Consulate General of Greece

Ridiculous is not a strong enough word to describe the situation there…
Not answering phone calls for days, no voicemail, if it happens and they answer they direct you to another person that you ll have to go through the whole process of front desk and then not answering their phone. About a month now and haven’t been able to get an answer.

This trip was much better than my first, however there was a hiccup! First make an appointment. Second when they say you have to have to passport pictures they should have clarified that I needed passport photos for a Greek Passport, I went to a regular place that do photos I got passport photos only to find out they were for American passports, how was I supposed to know Greece has certain requirements? So I did all my paperwork and was sent a mile up to a photo shop they recommended to take proper photos. Came back and gave them the photos and my Greek consulate experience was done! I want to give a shot out to Sophia at the consulate that was very helpful. The darn tree in front of the consulate blocks the Greek flag so if you aren’t looking closely you will miss it a couple of times… Trim the tree vre! They open on the dot at 10 am. don’t try to get in earlier they are prompt at 10 am.

Try your best to avoid this place! I originally reviewed posts before and was already not impressed, but I have to apply tourist visa for my mom who is a green card holder. I called and emailed several times to try to make an appointment, but never ever got any reply. Today I decided to stop by the consulate to try my luck. The gentleman at the front desk kindly told me I had to have an appointment and I could wait to talk to the visa officer to schedule a time. Fine, I’ll wait. Obviously the officer was behind the schedule, a girl who had appointment already waited quite a while. There’s another young man came after me, he had same problem that he couldn’t reach anybody to schedule an appointment. The phone rang once a while and I could hear the conversation mostly were people trying to get the appointment. The front desk gentleman kept saying“Sorry, she’s busy, u just have to keep calling .”
An hour later I finally was able to talk to the visa officer. He took out an old-​fashioned notebook, flipped through and said” June 29 you can come” what?! I then realized the guy only book one person every hour (since he said he’s fully booked today and I only saw people reported to front desk for 11am and 12 noon). Plus they only work 4 hours per day. What a joke!
The young man after me got the appointment of ⁶⁄₂₉ too. He asked the officer if there’s anyway he could apply earlier since his flight is before ⁶⁄₂₉. The officer simply said he could do nothing!
Wow! That’s the Greek laid-​back style?!
It’s also hard to find parking nearby. Overall this place sucks! The only star is for the front desk gentleman who is polite. Surprisingly he doesn’t speak Greek well, maybe he grew up here, that’s why he’s more polite.

This is without a doubt, the most unprofessional, ghetto, consulate/​embassy I’ve ever encountered. They’re not even in a real office. It’s like they just set up shop in somebody’s house. We called their visa department many times over a period of two weeks to make an appointment and never got through to speak to a real person even ONCE. We sent emails as well and still haven’t received a responce to this day. They don’t have a way to book your appointment online, like the rest of the world and their visa application form is a Microsoft Word document! Hey Greece, 1995 called: they want their Geocities page back. When we finally showed up in person they told us the first available meeting they had was two months away and way too late for the trip we had been planning. There’s also the dumb rule that you can only apply for the schengen visa within 3 months of your trip. So if you’re applying for a UK visa AND a schengen, good luck because you have a really tiny window where you have to apply for one and hope to God it comes back in time for your appointment for the other. Ridiculous system all around. I suggest you look for a different country to get your schengen visa from: one that doesn’t operate out of the Greek ambassador’s mom’s basement.

They have recently started seeing folks by appointment only. However, I was asked if I could wait and the lady saw me as soon as she had a moment. I had all the necessary paperwork and while she isn’t warm and fuzzy she is efficient and courteous. The gentleman at the front desk is very polite and helpful. Got my visa the very next day and could pick it up.

This place isn’t that «easy going». I was rejected for not complying with 2. Do the following and you’ll succeed:
1. Call to make an appointment. Call after 2pm, M-​F. Appointments are easy to get. If you want to chance it — be nice and say you’ll wait. She may or may not see you.
2. Make sure that if you’re getting a Schengen, that Greece is where you’ll be spending the most amount of days. They don’t mess around.
3. Plane tickets are mandatory. No tickets, no Visa. Hotel is less of a big deal, but try and book one that you can cancel.
4. Make sure your fingerprints are solid. I have no idea how to make this happen… but try!
5. No need for the pre-​paid envelope if you can pick up. They prefer this.
In general, Ms. Aliki isn’t the most friendly. However, she tries to be fair and I was treated with courtesy. This consulate is far less busy than the Chinese one… so there’s that!

I completely disagree with above comment. The Greece embassy was very strict with us.
1) appointment only, they did not entertain us without appointment. Pls call for appointment. We persuaded them that we will wait since we have taken day off n they honored it.
2) every person was questioned about their stay. Ex: Which other countries they would visit etc. one gentleman has Italian reservation and he had a tough time justifying himself. I am assuming his visa was rejected
I think they were being fair and as an applicant make sure you keep this in mind. They don’t mind if you travel 10 other countries but as long as Greece is one of it and you have a plan (truthful)
Good luck !

We made last minute plans to go to Europe and were looking for a country which didn’t need visa appointment etc. etc. We plan to fly out 6 days from now. Turns out the greek consulate is super awesome. Business hours are 10am-​2pm.
They just want your money (cash only) and will give you the Schengen visa the very next day. No appointments needed. We arrived at 10am promptly and rang the doorbell. After checking out all our documents he asked us to come and pick up the passport tomorrow morning. We carried copies of blocked flight tickets and cancelable hotel reservations. That was good enough for them. The visa cost us $ 81 per person.
You do need to buy travel insurance prior to applying for the visa. We booked ours from

It cost us a total of $ 16.17 for 21 days.
Got our visa the very next day and booked the flight ticket and hotel reservation immediately after.

Follow up … visa ready for pickup. Took 3 business days. I applied on Monday. Thursday was off for July 4^th. Visa ready for pickup on Friday.

Easy going people, super friendly that will help you get your job done. As I am familiar with the Greek culture, i was prepared for lots of back and forth, but this public service works and other similar to them should follow. Thanks guys, keep it like that.

Without a doubt, one of the worst, rudest, experiences I’ve had in a greek civil-​service situation, (including within Greece). I hope you don’t ever need them.
First I tried to email – possible only from their unwieldy website, so I had no record of this email of my own– for info about how to get my passport renewed. No response, so couple of weeks later I called, spoke to a very rude lady who eventually told me they’d get a form I needed and call me back. When they didn’t call me back, I called again, spoke to another rude lady, who could barely give me any coherent information when I asked things like «is there anything I can do to help expedite? could you tell me if I need any other documents, photos, fingerprints, ID, a check etc?» all she would say, «you have time, this’ll take a few weeks».
Finally I went to consulate in person. Rude man at door, says only by appointment. I said – my MO in these cases is to be HYPER-​polite, which sometimes surprises Greeks into submission – «I was just passing, I’d just like some info on what papers I need for my future appointment and how long it will take – since I have to take time off work». Another lady comes, apparently the one I’d spoken too, also EXTREMELY rude
and says «I have no idea – and what’s matter w yr finger?» I told here I have a cut, hence the bandaid. «Then we can’t take fingerprints» When I profusely apologise for coming, and try to ask, «since I’m here, can we go over what I need and how long it takes?» She tells me only with very ill grace and reluctance «What can I tell you, taking fingerprints could take 45 mins to 1 hour» and when I act surprised she barely has the patience to inform me the other docs I’ll need and then leaves without a greeting. Eventually I realize this is all I’m going to get, so I kind of say goodbye into the inner office, receiving no response at all.
Eventually I got my passport in Greece, within 4 days, very easily at the nice, polite and efficient special police station.

If you know anything about Greek culture, you know that it is pretty laid back. That’s exactly how your visit will be if you need to get your visa. I’ve been here about four times already and they usually tell you one week until you get your visa, but more often than not you’ll receive a call in one or two days. Very friendly, almost like chilling in a coffee shop lol. Just make sure you have all your paperwork ready and bring a maximum of at least $ 85 dollars (depending on exchange rates) for the visa app fee.

Update: I received a call from the embassy the very next day informing me my visa was ready for pick up. Pleasantly surprised.