(GREECE) Greece has enacted one of Europe’s toughest migration enforcement packages, pushing a new Greece deportation law through parliament in early September 2025 that criminalizes “illegal stay” and threatens rejected asylum seekers with prison terms. Under the law, people found to be staying irregularly face two to five years in prison, while those who re-enter after removal confront harsher penalties and longer entry bans.
The government says the measures align with a pending overhaul of EU return rules, but rights groups, lawyers, and aid organizations warn the changes are sweeping, punitive, and likely to trap people who have no safe way to leave or lawfully contest removal.
Key elements of the legislative package
The legislative push, driven by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum under Minister Thanos Plevris, narrows avenues to remain in the country and shortens the time people have to leave voluntarily.
Major measures in the package (submitted on August 4, 2025) include:
- Shorter voluntary departure deadlines
- Broader powers to detain people pending removal
- Restrictions on filing asylum claims
- Revocation of residence permits for those who have lived in Greece irregularly for seven years
- Approval of electronic ankle tags for people awaiting deportation
- Proposed financial incentives of up to €2,000 for those who accept removal without contest
Officials frame these steps as bringing Greek practice in line with the European Commission’s proposed Return Regulation. Critics say they are sweeping, punitive, and will worsen humanitarian and legal problems.
Policy changes overview and EU context
Officials argue the changes reflect the European Commission’s proposed Return Regulation (published March 11, 2025), which would:
- Shift the EU system from “voluntary departure” to “removals” as the default
- Remove or reduce safeguards that currently slow deportations
- Eliminate the minimum seven-day period for voluntary departure
- Limit the suspensive effect of appeals (allowing deportation while challenges are pending)
Concerns and reactions:
- Over 300 organizations across Europe have called for the EU proposal to be rejected, warning it would enable mass removals with fewer checks against errors or abuse.
- Rights groups warn the changes will trap people who cannot safely return and will push more urgent cases to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
Practical and logistical realities of deportations
Greece’s law makes detention easier and longer, curtails repeat asylum claims, and tightens penalties for “illegal stay” and re-entry after removal. Authorities plan to expand electronic monitoring to speed removals and move people out of pre-removal centers faster.
However, deportations are expensive and logistically complex:
- Example: Albania pre-repatriation detention center (used by Greece) — of 41 people moved there on April 11, 2025, only 25 remained by month’s end.
- A reported case of a Bangladeshi man required four transfers over a week and cost over €5,000, nearly double typical costs.
- These examples illustrate that presumed savings (including incentives up to €2,000) are not guaranteed when removals require multiple escorts, flights, and handovers.
Recent enforcement incidents and legal pushback
In July 2025, citing border pressure, Greece announced it would stop registering asylum applications for people who arrived by boat from North Africa. The move provoked immediate legal challenges.
- The ECtHR issued interim measures suspending parts of the policy.
- On August 14, 2025, the court blocked the deportation of eight Sudanese men detained in Athens after landing on Crete from Libya; they had been denied the chance to seek asylum.
- Refugee Support Aegean hailed the ECtHR order as a fix for “a significant gap in the refugees’ judicial protection,” allowing the men to remain in Greece until administrative courts reviewed their requests.
Authorities argue charities and late asylum claims have been used to stall removal. Critics counter the new rules will punish people who have no safe return options and increase litigation at Strasbourg.
Important: ECtHR interim measures carry legal force and can pause deportations when removal risks serious harm. Such measures may clash with EU proposals that seek to limit the suspensive effect of appeals.
Legal battles and pressure on civil society
Instead of retreating, Minister Plevris has targeted organizations that challenge government policy:
- He proposed rules to strike NGOs from the official registry if they legally challenge or publicly oppose migration policies.
- This escalates a 2020 registration framework already criticized by UN special rapporteurs and the Council of Europe for limiting freedom of association.
- Human Rights Watch describes the push as part of a broader effort to mute watchdogs who document the human impact of enforcement.
International reactions and related incidents:
- On August 7, 2025, Italian authorities detained the Sea-Watch-operated aircraft Seabird 1 under Italy’s 2024 “Flows Decree-Law,” alleging reporting lapses by the crew.
- UN Special Rapporteur Mary Lawlor condemned that detention as “strongly arbitrary.”
- Greek officials have expressed concern that search-and-rescue assets and NGO interventions can disrupt state-led operations and encourage dangerous crossings.
- Minister Plevris stated that “immigration policy is shaped by the government, not by NGOs or by extra-institutional bodies.”
Human impact and a familiar case: Giannis Antetokounmpo
The debate touches on stories many Greeks know. NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo was born in Athens in 1994 to Nigerian parents without status and was stateless for 18 years because Greece does not grant citizenship by birth.
- He nearly missed the NBA draft trip to New York because he had no nationality document.
- His family lived under the shadow of deportation and sold items on the street to make ends meet.
- Antetokounmpo later received Greek citizenship as his potential became internationally visible.
His story highlights how strict rules can keep entire families in limbo. Advocates warn the new enforcement posture and Greece deportation law may close off paths that once—barely—remained open.
What the law means on the ground
For migrants and refugees now in Greece, pressing practical questions include:
- Who will be detained, and for how long?
- What happens to pending asylum claims?
- How will multiple asylum filings be handled?
Key legal and operational points in the law:
- Broader grounds for detention
- Limits on multiple asylum filings
- Power to revoke residence permits after seven years of irregular residence
- Mandatory electronic ankle tags for some people under removal orders
- Financial incentives up to €2,000 to accept removal without contest
- Two to five years in prison for “illegal stay”
Consequences for the system:
- Police and migration officers must manage stricter deadlines and broader detention powers.
- Courts are likely to see more emergency and last-minute filings.
- NGOs facing deregistration threats may scale back legal aid and services.
- Families may be separated when protection results differ among members, especially with longer entry bans.
Wider European implications
The proposed EU Return Regulation envisages:
- Offshore deportation centers
- Longer detention
- Reduced safeguards
- New duties on people with removal orders to cooperate
For external-border states like Greece, the message is clear: prioritize removals. But effectiveness is uncertain:
- Will prioritizing removals reduce crossings, or only increase risks and costs?
- Field data suggest small cohorts can be expensive to move, and people often try to return, incurring harsher penalties for re-entry that burden courts and prisons.
If Brussels adopts the EU proposal and member states follow suit, lawyers expect a surge in urgent filings to the ECtHR, potentially creating a cycle where national systems push faster removals while supranational courts step in to prevent irreparable harm.
Final tensions and outlook
As the Greece deportation law rolls out, government officials argue it will restore order, deter smugglers, and align with emerging European policy. Rights advocates counter that it will increase harm, muzzle watchdogs, and shift costs to police, courts, and taxpayers.
- With Strasbourg already intervening in high-profile cases, and Brussels weighing a continent-wide move toward faster removals, Greece stands at the frontline of a wider dispute over enforcement limits and legal protections.
- The coming months will test how far the government can proceed, and how far Europe’s courts and civic space will respond or push back.
For official updates on enforcement directives and regulatory texts, see the Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum.
This Article in a Nutshell
Greece’s September 2025 deportation law criminalizes “illegal stay,” imposing two-to-five year prison terms for rejected asylum seekers and tightening enforcement tools. Introduced on August 4 by Minister Thanos Plevris, the package shortens voluntary departure windows, broadens detention powers, curtails repeat asylum filings, authorizes electronic ankle tags, and allows revoking residence permits after seven years of irregular residence. Government officials link the measures to the European Commission’s March 11, 2025 Return Regulation, which shifts focus to removals and limits appeal safeguards. Rights groups and over 300 organizations across Europe warn the changes are punitive and risk increased litigation at the ECtHR. Practical obstacles — high costs, complex logistics, and judicial pushback — may limit the law’s effectiveness while raising humanitarian concerns and straining NGOs and courts.
