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On August the 23rd, 2010, the weather on Rhodes will be sunny, with blue skies and hot.  I will give anyone who cares to lose their money, 10-1 odds on that prediction. Which brings us to the number one reason why people want to live in Greece. Great weather.  Rhodes has over 300 days of sunshine per year according to the statisticians.  Unfortunately, great weather alone does not make a place necessarily a good place to live.  You want friendly people, reasonable prices for goods, affordable housing, easy access, good health care and a minimum of bureaucracy.  Rhodes has all of these except the last. In most countries in the world dealing with bureaucrats can be annoying.  In Greece, they have raised it to an art form.  Perhaps because they have been at it longer than just about anywhere else.  So if you are considering life in Greece be prepared for a new experience. Take for example getting your Residence Permit.  Generally speaking, if you are a foreign national, you will only be allowed a six month visa and must leave and re-enter the country after a few days if you wish to stay longer than that.  These brief exits are called "Visa Runs" by everyone in Greece and the world over. However, if you have EU citizenship, then you are entitled to live and work in Greece permanently.  Accordingly, you can get two kinds of Residence Permit.  One is good for six months (intended for raising money from seasonal tourism workers), and one is for five years.   What would take a couple of visits to a government office over a couple of days in some countries, will probably take something like eight or nine visits over two weeks in Greece.

Ron Ferguson was born in Scotland, grew up in Canada and has lived in the USA, France and Greece.  He is now living in Scotland. After retiring at 43 he spent a few years travelling and sailing.  In 1993, he went to the island of Rhodes intending to spend a week to ten days seeing the island.  He stayed for 7 years. Additional Resources Travel Links  Living Overseas  Unique Lifestyles  Moving to Europe  Maps Of The World  Hospitals Worldwide  World Stock Markets  Offshore Investments  World Reference Desk Articles on Living Overseas  Offshore Investment Articles International Jobs Marketplace  Offshore Real Estate Quarterly  Contact Ron Ferguson  .

Typically, you visit an office with a form filled out.  You are told to take it to Room 6.  In Room 6, after waiting for the person to finish an argument with his wife on the phone which you are sure would result in murder of one or the other if they were face to face, you are told you need to buy and affix a stamp to the document before it can be signed.  So, off you go to buy a stamp which can only be bought at one of the little cigarette stands on the street because they have the concession to sell government stamps.  You buy the necessary amount of stamps (usually around 50p or 50 cents) stick them on your form and return.
 

It is ll.45am.  The offices close at noon.  You get to Room 6 and the gentleman has left for the day.  Noon is a flexible concept.  The following day you return to Room 6 bright and early at 9am with your form stamped.  You are greeted with a scowl, your form glanced at and you are told it has to first be signed by the woman in Room 2.  So, off you go to Room 2.  Don't even think of asking why he couldn't have told you that yesterday.  Room 2 is busy with a line of about 3 people waiting.  At 11am you finally get your turn.  The woman signs your form, thumps it with a rubber stamp and tells you to take it to Room 4.  What happened to Room 6?  In Room 4, a gentleman looks at your form and throws it into one of his trays.  You stand there looking at him.  He finally says, " OK, you go now.  Come back 3 days." As you wander home in a daze, you figure it all out.  The job of the gentleman in Room 6 is simply to tell you what other rooms to take your form to.  He also has the responsibility to tell you  if you need stamps.   That is quite unusual.  In Greece the rule is "One man, one job," and this is often taken to extremes.  The woman in Room 2 is responsible for signing your form.  The gentleman in Room 4 is responsible for collecting it.

Congratulations!  You are now a beginning veteran of Greek bureaucracy.  Only 6 more visits, or so, like this and you will have a Residence Permit!

This description is not an exaggeration, and this kind of process applies to everything involving any kind of government paperwork.  Many foreigners moving to Greece find it so frustrating that it becomes a major problem for them.  If you are going to live in Greece you have to learn how to accept these kinds of things and go with the flow.

For example, never expect to finish transacting a piece of business with the government.  When it is finished, it will come as a pleasant surprise.   Head out in the morning intending to visit that office and perhaps manage to achieve one more piece of the process, or not, as the Gods will.
 

Time is money they tell us.  Well, no one told Greece!  Time is a very flexible commodity, and you must learn to think the same way or go crazy.  My favourite lesson in time came from our village postman.  One year in early August, I was expecting a letter from someone.  Every day for a week I checked the mailbox and nothing arrived.  Finally I asked my landlord if there was a strike going on since not one piece of paper had arrived for anyone in a week.  He laughed and said, "It's August, the mailman takes his holidays in August."   That was all he said, the total explanation necessary.  If the mailman is on holiday, how can you get a mail delivery was the obvious and simple logic.  If you can't wait till September for your next delivery, go to the village post office and they will let you look through the mail for yourself! Two great Greek words are "avria" and "meta avrio".  They translate as tomorrow and after tomorrow.  What they mean are, some time in the next 2 weeks and probably never.  If a Greek friend arranges to meet you for a drink at 6pm and turns up at 7.30pm, he probably won't apologize.  Why would he, he isn't late.

To live in Greece you must learn to accept and enjoy the Greek concepts of efficient bureaucracy and time.
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