administrative courts concerning this special residence permit. It should be noted that the applicant entered Greece through family reunification several years before reaching adulthood, despite a positive family reunification decision having been issued approximately six years prior to entry and not executed by the Greek authorities. The issuance of the temporary order constitutes an essential interim judicial safeguard preventing irreparable harm pending full judicial review, particularly in light of the recent criminalisation of irregular stay introduced by Law 5226/2025, Obstacles faced by refugees1406 Challenges include (i) the submission of family reunification applications at the Headquarters of the Hellenic Police, (ii) the exclusion of family members, (iii) the issuance of travel documents, (iv) the certification of documents and (v) the issuance of visas is very often delayed, making family reunification an extremely lengthy and onerous procedure. ❖ Unlike the Asylum Unit of International Protection Beneficiaries of the Asylum Service, there is no standard form of family reunification protection for refugees who fall under the jurisdiction of the Headquarters of the Hellenic Police. Thus, they have to write on their own the family reunification application in Greek. Taking into consideration that no family reunification interviews are conducted, the application must be in the form of statement of grounds (υπόμνημα) in writing, pursuant to which a request of family reunification with the family members is made and the existence of family relationship is proved and specified. Furthermore, they have to submit all the required documents at the same date they apply for family reunification. ❖ As per P.D. 131/2006, refugees can be reunited, among others, with their adopted children. However, in many third countries, Sharia prohibits adoption and only allows legal guardianship. Even in these cases of objective impossibility, the Asylum Service issues negative family reunification decisions on the grounds of non-submission of adoption decisions. ❖ No alternative solutions are provided when the refugees’ family members are objectively unable to issue travel documents. ❖ Certification of family reunification documents is an extremely difficult procedure, since it has to be made also by the Greek Consulates or Greek Honorary Consulates. Nevertheless, not every third country has a Greek Consulate. Moreover, it has been observed that the majority of Greek Consulates are reluctant to facilitate the certification procedure by requiring additional documents for the certification and/or by non-scheduling appointment in due time. ❖ According to the DH2 Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs “As for the possibility of certifying the required documents in the framework of the family reunification procedure by the Honorary Consulates, Article 307 of the Regulation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (L. 4781/2021 Gov. Gazette 31/A/28.2.2021) is cited: “The Honorary Consulates perform the same tasks as the Consulates except for the issuance of passports and visas”. More precisely, and for the completeness of your information, it is noted that exception to certification by the Honorary Consulates is made for public documents issued by Ethiopia, Algeria, Afghanistan, Ghana, Eritrea, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya, Mali, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal, Sudan, Sri Lanka and Tunisia, the certification of which can be done solely through the competent Greek Consulate. (for more information, see: http:www.mfa.gr/exoteriki-politiki/apodimos-ellinismos/keppa/)”.1407 ❖ The majority of the Greek Consulates require the submission of recent, certified additional documents for the issuance of visas, which are not provided for in the law. ❖ No alternative solutions are provided to family members who are trapped in armed conflict zones. Despite the above obstacles, certain good practices followed by Greek Consulates should be mentioned: 1. The Greek Consulate in Nairobi /Kenya certifies family reunification documents and issues visas in due time. The same applies to Greek Consulate in Istanbul but only for Turkish nationals. 1406 1407 Greek Council for Refugees, Report, Family Reunification of Recognised Refugees in Greece, July 2025, available in English here. Reply of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, DH2 Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to GCR’s request for information for the preparation of the updated Annual Report on Greece for 2024 in the framework of the Asylum Information Database (AIDA) project, prot. no. Α.Π.Φ 171/ΑΣ 19 ΣΗΔΕ 195, 06 January 2024. 275