Greece Work Permit for a Chef: Metaklisi, E4 and E5

Greece invites non-EU workers through an employer application called metaklisi. For a year-round chef, the E4 route needs a one-year contract paying at least the current minimum wage, €920 a month from 1 April 2026, plus gross business revenue of at least €60,000 per invited worker. A seasonal hotel or resort restaurant can use the cheaper E5 tourism route instead. Because the worker cannot travel until the approval and the visa are both granted, and no processing time is published, start months before you need the chef on the line.

1. How Greece invites workers from abroad

The Ministry of Migration and Asylum runs an online portal where employers submit invitation (metaklisi) applications for third-country workers, under Greece's Migration Code, Law 5038/2023. Employers log in with their taxisNET tax credentials. Each application covers named workers and must include their identity details, supporting documents as PDFs, and the code of a fee already paid. Based on the municipality of your business address, the application routes automatically to the competent Decentralised Administration, which decides it.

2. Year-round or seasonal: the two routes

The portal also lists a highly qualified employment route (E1, article 33), which follows EU Blue Card logic and is rarely a fit for kitchen roles; see whether the EU Blue Card fits chefs.

3. Dependent employment (E4) for a year-round chef

For a chef who will work all year, the E4 application needs an employment contract of at least one year at or above the current minimum wage, with the employer's signature certified at a KEP citizen service centre or through gov.gr; proof of ability to pay, which for a business also means gross revenue of at least EUR 60,000 per invited worker (EUR 22,000 for an individual employer); a signed declaration naming the Greek consulate where the chef will collect the entry visa; the chef's passport pages; evidence that the worker's specialty matches your business; and, for a legal entity, its articles of association and recent GEMI registry certificates.

4. Seasonal work in tourism (E5)

For a summer season at an island hotel or resort restaurant, the seasonal route is simpler and cheaper. The application includes an employment contract stating the type of work, location, start date, duration, hours, pay and any leave allowance, with provision for the social insurance that applies to seasonal work in the sector; a declaration covering return costs, the visa consulate, confirmation the contract meets the statutory minimum wage and any collective agreement, that your business is in tourism, and the worker's specialty; a declaration of suitable accommodation, with a lease if you charge rent; and proof of your business activity and its link to tourism. The rules allow seasonal periods of up to nine months, and you can apply for more than one period if the contract matches.

5. The current pay floor, and setting a real offer

We found no official Greek statistic for what a Japanese chef actually earns in Athens or on the islands, so €920 a month is a legal floor, not a market rate. Build the real offer in three steps. First, use the floor only for a cook you intend to train; for a head chef or someone running a Japanese menu alone, start from what they earn in Japan and add the cost of relocating, since Greece has no domestic benchmark to anchor to. Second, decide housing separately from salary: the E4 and E5 document lists treat accommodation as a condition of the application, not part of pay, so keep the cash salary itself at or above the floor. Third, compare with the rest of the region: the same candidate can apply to Italy, Spain or a Gulf market; see sushi chef salary by country for the official figures that exist elsewhere, and our Italy and Spain guides for two comparable EU markets.

6. Planning around the tourist season

The worker cannot travel until the Decentralised Administration approves the invitation and the consulate grants the visa, and no office publishes a standard processing time for either step. Build in weeks you control rather than weeks you are promised:

A chef who works one season well is the strongest candidate for the next. Keep in touch over the winter and agree terms early, since a returning hire still needs a fresh application each season under a new contract; our retention guide has ideas that apply to seasonal staff too.

7. The local Japanese pool

Japan's foreign ministry counted 647 Japanese nationals in Greece as of 1 October 2025, of whom 505 were permanent residents. Greece is not among the 32 countries and regions in Japan's working holiday programme, so there is no working holiday route for young Japanese cooks. In practice you are recruiting either directly from Japan through the invitation process, or from Japanese chefs already working elsewhere in the EU who can move without a Greek work visa if they hold an EU residence right.

General information gathered from official sources in September 2026, not legal or immigration advice. Greek procedures and document lists are updated from time to time; check the ministry's portal and your Decentralised Administration before filing.