Hiring from outside the EU in 2027? The employer-needs consultation happens this quarter

Greece decides next year's work-permit quota in the last quarter of this one — based partly on what employer bodies report. If 2027 hires matter to you, the time to be counted is now.

Most employers meet the metaklisi quota only when it stops them: the application is complete, the candidate is ready, and the sector's positions for the year are already used up. At that point the law leaves no room — an application for a category whose positions are exhausted is inadmissible. The decision that caused it was taken months earlier, and it was partly based on numbers employers could have supplied.

How the annual quota is set

Under article 26 of the Migration Code, a Cabinet Act (ΠΥΣ) issued in the last quarter of each year sets the maximum number of positions for dependent and seasonal work for the following year. The positions are set per sector using the EU's ESCO occupation classification. The same act can add up to 15% for unforeseen needs, name the countries workers may be invited from, and cap numbers per country.

Before the act is issued, the Ministry of Labour consults the Economic and Social Council (ΟΚΕ), the public employment service (ΔΥΠΑ), the country's chambers, employer organisations and the national union of agricultural cooperatives. It weighs the domestic and EU labour supply, unemployment, and the metaklisi applications submitted and completed over the previous two years.

What changed in 2026

Ministerial Decision 13754/2026 set out how that consultation runs. In the last quarter of each year the Minister of Labour invites the consulted bodies. Before the consultation, employer organisations send reports estimating their sector's needs per ESCO occupation, stating whether each need is for dependent work, seasonal work, fishing crews or highly skilled staff, and justifying the figures. ΔΥΠΑ sends data on the labour available. The ministry then reports to the minister, who proposes the Cabinet Act.

What to do before the year ends

1. Count your 2027 need honestly. How many third-country hires, in which roles, for how long, and in which region. Seasonal and year-round needs are counted separately.
2. Map each role to its ESCO occupation. The quota is set per ESCO category, so a need described only as "general staff" is hard for an association to use.
3. Send it to your chamber or sector association now, with a short justification — for example, positions you advertised locally and could not fill. Ask when they are compiling their report.
4. Keep your own record of what you submitted and when. If your sector's positions run out next year, it helps to know whether your need was ever counted.
5. Prepare files early. The Cabinet Act stays in force until the next one is issued, and positions are used as approvals are granted. Employers with complete files when the 2027 act is published are not the ones who find the category closed.

Where Mazi fits

We help HR teams turn a hiring plan into the per-role, per-ESCO estimate an association can use, and then prepare the metaklisi files so they are ready when the positions open. Licensed counsel handles legal work and filing where the law requires it. If you want to sanity-check a 2027 plan, book a 20-minute call.