I'm also trying to gain EU citizenship through my greek heritage. Both of my grandparents are greek and born in greece and moved to australia in the early 1960's, my father was the only of his siblings born in australia and they all speak greek and have gone back several times to visit. We're all babtised Greek Orthodox and still have mush family in Greece however my grandparents have never learnt english to this day even though they live in australia and have for 50 or so years. Unfortunately I think this means that they never registered themselves or their children as greek citizens and I highly doubt they have any birth or marriage certificates, having either been lost or destroyed over time. Is it still possible for me to apply for citizenship? will I first have to get citizenship for both my grandparents and my father? And do you think it is possible without having either of my grandparents birth or marriage certificates? Im not even sure if my father is registered as niether of my grandparents spoke english and so never bothered. Please help as I wish to travel and work and live there and possibly study.

Hi evdokia, you will need to phone the Embassy:

Embassy of Greece in Canberra, 9 Turrana Street, Yarralumla, Canberra A.C.T. 2600. Tel: 62733011, 62733883, 62733158. Fax: 62732620.

I would love to see Greece some day... good luck getting there.

Evdokia, your situation is probably pretty easy actually. It sounds like your grandparents were married in Greece - that means that their wedding is registered there. All you need to do is find out what municipality they are registered in, and then have their registration sent to the Consulate where you live in Australia [there are a number of Greek Consulates in Sydney, Melbourne, etc].

Once you have that registration, it will be very easy to have your father register his Greek citizenship [since he was born ot Greek citizen parents, doesn't matter that he was born in Australia].

After your father is registered, then you can be registered. A lot of it will depend on what kind of wedding your parents had, and when they were married. If your parents were married AFTER 1982, then it doesn't matter if they were married in a civil or religious ceremony. If your parents were married BEFORE 1982, then their wedding will have to have been in a religious ceremony; if not, then you will have to go through an extra step.

The key thing will be to have the Consulate find your grandparents' registration in their municipality in Greece. Once you have that, the rest will take a while but will be straightforward.

Good luck!

How long does all this usually take (not the work done on my side but the processing of the embassy etc?

Really can't say evokia... you need to call them to find out. You'll have a great time and it will be well worth it, so get moving :)

If the Embassy/Consulate is able to locate your grandparents' registration in the municipality in Greece, then your father will be registered as a Greek citizen pretty much immediately, as long as he can present his Australian birth certificate. That process will only take a few weeks.

The process of getting your Greek citizenship via your father, as I mentioned above, depends on when your parents were married, what type of wedding they had, and when you were born. Depending on the situation, it can take from a few months to a few years.

The Consulate will give you the details

Best of luck!

My parents were married in 1986 (after 82) if that helps? But they were'nt married in a greek orthodox ceremony. Although I am christened greek orthodox.

Since your parents were married after 1986, then the process is a bit easier [Greece recognizes ALL weddings that occurred after 1982].

The main thing you need to do to start the process is have the Greek Consulate in your area in Australia [or a family member in Greece] locate your grandparents' municipal registration in Greece. In Greek, it is called "ΠΙΣΤΟΠΟΙΗΤΙΚΟ ΟΙΚΟΓΕΝΕΙΑΚΗΣ ΚΑΤΑΣΤΑΣΗΣ". Since they were married and had children there, that should be very straightforward. It will list your two grandparents as husband and wife, as well as all children that were born of that wedding in Greece.

Once you have that paper, the next task will be to have your father registered. You will need a copy of his Australian birth certificate, certified with what is called an APOSTILLE [go to Apostille Australia to find out how to do that]. If you have his baptismal records, that's great too, but not necessary. Then, the consulate will ask the Prefecture of your grandparents' municipality to have him inscribed in the Military Records, known in Greek as the ΜΗΤΡΩΑ ΑΡΡΕΝΩΝ. One note here: I assume your father is over the age of 45. If that is not the case, then there will be a small extra step involved to prove that he is a Permanent Overseas Resident, for military purposes. Although this all sounds complicated, these steps should not take a very long time, since both his parents are Greek citizens. Once these steps are complete, your father can be registered in your grandparents' municipality and be considered a Greek citizen.

Next, comes the more time consuming part:

a) Registering your father and mother's wedding. Since they were married after 1982, it does not matter whether the wedding ceremony was religious or civil. You will need to find a copy of the wedding certificate, have it certified with an Apostille [see above] and then have the consulate register it in their books and send it to Athens to be inscribed in the Special Registry.
b) Registering your birth. You need to find your own Australian birth certificate, have it certified with an Apostille [see above] and then have the consulate register it in their books and send it to Athens for inscription in the Special Registry. Since you also have baptismal records, you can have those inscribed as well, but that is not necessary for citizenship; if your baptismal records are in Greek, then they do not need to be certified with an Apostille.
c) The really time consuming part: after you have your father registered in the municipality, your parents' wedding and your own birth inscribed at the Special Registry in Athens, THEN your case of Citizenship Recognition [ΚΑΘΟΡΙΣΜΟΣ ΙΘΑΓΕΝΕΙΑΣ] will be considered by the Secretary General of the Region [ΠΕΡΙΦΕΡΕΙΑ] where your municipality is located. This is a complete crapshoot of how long it will take. I have heard cases going through in 6 months and others taking more than 2 years, depending on circumstances.

Once they recognize your citizenship, the municipality will be instructed to register you in their municipal records. When that inscription occurs, you will then have all the rights of a citizen of Greece.

Best of luck with this, it will take a while, but it is definitely worth it!

My grandparents are greek and were married there and moved from greece to australia in 1957. However I believe they are now Australian citizens. Does that pose a problem or not as they grew up and were married there?

By the way thank you both for all your help, I'm young but have long wanted to do this but am just lost as how to go about it all. Thank you

Evdokia, don't worry. Unless your grandparents willingly declared that they no longer wish to be Greek citizens at a Greek consulate overseas, then they are still Greek.

As I mentioned, your case sounds like it is very straightforward - at least with respect to registering your father as Greek. Then, it might take some time, but if you gather all the paperwork, you should be able to get your citizenship processed as well.

Best of luck.