AMKA: how to get your Greek social security number

AMKA stands for Αριθμός Μητρώου Κοινωνικής Ασφάλισης, the social security registration number. It is the single identifier that ties a person to the Greek social insurance system, and it replaced the separate registration numbers that the old individual insurance funds each used to issue before they were consolidated into e-EFKA, the national social security agency.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs describes AMKA as mandatory since 2009 for those who work or are insured or intend to work within Greek borders. The National Registry of Administrative Procedures records the same point in stronger terms, noting that holding an AMKA has been legally compulsory since October 2009.

In practice the number does more than its name suggests. It follows you into the health system as the identifier a doctor, hospital or pharmacy uses to find you. Without it you can still be treated and you can still pay, but you cannot be recognised by the system, which is why getting it is usually the first administrative task a new arrival is told to do.

One thing it is not: an AMKA is not itself health insurance, and it is not a residence document. It is a registration number. What it unlocks depends on what you are insured for, which the last two sections of this page come back to.

AMKA is issued in person. The Ministry of Labour states that it is issued at Citizens' Service Centres (KEP) throughout Greece and at branches of e-EFKA, and the official procedure records on the National Registry of Administrative Procedures confirm that the process is handled at the counter rather than online.

The record for third-country nationals gives three practical facts that are hard to find anywhere else, and all three are good news.

• It is free. The procedure is recorded as provided at no cost, χωρίς κόστος.
• It is quick. The estimated time from application to the certificate being issued is 15 to 30 minutes.
• Someone can go for you. A representative may submit the application, on production of a signature-certified declaration that they represent you, together with their own identity document and a copy of yours.

The counter official checks the correctness and completeness of your supporting documents, the system checks the national registry to avoid issuing a duplicate number, and you leave with the number the same day. There is no waiting period and nothing arrives in the post.

Two practical notes. Documents in a foreign language need an official Greek translation, which the procedure records state explicitly. And KEP offices vary in how busy they are, so if there is one attached to your municipality, go there rather than to a central e-EFKA branch.

This is the part where secondary sources disagree with each other, so it is worth going to the official procedure record. The National Registry of Administrative Procedures entry for issuing an AMKA to third-country nationals who are adults lists the supporting documents as follows.

• "Τίτλος παραμονής στη χώρα με δικαίωμα πρόσβασης στην αγορά εργασίας σε ισχύ", a residence title in the country carrying the right of access to the labour market, in force. This is the document that identifies you.
• "Αριθμός Φορολογικού Μητρώου (ΑΦΜ)", your Greek tax registration number, evidenced by a tax certificate.
• "Υπεύθυνη δήλωση του τρίτου προσώπου ότι εκπροσωπεί τον αιτούντα θεωρημένη με το γνήσιο της υπογραφής", a signature-certified declaration from a third party acting as your representative. Required only if you are not attending in person.

Read the first item carefully, because it is the one that trips people up. The record does not simply ask for a residence permit. It asks for a residence title that carries access to the labour market and is currently in force. If your permit does not carry labour-market access, this is the route you cannot use, and the next section covers the one you probably can.

Get the AFM first. The tax number is a prerequisite of the AMKA application rather than something you can sort out afterwards, and it is issued by a different authority, so treat it as a separate errand rather than a step in the same visit.

The procedure records name Law 4826/2021, Joint Ministerial Decision Φ80320/109864 of 2023 and circular Φ80320/25192 of 2024 as the legal basis. If a counter asks for something not on the list, those are the instruments the answer will be found in (verify with e-EFKA).

A relocating household usually has one person with a labour-market-linked permit and one or more people without. The Greek system handles this with a separate procedure rather than by refusing the family, and knowing that it exists saves a wasted trip.

The National Registry of Administrative Procedures publishes a distinct record for issuing an AMKA to third-country nationals who are adults and indirect members, έμμεσα μέλη, of an insured person. Its document list is different from the main one.

• "Ταυτοποιητικό έγγραφο", an identity document.
• "Αποδεικτικό ΑΦΜ", evidence of the tax registration number.
• "Πιστοποιητικό οικογενειακής κατάστασης για την απόδειξη συγγενικού δεσμού", a family status certificate proving the family relationship.
• The representative's declaration, if someone else attends for you.

Note what has changed. The residence title carrying labour-market access has been replaced by a plain identity document plus proof of the family link to the insured person. That is the mechanism by which a non-working spouse gets a number. Foreign-language documents again need an official Greek translation, so if your marriage or birth certificates are American or British, get those translated before you go rather than after you are turned away.

The same registry also publishes a procedure for activating an AMKA for adult indirect members, which is a separate step from issuing it. If a family member already has a number from an earlier stay, ask about activation rather than assuming a new issue is needed.

Once you have an AMKA, the next step most families ask about is the Greek equivalent of a family doctor. Greece calls it the προσωπικός ιατρός, the personal doctor, described as the first point of contact with the National Health System.

The official patient-facing service is the electronic health record platform run by the state. Its English citizens' services page states that all citizens over the age of 16 may register with a Personal Doctor, and describes the service as aimed at early diagnosis, the management of chronic diseases, and guidance towards specialised healthcare services when necessary. Registration is done through a dedicated portal linked from that page, and the same platform gives you access to your own health record through a web application and the myHealth mobile app.

Registration can also be handled offline. Reported routes include registering at a health unit, directly with the doctor, or at a pharmacy, which is genuinely useful if your Greek is limited and your local pharmacist is not. Confirm which routes your area supports before making a trip (verify with gov.gr).

Two things this page deliberately will not tell you. Whether registration is compulsory, and whether anything follows from not registering, have moved around in Greek policy since 2022, so check the current position on gov.gr rather than relying on an article. And the doctor list you choose from is generated by the platform, so the practical question is not whether a particular doctor is available but whether they are taking new registrations when you look.

The most common misunderstanding about AMKA is that the number is the entitlement. It is not. The number identifies you; your entitlement comes from what you are insured for, and the two are established separately.

For someone working in Greece, contributions run through e-EFKA and healthcare benefits are delivered through EOPYY, the national organisation for healthcare provision. The AMKA is what links the two records to you.

For someone whose cover comes from another EU or EEA country, there is a separate object. EOPYY's national contact point states that EU citizens affiliated with the Greek statutory health insurance system through S1 forms "are expected to have an EU-AMKA (social security number for citizens with EU-statutory health insurance) and use it at the point-of-service". If you are moving on an S1, ask for an EU-AMKA rather than assuming the ordinary number covers it. The same national contact point gives e-EFKA contact addresses for these cases, at tm.asfikan@efka.gov.gr and gd.international@efka.gov.gr.

For a short visit rather than a move, the EOPYY page on proving your right to healthcare covers the European Health Insurance Card, which entitles the holder to medically necessary care in Greece if they suddenly become ill, have an accident, or need treatment due to a chronic illness or pregnancy and childbirth, provided the purpose of the stay is not the medical care or childbirth itself.

And for someone with neither, the same page is blunt: uninsured patients will be expected to pay. That is the gap the last section is about.

Line up the sequence and the gap becomes obvious. You arrive. You need a residence title in force before you can apply for an AMKA on the main route, and a tax number before that. You need an AMKA before the health system can recognise you. Each step is quick on its own and the chain is not.

That chain is where privately arranged medical cover normally sits for new arrivals. It is designed to carry the period between landing and being registered, and for people on visa routes it usually has to exist anyway, since Greek residence routes make sickness insurance a condition of the permit rather than something you sort out once you are settled.

Four points are worth checking on any such arrangement, because they map onto how Greek offices and hospitals actually read a policy.

• The dates, which need to start at entry rather than at registration, since the whole purpose is the period before you are in the system.
• The scope of benefits, since Greek residence routes tend to be written around the benefits covered for Greek nationals rather than around a sum insured.
• The written confirmation, in a form that names the insured people and the dates and can be read at a counter.
• Every family member named individually, since the indirect-member route means your household will be registered as separate people even though it moves as one unit.

Private cover is not a substitute for the Greek system and it does not create an entitlement within it. It exists so that the weeks spent getting the AFM, the residence title and the AMKA are not weeks spent uninsured.