How to Hire Cleaner and Housekeeping Workers from Abroad in Greece

7 min

1. Cleaning and housekeeping shortages in Greece

Finding reliability in cleaning and housekeeping staff is one of the most persistent operational hurdles for Greek businesses today. The sector is split into two distinct realities: year-round commercial, medical, and residential cleaning in major urban centers like Athens and Thessaloniki, and intense, high-volume seasonal housekeeping in tourist hot spots across Crete, the Cyclades, the Dodecanese, the Ionian islands, and Chalkidiki. In tourist regions, local labor pools are completely exhausted well before the summer season begins, leading many hotel operators, villa managers, and facility management firms to look to non-EU countries to fill vacancies.

Hiring cleaning staff from non-EU countries into Greece is entirely legal, but it is not a quick fix. Greece operates a strict, bureaucratic quota-based system for bringing foreign personnel into low-skilled and semi-skilled roles. If you need a housekeeper to start next week, recruiting directly from outside the European Union will not solve your immediate problem. However, if you plan ahead for upcoming seasons or manage year-round commercial cleaning operations where you can forecast staffing needs four to six months in advance, foreign hiring offers a dependable way to build a stable team.

2. The legal hiring route: The Metaklisi procedure

In Greece, the process for bringing non-EU nationals to work under a dependent employment contract is called Metaklisi (invitation). Governed by the Greek Migration Code (Law 5038/2023), this mechanism requires the employer in Greece to initiate the process before the worker sets foot in the country.

You cannot simply sign a contract with a worker overseas and have them apply for a standard work visa on their own. The hiring process follows a specific statutory order:

The Joint Ministerial Decision (KYA): Every two years, the Greek government publishes a cabinet decision outlining the maximum number of non-EU citizens permitted to work in each region (Perifereia) and trade. You must ensure that your region has allocated openings for cleaning or housekeeping personnel under the current quota.
Filing with the Decentralized Administration: The employer submits an application to the competent Decentralized Administration (Apokentromeni Dioikisi) in their region. The file must include the job description, proof of tax compliance, evidence that you can cover the required wage, and an official labor contract signed by the employer.
Labor Market Check: The Decentralized Administration, in coordination with the Public Employment Service (DYPA), verifies whether local or EU candidates are available for the position. If no local candidates are found within a designated window, the application moves forward.
Consular Clearance: Once approved, the local Greek authority sends approval directly to the relevant Greek Embassy or Consulate in the worker's home country. The worker is then called for a personal interview to obtain an entry visa (Type D).

Always verify current procedural updates directly with the Ministry of Migration and Asylum (Ypourgeio Metanastefsis kai Asylou) or your regional Decentralized Administration before commencing the paperwork, as requirements and quota thresholds are updated periodically.

3. Expected timelines: From decision to first shift

The total timeframe for hiring a non-EU worker through the Metaklisi system typically ranges between 4 and 8 months. For seasonal resort operators looking to staff up for the peak season starting in May, the application process must ideally begin in October or November of the preceding year.

Here is how the timeline typically unfolds:

Employer preparation and filing (Months 1 to 2): Preparing corporate documents, obtaining tax and social security clearance certificates, signing contracts, and submitting the Metaklisi file to the Decentralized Administration.
Regional government processing (Months 2 to 4): Review of the application, labor market check via DYPA, and issuance of the formal approval decision.
Consular processing abroad (Months 4 to 6): The approval document is transmitted to the Greek Consulate abroad. The candidate submits their background checks, medical reports, and passport, then attends a visa interview.
Arrival and final registration (Months 6 to 7): The worker enters Greece on a national Type D visa. Within days of arrival, the employer registers the contract on the national labor database (ERGANI) and registers the worker with the social security authority (EFKA) to secure an AFM (tax number) and AMKA (social security number).

4. Mandatory pay, working hours, and housing obligations

Employers in Greece hiring non-EU housekeepers and cleaners are bound by national labor laws and applicable collective bargaining agreements. You cannot pay a foreign worker less than a domestic worker doing the same job.

Statutory Wages: Pay must meet or exceed the national gross minimum wage (currently set at €830 per month gross for general positions). In Greece, private-sector employees are entitled to 14 monthly payments per year (including Christmas bonus, Easter bonus, and vacation allowance). When calculated over a 12-month period, the effective base minimum wage is higher.
Sectoral Collective Agreements: If you operate a hotel or commercial hospitality venue, you are bound by the national hotel industry Collective Bargaining Agreement (Panellinia Syllogiki Symaxi Ergasias Ksenodoxoypallelon). Housekeepers under this agreement fall into specific pay scales, generally earning between €900 and €1,100 gross per month depending on seniority and classification, plus seasonal bonuses and Sunday/overtime supplements.
Social Insurance (EFKA): Employers are legally required to pay social insurance contributions to EFKA. Employer contributions add roughly 22 percent to 25 percent on top of the worker's gross wage.
Housing Obligations: In seasonal tourism destinations (such as island municipalities), local housing is scarce and prohibitively expensive. In seasonal hiring cases under Metaklisi, the employer is legally or practically obligated to provide free or subsidized, decent accommodation that meets local health and safety standards. Deducting unreasonable housing costs directly from the minimum wage is illegal under Greek labor regulations.
Qualifications and Licences: General cleaning and hotel housekeeping are non-regulated trades in Greece. Foreign applicants do not need formal professional accreditation or degree recognition from DOATAP. However, practical experience and basic language ability (English or conversational Greek) are essential operational factors.

5. What this costs you, roughly

Budgeting for non-EU recruitment requires looking at administrative expenses, travel, and direct labor overheads. Below is an overview of realistic expense ranges per worker:

Government fees and administrative state duties (Paravolo): €100 - €200 per application paid to the Greek state.
Legal or professional assistance: €400 - €1,000 per worker if using a Greek immigration lawyer or specialized consultant to process the Metaklisi paperwork.
Travel and flight costs: €200 - €600, depending on the country of origin. While law does not strictly demand the employer pay inbound travel in every category, standard practice in seasonal recruitment requires the employer to organize or fund inbound transport.
Monthly gross payroll per worker: €830 - €1,100 per month (paid over 14 cycles annually or prorated for seasonal contracts).
Employer EFKA social contributions: €180 - €275 per worker, per month.
Staff housing (where required): €150 - €300 per month per worker (cost of renting or maintaining shared seasonal staff quarters).

6. Recruitment fee compliance and employer liability

Under international labor conventions (ILO Convention 181) and Greek labor law, it is illegal for an employer, agency, or third-party recruiter to charge prospective workers any fee for securing employment. Legitimate employers bear all costs associated with their own recruitment processes.

If a recruitment agent or local broker asks candidates to pay thousands of Euros for a job offer or visa sponsorship in Greece, this is fraud. Candidates who arrive under debt bondage are highly vulnerable, subject to severe exploitation, and represent a massive legal liability for your company. If Greek authorities or labor inspectors (Soma Epitheorisis Ergasias - SEPE) discover that foreign workers were charged recruitment fees or that an employer facilitated such practices, the employer faces heavy financial penalties, potential criminal charges, and cancellation of all active work permits.

7. Finding housekeeping candidates on the Workuro registry

If you have decided to recruit non-EU cleaners and housekeepers for your business in Greece, Workuro provides a direct channel to candidates without intermediaries or finder fees.

Workuro operates a candidate registry where international workers publish profiles indicating their background, experience, language skills, and preferred destination countries. As an employer in Greece, you can search the database specifically for housekeepers and commercial cleaners who have stated they want to work in Greece.

Here is how you use the Workuro platform:

Direct Employer Contact: You browse candidate profiles and message workers directly. There are no recruitment agencies involved, no middleman markups, and zero per-hire placement fees.
Employer Subscription: Employers pay a simple subscription fee to access candidate contact details and communicate directly with applicants. Workers never pay anything to create a profile or be contacted.
Transparent Pipeline: You select the candidate who fits your requirements, issue a direct employment contract, and begin the official Metaklisi legal paperwork through your Greek legal counsel or administrative team.

Please note that our international worker registry is relatively young and actively growing. You will not find tens of thousands of pre-screened Greek-speaking housekeepers overnight. However, you will find motivated, experienced individuals who are eager to work in Greece legally and are waiting for a verified employer to start the hiring process.