Work

Steps

1. Search before leaving on the EURES portal and on the DYPA website; once registered as a jobseeker, you can upload your CV online (employers only see your professional profile).
2. Prepare your numbers: AFM (tax number, see GR-NIF-TOUS-001) and AMKA (social security, see GR-SANTE-TOUS-001). Your employer needs them to register you in ΕΡΓΑΝΗ (ERGANI, the register of employment contracts).
3. Insist on the written terms of your contract: the employer must give you in writing, within two months of your hiring, your pay, your hours and your paid holiday (presidential decree 156/1994). Without this document, the contract remains valid, but the employer risks a fine.
4. Have your qualifications recognised if your profession is regulated (doctor, lawyer, engineer…) with the competent Greek authority before starting.
5. If you lose your job, register as unemployed with the DYPA (local office ΚΠΑ2 or online) with your AMKA and your AFM, then claim the benefit within 60 days after the end of the contract.

Documents

• ID document, AFM, AMKA, Greek bank account (salary must be paid into an account).
• Qualifications and, if needed, translations: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs translation service or a lawyer can translate them (EURES).
• To have a past job in another EU country counted: form U1 from your former unemployment fund.

Costs and timelines

• Minimum wage (since 01/04/2026): €920 gross per month; €41.09 per day for day-paid workers (EURES).
• Statutory private-sector bonuses: 13th month at Christmas, half a month at Easter and half a month in summer.
• Salary deductions: health, pension and unemployment contributions of about 14 to 16% of gross salary (EURES), plus tax (see GR-IMPOTS-TOUS-001).
• Working time: 40 hours per week under the contract (8 hours a day over 5 days). Hours beyond the contract, within the legal limit, are paid +20%; beyond the legal limit, +40%, within the limit of 150 hours a year and 3 hours a day. Daily rest of at least 11 hours, weekly rest of 24 hours (in principle on Sunday).
• Paid holiday: on a 5-day week, 20 working days in the first year (pro rata), then 1 more day a year up to 22; 25 days after 10 years with the same employer or 12 years of experience; 26 days after 25 years. On a 6-day week: 24, then up to 26, 30 and 31. A holiday bonus equal to half a salary is added in the private sector.
• Dismissal notice (permanent contract): from 1 to 4 months depending on length of service, with severance pay; the employer declares the termination in ERGANI within 4 days.
• Probationary period: 6 months at most, according to Your Europe: this is the ceiling in European Directive 2019/1152 (article 8), and national rules may exceptionally provide for longer in the worker's interest. For a fixed-term contract, the probationary period must be proportionate to the expected duration of the contract and the nature of the work; a contract renewed for the same function has no new probationary period. The precise Greek rules do not appear in the sources read: to be confirmed with the Labour Inspectorate or the Ministry of Labour.
• Unemployment, rule in force (τακτική επιδότηση ανεργίας, ordinary benefit, DYPA):
  • for an employee dismissed or at the end of a contract (not in case of resignation), registered as unemployed and available;
  • first claim: at least 125 days of contributory work in the 14 months before the end of the contract (not counting the last 2 months), or 200 days over the preceding 2 years, with in both cases 80 days of employed work a year over the preceding 2 years;
  • duration: 5 months (125 to 149 days), 6 months (150 to 179), 8 months (180 to 219), 10 months (220 to 249), 12 months (250 days or more, or 210 days and age 49 completed); at most 400 daily allowances over 4 years;
  • amount displayed by the DYPA on 23/10/2026 (the page does not date these amounts), according to the average gross salary of the last 6 months: €22.60 per day, i.e. €565 per month (salary of €493.09 or more); €423.75 per month (from €246.55 to €493.08); €282.50 per month (up to €246.54). +10% per dependant; 25 daily allowances per month; Christmas and Easter bonuses during the benefit period;
  • online claim (DYPA e-services or gov.gr) within 60 days after the end of the contract, after registering as unemployed (unemployment card); online declaration of presence at each "presence month" shown on your claim (in practice every 3 months: it secures three monthly payments), otherwise the monthly payment for the presence month is withheld, and two presence months missed in a row stop the benefit.
• Unemployment, change being tested: a new benefit model (fixed part decreasing from 70% of the daily minimum wage, variable part according to length of service, up to 24 months) has been tested since 2025 on about 15,000 beneficiaries drawn by lot (ministerial decision 54427/2024). The ministry announced on 23/12/2024 that it would be extended to all unemployed people if the evaluation is good: not yet generalised: as of 23/10/2026, the DYPA (public employment service) still applies the ordinary benefit described above to all other unemployed people, and no date for generalisation is published.
• Exported unemployment benefit: with a U2 form, you can keep your former country's benefit for at least 3 months (up to 6 depending on that country) while searching in Greece, provided you register with the DYPA within 7 days.
• Recognition of a regulated profession: the authority acknowledges receipt within 1 month and in principle decides within 3 months (EU rules).

Common pitfalls

• Working without registration in ERGANI. Your contract must be recorded there: it is your proof of employment for residence, healthcare and pension. Ask for a copy.
• Relying on the annual gross figure alone. In Greece, people often think in monthly salary × 14: check whether the offer speaks of 12 or 14 payments.
• Letting the 60 days pass. The unemployment benefit claim is made within 60 days after the end of the contract; a resignation does not give entitlement to the ordinary benefit.
• Not requesting the U1 before leaving. Without it, your periods of work abroad take longer to have recognised for Greek unemployment benefit.
• Arriving with a regulated profession without recognition. You cannot practise it while awaiting the decision.
• Split shifts. In retail, the day is often split (see GR-VIE-TOUS-001): ask for the actual schedule before signing.

What changes by country of origin

• EU and EEA citizens and Swiss citizens: no work permit; you register with the police for residence beyond 3 months (see GR-SEJOUR-TOUS-001).
• British citizens (Scots included): you need a visa and a residence permit that allow work, except for rights acquired before 01/01/2021 (see GR-SEJOUR-TOUS-001). The European U1 and U2 forms do not apply in the same way: to be confirmed with the DYPA.