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Platform for Greece’s new IDs opens on Sept 25

A new platform where Greek citizens can book an appointment for the issue of a new, higher-security, contactless police ID card is to open at the gov.gr portal on Monday, September 25, 2023.

Citizens will be able to book an appointment at a police station, which will be confirmed through an e-mail and SMS to their phone.

After attending the appointment and the process for issuing the new ID, they will then be informed by SMS within a week or 10 days to pick up their new ID.

There are 367 points for the issue of the new police ID cards throughout Greece, while 60 mobile units will be set up for prisoners, hospital patients, the elderly and disabled with serious accessibility issues.

The cost of the new ID is 10 euros, payable online, while there is an additional fee of nine euros in cases where the original ID is lost or damaged.

The new IDs will be valid for 10 years, as at present.

The old ID cards will cease to be valid from August 3, 2026 as they do not have a Machine Readable Zone (MRZ).

The new IDs will feature the holder’s photograph, name and surname, gender, date of birth, nationality, date of issue, expiration date, issuing authority and holder’s signature, as well as an ID number.

On the reverse side, they will include the name of the holder’s father and mother, place of birth, height (mandatory after age 24) and blood type (optional).

There is also space to print a Personal Citizen Number if required.

The information stored on the card’s contactless chip will include a digital photograph of the holder, an MRZ, two finger prints, the surname of the father and mother, the municipality where the holder is registered and municipal roll number and place of issue.

The new Greek ID cards will be made of polycarbonate and measure 85.6mm by 54mm, or about the same size as a credit card, according to ICAO international standards and the country’s legal obligations. They will be printed with a laser engraving printer and also have other features designed to make forgery impossible.

PS Why finger prints? are we criminals?

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2 comments

  1. “PS Why finder prints? are we criminals?”

    One reason, no doubt eventually banks will require fingerprint, iris or face biometrics for all online money transfers over (say) 500 euro.

    It’s to keep us “safe” from fraud etc – utter load of BS.

  2. As identity fraud proliferates the methods of countering identity fraud will expand. Finger prints are now used to verify identity in a wide range of situations, not just criminality, so storing a fingerprint scan on an identity card is quite sensible. The biometric residence cards issued to UK citizens, who were granted legal right to reside in Greece after Brexit through the withdrawal agreement, contain pretty much the same information as the new Greek residence cards including two fingerprint scans, one from the index finger of each hand.

    The only times I have had to produce my biometric residence card were going through a Schengen border crossing and my fingerprints were not checked. Based on the experience of many friends most border police haven’t got a clue what to do with it.