Athens, August 2026
Greece has quietly made the EU Blue Card a more serious option for international employers. The headline change of 2026 is a longer permit. The more interesting point, for anyone running a mobility programme, is a provision that has been sitting in the Migration Code since 2024 and is still widely overlooked: an intra-corporate transferee already in Greece can move across to the Blue Card without leaving the country.
What changed in 2026
Law 5275/2026, published on 6 February 2026, amended the Migration Code on several fronts. For the EU Blue Card (residence permit type “E.1”), the change is straightforward:
- the standard validity period rises from two years to three;
- renewals are likewise granted in three-year periods.
A second amendment matters just as much in practice, although it attracted less attention. The rules on changing residence-permit category (Article 12 of the Migration Code) were revised so that an application to move to another category may now be filed either at the expiry of the existing permit or during its validity. Previously, the position was less clear, and applications were in practice tied to the renewal cycle.
Neither change, however, created the ICT-to-Blue-Card route. That already existed.
From ICT to EU Blue Card: an express statutory route
Article 12(6) of the Migration Code provides that third-country nationals admitted to Greece under the intra-corporate transfer rules — as managers or specialists — may apply for an EU Blue Card, provided the substantive Blue Card conditions are independently satisfied. The route has been available since the Migration Code took effect on 31 March 2024, following Greece’s transposition of Directive (EU) 2021/1883.
Two limits deserve emphasis:
It does not extend to trainee employees. The provision names managers and specialists only.
It is not a relabelling exercise. The employment must qualify as highly qualified employment in its own right. In practice this normally means local employment with the Greek host entity (or another Greek employer) rather than the continuation of the same intra-group assignment under a different title.
Why employers should care
An ICT permit is designed for temporary assignment within a corporate group, and its horizon is finite by construction: up to three years for managers and specialists, one year for trainees. Where the business has decided the person is staying, the Blue Card is usually the better instrument.
Duration. Three years, renewable in three-year periods, and not tethered to the life of an assignment.
A route to long-term residence. Time spent as a Blue Card holder counts towards EU long-term resident status, under a facilitated regime. Time spent under the ICT rules generally does not open the same pathway.
EU mobility. The Blue Card carries defined intra-EU mobility rights — short-term business mobility, and long-term mobility to another Member State after the required period of lawful residence.
Family. Both regimes derogate favourably from the Family Reunification Directive, so this is not a stark contrast. The practical difference is that the Blue Card holder’s family permits track a three-year, renewable status with immediate labour-market access, rather than a status that expires with the assignment.
The conditions still have to be met
An applicant must satisfy the core Blue Card requirements: a contract for highly qualified employment in Greece of at least six months; the applicable salary threshold; evidence of the required higher professional qualifications; recognition of qualifications where the profession is regulated; a valid passport; and health insurance cover.
The salary threshold is set by reference to the average gross annual salary in Greece, and the applicable euro figure should be confirmed at the date of filing rather than assumed from last year’s advice.
Timing is the part that goes wrong
The in-country route depends on the applicant continuing to be lawfully resident on a valid permit. If the E.2 permit lapses first, the route closes and the employee is back to a consular application from abroad.
The 2026 amendment helps here, because the application can now be made during the currency of the existing permit rather than at its expiry. But it does not remove the need to plan. Restructuring the employment relationship, confirming the salary threshold, obtaining and legalising qualification documents, and completing any professional recognition procedure in a regulated profession all take time — realistically, several months before the assignment ends.
The practical takeaway
ICT status and Blue Card status are worth treating as sequential rather than alternative. The ICT permit remains the right tool for a genuinely temporary intra-group transfer. Once the business has decided to keep the person in Greece, the Blue Card offers materially better stability, mobility and long-term residence prospects — for the employee and the family.
For HR and global mobility teams, that argues for reviewing existing ICT populations proactively, particularly where an assignment is approaching its maximum duration or a retention decision has already been taken.
For any further information and clarifications please do not hesitate to contact our qualified legal team, ready to provide you with further personalized information tailored to your needs and your profile.
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Athens, August 2026
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