Writing to the Banned!

Hi and a belated welcome to the Forum.

I guess I should say sorry for you wasting your time.  I didn't ban the person you were trying to help, but I know it can happen for a variety of reasons, mainly for breaching one of our terms and conditions.  The biggest one in that group is posting their own personal contact information (phone or e-mail) in the open forum; when you do that you open yourself to being a target of scammers who unfortunately always seem to want to take advantage of people needing help.

Banned members can't post anything to the Forum (they lose their log-in), so he must have asked his question and then (or perhaps in the message he posted) included his personal contact details, then the team member responsible for this part of the Forum may have removed his post and temporarily banned him until the Forum admin team can make a decision as what to do with the message.

So, we do it with the best of intentions and I hope this has gone some way to explain what may have happened.

Hope this has helped.

Cynic
Expat Team

Hello Harehound,that was very kind of you to spend so much of your time,unfortunately time wasted.I myself have actually stopped now to give long drawn out instructions,details etc..due to the fact that very few people asking the questions ever say THANKYOU for ones time or acknowledge ones reply.I dont require bended knees but common courtesy seems to have evaded most people regrettably.Sometimes they ask serious...how to...questions or appear to be serious when in fact its only a flippant idea floating around their head or partners head and possibly wouldnt even have the right to settle in Greece.There is little or no feed-back from people that might help others and very little interaction between members,not so on other country expatcom.Im afraid we now live with the...Im ENTITLED,and I dont need to say THANKYOU FOR YOUR REPLY,YOUR EFFORT or YOUR THOUGHTS AROUND ME.So short and sweet if at all.

I would not consider it time wasted because the info you wrote may benefic someone else in the near future.

Thanks Cynic - for un-banning the wrongly banned, to Concertina for the sensible and reasonable words, and to LeonSpy for the encouragement. Just in case my experience is of interest to others I am including my response to Phil in Piraeus. I am sure that others will have had similar experiences:



Hmmm - bloody Brexit!!!!
You ask awkward questions and I can only tell you of my experience in regard to them.

Who I arrived here permanently I thought it best to leave all my tax dealings in the UK. I therefor got myself an AFM, but did not register for TAXIS. When Brexit was about to happen I had a chat with my friendly accountant about whether I should pay tax in Greece - which is a prerequisite of getting Greek citizenship. He told me that whilst UK and Greece had a joint tax arrangement this was not the whole story. Greece would assess the tax I should pay on my UK income and would deduct from that total the amount that I had already paid in UK. I reckon this would cost me at least €2000 a year plus 7 years of penalties for not registering for tax in Greece! I therefore continue to be taxed only in the UK and gave up the idea of Greek citizenship.

About 6 years ago I trotted along to the 'Aliens Bureaux' (Police station that deals with immigration) and got myself a temporary resident permit (the old buff coloured one). As this had run out towards the end of last year I went to a lovely lawyer here in Thessaloniki and asked her to find out about permanent resident's permits. You are probably right about these not being a legal requirement BUT I have been to the UK (twice) and Germany (Ugh) in the last 4 months and each time I have been asked  if I have a residents permit for Greece - and I produced it. I am not sure what would have happened if I had not got one.

To get a permit from your friendly police immigration department you need:
1. 4 passport type photos of yourself (be careful not to touch them as they reject finger marks).
2. Medical insurance - I found a wonderful agency who provided me with a Lloyds backed insurance for €350 for the year! They are called CROMAR
3. Proof of capital. They will accept (reluctantly) proof of capital in a UK bank or Building Society. I think they want €4,000. If you have a problem try borrowing from a friend for a week - they only need to see that much in your bank on one occasion.
4. Proof of residence for 5 years - i.e. a rental agreement or whatever. They like utility bills. This was all difficult for me as I live with my (Greek) partner in her house and all the utility bills are in her name. Eventually we went and swore a statutory declaration that I had lived with her for 5 years.
5. Your passport. Difficult for you from what you say, but I think essential. I suppose you could try a driving licence, but that might lead to more complications as Brits are supposed to get a Greek driving licence instead of a UK one. You will need a certified copy of the passport (by a lawyer)
6. Fee - I think it was €16.

I think that is all that they asked for. I went back about three times before I got it right - but that is about par for the course. If you do all the above you should become the proud owner of a digital residents permit.

Have I covered all your questions - I hope it is of some help to you. I was pretty reluctant to put my head above the parapet and admit that I live in Greece - in case I end up being taxed here. We also seem to get our passports stamped at customs now. The greek guy stamped mine but, being a friendly Greek,  did not have any ink in the stamp - so not a mark on my passport. The officer in Frankfurt was, I fear, less friendly and more organised!

Harehound wrote:

Thanks Cynic - for un-banning the wrongly banned, to Concertina for the sensible and reasonable words, and to LeonSpy for the encouragement. Just in case my experience is of interest to others I am including my response to Phil in Piraeus. I am sure that others will have had similar experiences:

Hi again.

Thank you for taking the time to respond; these things do help other Expats.

Cynic
Expat Team

Harehound I found it quite funny....Writing to the Banned.....and why not indeed?...You never know The Banned might be prolific writers behind the scenes and Thinkers haaaa