Temporary AMKAs for foreign nationals being issued at last

A large number of our British readers said that the applications they had submitted on the emvolio.gov.gr platform had not had any response for a long time and the temporary AMKAs provided by KEP had also not been issued.

From yesterday, however, the AMKAs began to be sent out and pharmacists have told Enimerosi that the booking of appointments via pharmacies is proceeding without any problems.

It needs to be borne in mind that the temporary AMKAs are only valid until the vaccination programme is completed and will then be disabled.

The procedure

Thousands of foreign nationals, either permanent residents or those with second homes who were 'stuck' here, had been trying for months to obtain a temporary AMKA which would allow them to be vaccinated against Covid-19 in the same way as Greek citizens.

Those who do not have a Tax Number (AFM) need to go to a KEP office, which is responsible for issuing the AMKA. KEP told Enimerosi that they issue a number to the applicant but this number isn't immediately activated on the emvolio.gov.gr platform immediately. It takes approximately one month for the temporary AMKA to be activated allowing the holder to book a vaccination appointment.

There were also big delays in issuing AKAs to foreign nationals with an AFM who applied directly on emvolio.gov.gr. According to some readers, applications submitted in early April still hadn't had a response until yesterday.