- The United States confirmed Greece met all program conditions on October sixth, twenty twenty-six.
- Greece issued more than five million identity cards and strengthened passport, border, and security checks.
- Greek visitors still need approved E-S-T-A authorization and may stay visa-free for up to ninety days.
The United States confirmed on October 6, 2026, that Greece had met all conditions for full participation in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program. Robert Law delivered the decision in a letter to Michalis Chrysochoidis during a meeting in Athens.
Law, the Department of Homeland Security’s Acting Under Secretary for Strategy, Policy and Plans, congratulated the Greek minister on the country’s work. He called the outcome a “success story.”
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Several senior officials attended. They included Lieutenant General Dimitrios Mallios, Chief of the Hellenic Police; John Gountanis, a U.S. Deputy Under Secretary; and Nicholas Kikis, a U.S. Assistant Secretary for Counterterrorism. Greek officers responsible for organized-crime investigations and police cooperation also joined.
Chrysochoidis said, “Greece is a safe country.” Law replied, “It’s also a very beautiful country.” The U.S. decision removes Greece’s temporary or monitored standing in the program.
New documents and security checks closed the compliance gaps
Greece issued more than 5 million new identity cards and made possession of one a condition for receiving a passport. The changes addressed U.S. concerns about the security of Greek identity documents and their vulnerability to forgery.
Newly issued passports began carrying biometric information in early August 2026. Greece also strengthened checks on lost and stolen travel documents, tightened controls at entry and exit points, and expanded security information-sharing with U.S. authorities.
The review examined more than passport design. It considered how Greek agencies issued identity cards, used counterterrorism information and checked immigration data against U.S. databases. Authorities also assessed information held on lost and stolen passports.
The Hellenic Police strengthened its use of counterterrorism information. Greece also improved the comparison of immigration-related records against U.S. and other security databases. Those measures formed part of a broader effort to improve border controls and cooperation.
A 2014 assessment led to a decade of oversight
Greece joined the program in 2010, allowing eligible citizens to make qualifying short visits without first obtaining a conventional visa. A U.S. assessment in 2014 examined Greek travel documents, entry-and-exit controls and related security systems.
U.S. officials judged the country’s performance inadequate, with particular concern about passport and identity-card security. Greece entered temporary or monitored status in 2016, and officials reviewed its progress periodically, reportedly every one or two years.
The reviews covered five principal areas: identity-card issuance, passport biometrics, immigration-data screening against U.S. systems, police access to counterterrorism information, and controls on lost or stolen documents. The process continued while Greece made changes to its documents and security procedures.
Washington reportedly exempted Greece from the program’s annual review in October 2025, after finding that it was meeting continuing travel-security obligations. The October 2026 letter confirmed the completion of the outstanding requirements and normalized the country’s participation.
The decision changes oversight, not the travel screening
Greek citizens still need an approved ESTA before boarding a flight to the United States. The authorization remains a pre-travel requirement, even after the compliance decision.
Visa-free visits remain limited to tourism, business or transit for up to 90 days. Anyone traveling for employment, study or permanent residence, or planning a stay longer than 90 days, still needs a traditional visa.
The decision does not guarantee admission at the border. Greek travelers remain subject to U.S. inspection, admissibility rules and the usual conditions for short-term visa-free travel.
The normalization is expected to remove the additional scrutiny associated with Greece’s monitored status and help travel authorizations move more quickly. It does not remove electronic screening or the U.S. government’s authority to assess each traveler.
Police and security agencies are widening their cooperation
The two governments also agreed to accelerate operational intelligence exchanges and improve the ability of their systems to work together. The work extends beyond travel documents.
Their planned cooperation includes terrorism, drug trafficking and organized crime, as well as money laundering and the financial infrastructure of criminal organizations. Officials also identified criminal use of new technologies and cross-border threats as areas for coordination.
Greek officials presented the compliance decision as recognition of improvements in document security, border controls, information-sharing and counterterrorism cooperation. The government tied the result to the wider security relationship, rather than treating it only as a change in travel administration.
The announcement came during a wider bilateral push
The announcement followed high-level discussions involving U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Those talks addressed cooperation on terrorism, organized crime, border security and regional threats.
On October 7, 2026, the decision was reported alongside the sixth Greece–U.S. Strategic Dialogue, led by Rubio in Athens. The compliance letter capped a process that began with the 2014 assessment and kept Greece under heightened monitoring from 2016 until the United States confirmed its requirements had been met.
