# Tips on ga citizenship through Greek parent



## Jenat116 (Mar 25, 2013)

I have just begun looking into obtaining greek citizenship. My father was born there, he owns a home there,parents were married in Greek church and we have lots of family there. From what I've read it can take anywhere from a few months to a few years to obtain citizenship. I would ideally like to be in Greece (and travelling europe) by the end of this summer. I am willing to travel to Greece to speed up the process in any way. I was wondering if anyone had any tips to make the process as fast as possible??


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## rebartrees (Jul 18, 2009)

You should start the process by calling or visiting the nearest Greek consulate and learning exactly what documents you need. If your parents were married in the US you will need a copy of the marriage certificate, your birth certificate, your father's birth certificate from Greece and his ID number from the town where he was born. If they were married in Greece, get the Greek certificate. All documents from the US should have an apostille from the state where they originate. The consulate will send the documents to the Athens Special Registry and it can take a while to hear back from them, but you might be able to speed things up things up if you go there while in Greece. The best way to do this is to hire a lawyer who will handle everything at the Registry for you.
I recommend Arsinoi Lainioti who speaks Greek and English and helped me do this quickly. 
Good luck!


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## Ad Rem (Apr 12, 2013)

Welcome to Greece, Jenat!

The truth is that the government sector is a bit slow when it comes to documentations. In any case, I would not recommend to hire a lawyer, because they will charge u way too much for the service that u can do by urself. Especially if u show up as a foreigner-they can charge u double the amount! Ur case is pretty much straight forward. Ok, u will have to stand in the line, get pissed off by an employee, even more drama if u don't speak Greek ... However, you will be able to finish it up urself and get ur citizenship.

US embassy can be very helpful in guiding u.

In any case, if u need any help, feel free to contact me!


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