“For­eign work­ers: Trapped between legal work and illegal stay”

…The chaotic sys­tem for recruit­ing for­eign work­ers in Greece allows oppor­tun­ists to profit from people com­ing to work under exploit­at­ive con­di­tions, while fail­ing to provide Greek busi­nesses with the staff they need. Labor short­ages in con­struc­tion, tour­ism, and agri­cul­ture reach 350,000 annu­ally.

For 2026, the cab­inet set the max­imum num­ber of for­eign work­ers from third coun­tries at 94,240 pos­i­tions – far below actual demand, and even this num­ber is unlikely to be met. Greece also faces com­pet­i­tion from other European coun­tries where work migra­tion is gov­erned by clear rules, struc­tured frame­works, and higher wages…

The story of “T,” a 27-year-old from the Phil­ip­pines, whose details are avail­able to Kath­i­mer­ini, illus­trates how the sys­tem works…

To secure her spot on the plane and a job at a hotel on a major Greek island, she paid the agency rep­res­ent­at­ive in the Phil­ip­pines €5,000, which included her ticket to Greece…

“K” raised the money by tak­ing a loan from a bank and bor­row­ing from her rel­at­ives. “In our coun­try, this is very com­mon. It's nor­mal to come to Greece for work.”…