The bilateral agreement between the government of the Hellenic Republic and the government of the Arab Republic of Egypt on the employment of seasonal workers in the agricultural sector is implemented.

Speaking to APE-MPE, the Minister of Immigration and Asylum, Dimitris Kairides, states that the first list of 2,400 Egyptian seasonal workers has already been drawn up, in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Labor, and that the agreement between the two countries is based on the encouragement of an alternative corridor of labor legal labor mobility.

The agreement provides for a special procedure for recalling citizens of third countries for seasonal work in the agricultural sector.

The procedure concerns during the first implementation (year 2024) the recall of five thousand (5,000) seasonally employed citizens of Egypt.

The differences of the process of the bilateral agreement in relation to the permanent transfer process are as follows: a) the positions of the five thousand (5,000) workers are available for the entire Greek territory from a common “reservoir” and are reserved by the one-stop services the processing of the request and b) the common pool of candidate workers, from which the employer has the possibility to transfer workers, has been formed and proposed by the Egyptian side, following the criteria set by the Greek authorities (Ministry of Rural Development and Food).

The Ministry of Immigration and Asylum, as part of the implementation of the agreement, has developed an electronic platform for the submission of employers’ applications. The electronic platform is expected to be available, on the website of the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum, on Monday 10 June 2024 for employers to submit their requests.

In his statement to APE-MPE, the Minister of Immigration and Asylum emphasizes: “Greece’s cooperation with Egypt also in immigration matters is of strategic importance. Following my recent visit to Cairo, the activation of the electronic platform signals our will to immediately implement the agreement, signed in 2022, by the then Foreign Minister, Mr. Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, for up to 5,000 Egyptian seasonal land workers, to cover of primary sector gaps. The cooperation is based on combating illegal immigration and encouraging an alternative corridor of legitimate legal labor mobility. The first list of 2,400 Egyptian seasonal workers has already been drawn up, in collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry of Labour.