AMKA, tax number and e-EFKA registration after a third country worker arrives

After arrival, a third country worker needs three numbers before working a first shift: an AMKA social security number from a citizen service centre or an AMKA desk, a tax number from the Independent Authority for Public Revenue, and registration in the insured persons register of e-EFKA. These are three separate procedures at three bodies, not one application.

AMKA and the documents it requires

According to MITOS, the national register of administrative procedures, AMKA is issued to a third country national at a citizen service centre or at an AMKA desk of the social security bodies. The number is held by IDIKA and it is how the worker exists inside the health and insurance system.

The file requires a valid passport and a document of lawful entry and residence, or a residence permit in force. MITOS also provides for specific AMKA cases covering holders of a permit under paragraph 4 of article 134 of Law 5038/2023 and paragraph 2 of article 19A of Law 4251/2014. If the worker falls into one of these, it is worth saying so at the counter, because the clerk follows a different route.

Two details cost time in practice. The first is the exact spelling of the name. The Latin name in the passport has to be carried identically into the AMKA record, the tax record and the contract, or the three entries fail to match and registration stalls. The second is the residential address, which has to be real and stable, because other procedures rest on it, as set out in the guide to worker accommodation obligations.

The tax number and registration with e-EFKA

The tax number is issued by the Independent Authority for Public Revenue and covers the worker's tax identity. Without it no payroll is produced and no tax is withheld. It is a separate number from AMKA and does not follow automatically from it.

Registration in the insured persons register of e-EFKA for salaried third country nationals is, per MITOS and e-EFKA itself, a distinct procedure from the issuance of AMKA. Many employers assume AMKA already registered the worker. It does not. Registration is what creates the insured relationship and lets the worker appear on a periodic contributions return.

Why the order is the whole job

The chain always breaks at the same point. Without AMKA and registration the employer cannot file valid contributions returns and cannot activate a digital work card in ERGANI II. The worker is on site, the shift is worked, and no record exists. In an inspection that does not read as paperwork running late, it reads as undeclared work, with the consequences set out in the guide to the digital work card.

A realistic timeline helps planning. AMKA is usually issued the same day at the citizen service centre when the file is complete. The tax number follows within a few working days. Registration with e-EFKA comes after that and before the first payroll run. A window of five to ten working days between arrival and the first declared shift is conservative and rarely turns out to be unnecessary. The cost here is not a state fee but staff time, and it belongs in the cost of hiring.

Two habits cut the error rate. The first is sending a company representative to the counter with the worker and a complete file, instead of sending him alone with partial documents. The second is keeping a copy of each proof, the AMKA record, the tax number and the registration certificate, in the worker's file, so an inspection does not require a search across three systems.

The procedure that comes before arrival is described in the guide to the metaklisi E.4 procedure. The three numbers are its continuation inside Greece and the point at which the worker acquires standing before the state. More on company obligations is on the page for employers.