Greece cost and timeline for hiring a third country worker

State fees for an E.4 dependent employment metaklisi come to 546 euros per worker: a 200 euro approval fee, a 180 euro consular fee for the national visa, a 150 euro residence permit fee and 16 euros for printing. The time from filing to approval is recorded at 50 to 60 days.

That is what the state charges. It is not the cost of the hire. The full cost adds translations and certifications, medical checks in the origin country, the flight, housing, insurance, and the employer contributions that start running from day one.

The state side, step by step

Fees are set centrally and are not negotiable. The migration portal of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum records 200 euros per third-country national for an E.4 dependent employment approval and 100 euros for an E.5 seasonal employment approval. Consular authorities charge 180 euros for a national entry visa for dependent employment and 75 euros for a seasonal work visa.

Renewing the residence permit costs 150 euros and replacing a lost document costs 100 euros. For five dependent employment posts the state side comes to 2,730 euros, paid in three separate instalments rather than in one.

The threshold the company has to clear

Ahead of the fees sits a condition that is not paid but proved. Administrative practice requires gross revenue of at least 60,000 euros per post for an employer that is a legal entity and at least 22,000 euros per post for a natural person. Evidence comes from the tax clearance statement.

The arithmetic surprises smaller employers. A company with annual turnover of 240,000 euros can document four simultaneous posts, not ten. An employer planning twelve hires has to spread them across more financial years or evidence a larger turnover. The threshold is tested at the start rather than the end, and it is one of the most common grounds for refusal before the worker is even examined.

On top of that sits the wage. From 1 April 2026 the Ministry of Labour and Social Security set the statutory minimum wage at 920 euros per month for salaried staff and the minimum daily wage at 41.09 euros for manual workers, up from 880 euros. The contract in the file may not fall below that, and employer contributions to EFKA are calculated on it.

The private side of the cost is rarely budgeted in advance and often exceeds the state side. It covers certified translation of certificates and diplomas, medical checks in the origin country, a flight on routes such as Kathmandu or Manila to Athens, sickness insurance covering the period before EFKA registration, and housing for the first months. Seasonal placements add internal transport from the airport to the workplace. A realistic per post budget puts the private side above the state side, and an employer planning only against the 546 euros of fees is underestimating the real number.

The calendar, read backwards from the first shift

Time accumulates in four consecutive windows and the company controls only one of them.

Preparing the file, meaning contract, translations, tax clearance and, for agriculture, the certificate from the Ministry of Rural Development and Food, takes two to four weeks in an organised business. The employment approval takes 50 to 60 days according to the National Register of Administrative Procedures, with a 90 day ceiling under the framework of Law 5275/2026. The consular appointment depends on the origin country and adds weeks in peak periods. The residence permit after entry is added at the end.

A realistic total for a first metaklisi from Nepal or the Philippines runs four to six months from the company's decision to the first shift. The comparison with other European routes sits in how long an EU work permit really takes.

The mistake that costs money rather than only time is buying a ticket before the visa is issued. The employer pays for the flight, the consulate offers an appointment two weeks later than assumed, and a fare change on a Kathmandu to Athens route often costs more than the residence permit fee. The ticket is issued after the visa is printed in the passport.

The procedural steps behind these numbers are set out in the E.4 metaklisi procedure, and the cheaper, faster seasonal regime in the E.6 seasonal permit. Fees and consular charges are revised by ministerial decision, so they are confirmed at the start of each file. The employers page sets out how Werklist splits these costs and who pays what at each step.