25, Rigillis St, 10674 Athens, Greece, Tel.: +302107258353-4, yataglawfirm@ath.forthnet.

gr
_______________

Athens, September 30, 2010

Dear

RE: Legal Opinion regarding military service obligation in Greece

for males with dual U.S. – Greek citizenship.

I have been instructed to give an opinion on the question whether a male

with dual U.S. – Greek citizenship has a military service obligation while
living in Greece.

The questions where specified as follows:

1) If you are a dual U.S.-Greek citizen, do you have any military

service requirement to Greece while living in Greece?
2) Can you be a citizen of Greece born in the U.S. without applying to
be a citizen?
3) Was this military service requirement in effect from 1998-1999?
4) What are the allowable exceptions to this requirement?
5) Would this individual on these facts have been eligible for these
exceptions?
6) If this individual did not meet the exceptions and lived in Greece
for more than a year, are there other ways to get around the service
requirement?
I assumed the following facts:
1) Individual is a male with dual U.S.-Greek citizenship. (His father
was born in Greece.)
2) Individual was born in 1976
3) From 1998 to 1999 (after his 18th birthday), he lived in Greece and
played professional basketball in Panionios B.C.
4) Individual has never served in the Greek military

Applicable Legislation

Article 4§6 of the Greek Constitution provides that “Every Greek male
person capable of bearing arms is obliged to contribute to the defence of
the Fatherland as provided by law.”

Art. 1. L.1763/88, as amended by L. 1911/90, which was in force in the

year 1998, provided that all men between the age of 20 and 50 (approx.)
must serve mandatory military service.

Article 4§3 of the Greek Constitution provides that “All persons

possessing the qualifications for citizenship as specified by law are Greek
citizens.”

Article 1 of the Greek Citizenship Code, as it was in force in the year

1998, provided that “The child born by a male or female Greek person
acquires Greek citizenship from birth.” Thus citizenship is determined by
having a Greek ancestor (Jus Sanguinis), regardless of the place of birth
or residence.

Article 7§13 L.1763/88, as it was in force in the year 1998, provided that
“Induction into military service is postponed for the persons who have
the status of permanent residents abroad on the date on which the

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obligation for recruitment starts. Within the scope of the present law,
permanent residents abroad are those who fulfil the following conditions:
a) were born or settled and started to reside permanently abroad,
before the 1st of January of the year on which they turned 11 years old
and their parents were residing abroad on the day of birth or settlement.
b) They reside permanently abroad until the day of deferment…”

Article 7§14cc L.1763/88, as it was in force in the year 1998, provided

that “loss of permanent residence abroad status occurs in the following
situations:...
…if the stay in Greece for more than six months in the same calendar
year after the 1st of January of the year on which they turned 11 years
old.”

On this legal basis, I am providing the following opinion in the form of

answers to each one of your specific questions.

Answer to question 1
All Greek men are required to serve. There is no exemption for Greek
men who hold dual citizenship (except for those born between the years
1945-1959). In principle, it is also irrelevant whether you live in Greece
or not. If you are a permanent resident abroad though, a deferment is
granted (see answer 4).

Answer to question 2
People born by a Greek father or mother are Greek citizens. If they want
to exercise their rights as citizens (e.g. stay in Greece), they might have to
go through a certain administrative procedure, which acknowledges
citizenship. It is worth noticing that basketball teams in EU are allowed to
have a very limited number of non-EU players. As a result, it is very
likely that the individual is actually registered in Greece.

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Answer to question 3
There was a military service obligation in the year 1998 for all Greeks
including those living abroad.

Answer to question 4
People under the permanent resident abroad status, can postpone service
indefinitely, unless they lose that status.

Answer to question 5
The individual referred to in the facts, is a Greek citizen since he has a
Greek father, so in principle he has to serve in the Greek armed forces.
Assuming that he settled in the States before the age of eleven and
resided there permanently, he is qualified as “permanent resident abroad”
in the sense of law.
Assuming that the Greek basketball championship starts in September
and finishes in May, he did not stay in Greece for more than six months
in the same calendar year. Thus he did not lose the permanent resident
abroad status and deferment is legal.
If he actually left Greece mid August, he probably had to enlist.

Answer to question 6
Assuming that the individual stayed in Greece for more than six months
in a single calendar year, it is difficult to imagine of legal reasons to get
around the service obligation. Generally, such reasons are illness, being a
student up to a certain age limit etc. In the mean time law has become less
strict, and this individual has regained permanent resident abroad status
after working abroad for seven consecutive years. Today, he has the right
to defer military obligation, unless he stayed in Greece for longer than six
months in one of the last seven calendar years.

Sincerely Yours

Panayotis Yatagantzidis