Stay Longer in Greece ~ Tax Number

January 15, 2025

Peloponnese, Greece is my destiny since 2016 when I gave a lecture at the World Health Innovation Summit in Karyes. Sleepy, calm Arcadia seems so innocent. So backward. So only historical and authentic. But images might deceive.

Peloponnese is modern thinking and has a vision about a nature-culture-based economy. A tourism economy with as clean as possible production.

And that attracted me. It’s my work and my vision too.

After some projects in 2021, Olive Bliss, and food forestry, permaculture for farmers, we came back in 2023 and founded Peloponnese Living with our dear Greek friends. Vivian Manolesou & Theodore Karagiannis. It became a success on Facebook, attracts many people with Greek roots who live abroad, so here we are again.

2025. Our Journey continues.

Creating Greek-International community. Kickstarting healthy soil & water & awareness projects. Involving universities, governors, farmers, priests, fishermen, slow food chefs, and distillers with slow processes, and inspiring young people.

Enjoying the light (the light is special in Greece and attracting many artists), the calm bay for snorkeling, the mountains for exploring, and the friendly people.

But let’s get practical in this story and tell you a little bit about staying in Greece as a foreigner in the off-seasons like we do. What are the options? What are the options for year-round stay?

And when do you need a Tax Number? It’s called AFM. Pronounced “afimi”.

In Greece as much as anywhere else. Living below the radar is no longer an option since 1984 ~ Big Brother is Watching 😂ever since George Orwell looked into the future. In Greece you need an AFM to rent a property, buy a property, buy a car, get insurance, open a bank account, etc.

It’s not that you pay taxes in Greece or anything. Most countries have tax deals with Greece so you never pay double. It’s just your identification.

So, how did we get around it until now?

1. We rented long-stay in an apartment hotel. Studios are often empty in the off-season, so you can negotiate good monthly deals. My friend Vivian owns a boutique studio hotel Castle View Studios, so that was a logical choice for me. But other places might offer deals too. If you don’t ask, you don’t know. In Castle View we got 50-70% discount on normal day-rates. Vivian gives the highest discount if you stay for 2 months or more. She likes to create community, make you feel at home in our village, help you with exploring. When you stay longer, you will be more of a participant than just an observer. But privacy is number 1 in our community. NO MUST for anything! 💜

2. After being with Vivian and getting to know more Greek people during several long-stays, we got to know our current landlady and rented our independent apartment. You must realize that if you rent outside a hotel, it will be year-long. You also pay for the months you are not there. We still manage to rent without AFM because we built trust. If you don’t know your landlord, it will be harder. You will need to go the AFM route for sure.

3. Our next step now is to get AFM, formalize our stay as foreigners (we will not be relocating fully, our company and home-shared-residency is still in NL), and most probably buy a car and insurance after the summer.

As you see here, long-stay is definitely an option. Year-round is an option too. Especially interesting for digital nomads, pensioners, remote-workers, and artists. If you want to work in Greece you need a visa. If you want to stay as a non-EU citizen for more than 30 days per half year, you need a visa too.

EU-citizens from Schengen-countries don’t need visa. But they do need Greek bureaucracy because of their insurances and legal buying, renting property, or owning a car.

Please share with us your journey in our Peloponnese Living Facebook group. Do you have AFM? Did you encounter trouble getting it? Did you do it abroad or locally? Did you involve an accountant or go to the tax office yourself (that’s free of charge)?

This is how WE are planning on doing getting our own AFM.

Below the paywall, you will find some experiences by our friends and our own strategy including a bit of context of why we do what we do. Why paid?

Well, Facebook takes a lot of time. Collecting relevant expat experiences and interviewing Greek experts takes a lot of time too. So, with your paid subscription, you will not only get deeper information for your own Greek Journey, you will also support the volunteering work Mike and I do in the Argolic Gulf Bay and for the Peloponnese land.

Holding water in soil, kickstarting projects for fire-breaks in the landscape, abundance of marine life again, fresh-water projects, and hopefully keeping Greece affordable for young Greek people who want modern jobs in their own country.

Warm regards, 💙Desiree.

There’s also the option to unlock this post one time for free.

Follow Substack instructions.

More in this post about Senses & Biology:

• Aroma therapy and Greek distillation expert Mr. Simos from Tripoli

• How your ears have to get used to different music. Time & Slower Speed is of the essence in our planet if you want to find deeper. Train yourself. Train your body and mind with new experiences. New routes. Very good prevention for Alzheimer too. Your neurons get flexible and find new interconnections when one way is cut off for whatever reason.

• How diving a tiny bit deeper helps the world right now

• The amphitheater and Greek dances on video