150 Jutta Lauth Bacas entered the Greek job market unofficially, that is, without permits or without valid documents.9 There has never been an official recruitment programme that organizes the entry of economic migrants from the neighbouring Balkan countries to Greece, but especially in the decade before the Olympic Games of Athens (2004) there was a clear demand for a bigger labour force in the building sector, in agriculture and in tourism. The economic conditions in Greece at the turn of the century clearly favoured unauthorized immigration and the arrival of foreign labourers mainly from Albania, but also from other Balkan countries and the former Soviet Union (Lianos 2003). These newcomers adding to the existing work force were illegal immigrants in the strict sense that their presence in the country had not (yet) been authorized by Greek authorities. But in most cases they were not undocumented migrants, since they were able to prove their identity and to provide identification documents upon request. (Many of those who had crossed the mountain borders clandestinely possessed valid passports.) As a matter of fact, the Greek National Security Service (IKA) later proceeded to issue membership booklets for economic migrants based on these foreign passports, in spite of the fact that no valid Greek residence permits could be provided.10 This setting of large-scale irregular immigration from the Balkan countries to Greece changed after 1997, when the Greek government decided to implement regularization programmes for economic immigrants residing in the country for at least twelve months. First in 1997, then in 1999 and again in 2005, foreign labour migrants had the possibility to apply for a residence and work permit under specific conditions (most important to provide proof of regular employment and residence in the country for the previous twelve months). The legalization process started in Greece in 1997 (with Presidential decrees 358/1997 and 359/1997) following the experiences of three other South European countries, where resident rights had been granted to foreign workers under certain preconditions. In the first Greek legalization programme, an impressive number of 372 000 foreigners (men and women) left the underground economy and applied for residence and work permits (Kavounidis 2003).11 Since the number of foreign labourers tended to grow in the following years, a new opportunity for regularization was provided with the 2001 immigration law. Fol9 10 11 For a more detailed analysis of illegal migration pathways to Greece, see Antonopoulos/ Winterdyc (2005). An analytical report on the reception and living conditions of irregular economic migrants in Greece is given by Kanellopoulos et al. (2006). A detailed analysis of the consequences and economic impacts of irregular labour migration (mainly from Albania) is provided by Kanellopoulos et al. (2006). See Kavounidis 2002 (in Greek) for an analysis of the social profile of economic migrants in Greece based on the data submitted by applicants of the 1997 regularization programme.