! and people that left greece and the registration of the family is missing you are going to go through some quite complicated steps, and if you do not speak read and write greek I think it would not be possible that you can go all the way alone.
Here we found the "smart" ones who still had not begin the process, and thenext step they will do the first step, they will be gone from this forum, under the fact that they can not tell you how did they were out of context.
So ask people that made the process allthe way! Do you think that claiming for european citizenship by yourself -worth the chance that you did it wrong and donot get it because you did not really knew how it works?
If you care about your european citizenship , do not even try to do it alone.
And no one will do it for you free, because it takes time and work under the greek law,
So if you think about how musch it worth for you this citizenship, do not play dreams, to get it you need to do it correctly.

As one who had made all the process to get the greek
here we found the "smart" ones who still had not begin the process, and thenext step they will do the first step, they will be gone from this forum, under the fact .

First, shon86, this is an old post and this thread should be closed. You had better check before you post. Secondly, 'no one would be gone from this forum'; that is not your call.

If you have anything to say, post your sources for a correct way to achieve a greek passport.

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