Handy hints for working legally on Symi
Having now spent four seasons here I’m at last starting to get a vague idea of what you need to do to work legally on Symi. You might still find this interesting even if you don’t intend to live and work here - so read on anyway.
Firstly there seems to be great confusion about green cards, (residency permits). I went to the police station last year to get a new one and it was relatively hassle free. The chief of police filled out the forms with me, accepted my four small photos and then sent me away to fill out a barely legible form that had already been photocopied to death and make five copies. Luckily my accountant produced a new version, already filled in and copied five times so that was even easier. Back to the police station for the final checks and to dare to ask the question; “as I am a European citizen with an E.U. passport, do I actually need one of these?”
Answer, “no”. You are supposed to register with your local police station within 3 months of arriving in Greece from any other country (if you are staying longer than three months) but if you are an E.U. passport holder that’s all you need to do. The chief did mumble something about the IKA department needing the card if and when I claim IKA so I got him to issue me one just in case. Later I found out that other non-Greek folk are happily claiming and receiving IKA without having a green card so I still have no idea why some folk on Symi still say you need one, maybe they are still living in the pre-Europe days, maybe they enjoy unnecessary paperwork or maybe they just like spending time with men in uniforms.
Anyway - this year I am not getting a green card and the accountant has checked with IKA and they say they don’t need to see one. If that turns out to be untrue then some European Court will be hearing from me.
IKA, by the way, is health and unemployment insurance for workers, a bit like national insurance in the U.K. Your employer pays your contributions and you are covered for health care after the first three months of paying. After working two seasons (or a minimum number of days per year - 125) you are then entitled to unemployment payments in the winter. It’s a bit like working a year in hand, except it’s not because if you take a break and don’t work and pay contributions for a year/season/125 days then you start from scratch again and have to work another two years before receiving unemployment benefit.
This is going to get complicated now so pay attention!
Here are some notes and thoughts about my IKA experience:
Make sure your job comes with IKA contributions. Some employers will say things like, no IKA - in which case you go and work somewhere else. Some will say you get IKA and then don’t pay it for you. Some will say you get IKA and they pay it but you get a crap wage in return. Others, like all the Greek people I have so far worked for on Symi, will pay you a reasonable wage and make your contributions as they should. Some will even get their accountant to do as much of the paperwork as possible on your behalf. (Thanks Nikos and Takis!) It is kind of possible to pay your own IKA contributions but you still need to be on an employers’ books.
Make sure your employer is actually paying it - there is a book/paper you sign to show that it is being paid. You will also get an IKA number (mine is a 7 digit number), this is vital so make sure you are told it and keep a note of it. In fact keep all paperwork in a file and don’t lose any of it. Ever.
You must go to the local Tax office and register as a tax payer too - they issue you a tax number, which sounds like ‘Afimi’ as it’s made up of three Greek letters that I can’t reproduce on this page, Alpha, Fi and Mi. My Afimi number is 9 digits long. (And I’m not just showing off.) We went with an accountant to get ours done and it certainly helps to be able to speak Greek in hell holes like the Rhodes tax office. He got us a form, showed us what to write, where to sign and then stood us in the right queue. Didn’t take too long. He also went and sorted our IKA numbers out as the IKA office is also a bit of a nightmare.
Big tip: It’s worth paying a good, local accountant to do the dirty work for you, particularly in your first years. Unless you speak Greek more than fluently, like queuing and/or are good at pushing in.
Back to IKA. Keep all IKA ‘stamps’ (pretty pieces of paper with a hologram stamp on them) that IKA send you towards the end of the season. You need these to claim your benefit later on.
ATOMIKO BIBLIARIO YGEIAS. What on earth…? Person’s Health Book (number 1). After working for a while and having your IKA paid you should receive an IKA ‘doctor’s book’ - this shows that you are covered, the doctors make notes in it and you only pay 25% of the prescription fees. (Medicines are very expensive so this is a vital book if you are planning to be ill.) It also ensures you don’t pay for hospital treatment. If you are travelling in Greece as well as working, always take your IKA book with you, or at least your number.
ATOMIKO BIBLIARIO YGEIAS. Again? Yes, actually I should have told you about this earlier. If you are working in a café, bar, restaurant etc. serving the public with food and drinks then you need a Person’s Health Book (number 2). There is still some debate about whether you need this book if you are working in a shop. My microbiologist and accountant say you don’t, other people say you do. The book itself isn’t a problem, it costs €1.00 from a stationery shop. The problems start when you have to get it signed by the doctor. Here we go:
Procedure one: (Recommended for masochists only) Boat to Rhodes and stay in a hotel over night. Taxi to hospital by 9.00 a.m. (or somehow get to Rhodes that day before 9.00 a.m. - sometimes possible.) Register for your tests. Queue and get a chest X-ray. Queue and get a blood test. Queue and do a poo test is you are working cooking food. Yuk. Rest of the day at leisure in the delightful city of Rhodes. Stay overnight in a hotel. Return to hospital the next day for the results. Queue etc. Get hospital GP to check tests and sign the book or return to Symi with papers and see the local GP.
Costs per person based on a single room with no supplement: Boats approx €26.00, hotel (with Symi folk winter rates and a lot of poverty pleading) €50.00, taxis €16.00, basic meals and entertainment €60.00. Total: €152.00 not including impulse buying at Marks and Spencer. Cost of tests and paperwork: FREE!
Procedure two: (Highly recommended) Check that the Symi X-ray machine is working and staffed. When next in Rhodes for something else combine your trip with a visit to a private microbiologist, there’s a good one opposite the Plaza Hotel. Get a blood test done and either collect the results later, get someone else to pick them up for you next time they are in Rhodes or ask for them to be sent or faxed to you. Take results to the Symi clinic and wave your health book while asking for ‘Photographies’ and pointing at your chest. Go topless in front of the tall doctor and get the x-ray done. See the GP on duty and show him/her your blood test results and tell him/her you just had your x-ray. (Tall doctor pronounces all is well by shouting ‘endaxi’ down the corridor - saves printing plates or something.) Helpful doctor updates your book and signs and stamps the appropriate pages.
Costs: Microbiologist €40.00, trip to Rhodes - well I was there anyway. X-rays €0.00. Total: €40.00
Procedure three. (Not recommended at all and I didn’t write this,) try and bribe a medical official with the correct stamp and a willingness to be struck off and share a cell with you.
So what are the stages of becoming a legal worker? Here’s a check list (correct as possible as at April 2006)
- You have registered at the cop shop within three months of arriving - suggested
- You have chosen the Green Card option or not - entirely up to you it seems
- You have your tax number - vital
- You have you IKA number - vital
- You have a job or a job offer (I hope, otherwise you’ve come this far for no reason!)
- You have checked that your employer is, or will be, paying your IKA and has registered you on their books - vital
- You have had your medical checks (if needed) and the GP has signed your health book - vital if you want to be legal and avoid fines later when the police come and check
- Your other health book (landscape, blue with your IKA number, name and location written on the front,) has arrived and has a paper on the inside front page stating the period of your entitlement - one year. - vital if you need medicine or treatment.
Now you are free to work legally in Greece!
Oh - one last thing: Stages 5, 6, 7, 8 and 2 (optional) are annual events.
Bravo and kali doulia!
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