The goal is for the Special Civil Registry to become citizen-friendly and to adapt, with reliability and accuracy, to the demands of modern life, says Deputy Interior Minister Vasilis Spanakis.

In a joint decision with Interior Minister Thodoris Livanios, the minister has set out in detail the procedure for submitting applications to register civil status events, such as births, marriages and deaths, involving Greek citizens that took place abroad, using the digital pre-approval platform of the Special Civil Registry.

Under the decision, once the documents required for registering these events have received positive pre-approval through the Special Civil Registry’s digital platform, as established under joint decision 66587 of 18 December 2025 issued by the Minister of Digital Governance and the Deputy Minister of Interior, citizens authenticated as users via taxisnet (Greece’s online tax portal) and authorised lawyers authenticated via the electronic services of the Plenary of Greek Bar Associations can now apply digitally to register civil status events that concern them.

Applicants may send the original documents, or exact copies certified by a Greek lawyer, by registered courier, or submit them in person at the competent Directorate of Civil and Municipal Status within the Ministry of Interior. Once the documents sent are confirmed to fully match those approved on the platform, an electronic notification is sent to the applicant so they can proceed with the registration application.

Spanakis said: “The updating of the now outdated 1976 civil registry law (Law 344/1976) leads to measures that simplify procedures and digitise the paper archive, cutting bureaucracy and inconvenience for citizens. Given that more than 8,000 registrations take place each year, comprising 3,500 new registrations of events that occurred abroad (marriages, births, deaths and others) and more than 4,500 corrections to events abroad (divorces and changes to personal details), the aim is for the Special Civil Registry to become citizen-friendly and to adapt, with reliability and accuracy, to the demands of modern life.”