152 Jutta Lauth Bacas the state have been settled, most foreign workers in Greece are eager to pay their taxes in time (in contrast to some Greeks) and they also contribute substantially with their insurance payments to the National Security Service.16 This case of economic migrants from South European or East European countries to Greece who have been converted from irregular aliens to legal residents shows clearly that the illegality of a foreigner in a nation state is a social and legal construction, a classification granted or denied by state authorities. In the following chapter of this article, special attention will be given to those foreigners on Greek territory who arrive without documents and in many cases stay in the country without authorization or applying for a residence permit. I am referring to irregular migrants and asylum seekers who arrive in Greece without any valid travel documents after having crossed the Greek-Turkish borders17. Due to the clandestine arrival and unauthorized presence in the country, their number is difficult to estimate. But from the available figures it is clear that a growing number of illegally registered foreigners have been apprehended and registered in Greece in the last decade. According to a recent estimation made in the framework of a European research programme on clandestine migration to Europe (named Clandestino), by the end of 2007 there were 280 446 irregular migrants residing in Greece, a number adding substantially to the resident population of the country.18 In their majority, this group of not legally present migrants started their journey to Europe from conflict-torn countries in the Middle and Far East and from Africa, in many cases from countries at war or facing armed violence. They arrive in Greece under difficult circumstances and after exhausting and dangerous trips leading from the country of origin through various transit countries to Greece as the southeastern gate of Europe. Greece functions in many cases as neither the first choice nor the final destination in Europe, but due to its geographical position on the southeastern border between Europe and Asia Minor, it happens to be the first place of entry to “Schengenland” with all legal consequences involved. The following chapters will investigate the question of how the reception of these undocumented irregular migrants on a Greek-Turkish border island works and how the actors involved experience the process of clandestine maritime border crossing. 16 17 18 In order to renew a residence permit according to Law 3386/2005, third country nationals in Greece need to collect (or buy for themselves) a certain number of insurance stamps from the national security organization I. K. A. The process of irregular entry to Greece on the land route (via Northern Greece) is analysed by O’Brien (2003) and Papadopoulou (2004). An anthropological investigation into the maritime route to Greece is presented in the following chapter. See Clandestino Greece (2008: 54).