According to the Refugee Crisis Management Coordination Body's figures, 23.837 of the refugees are in northern Greece, 9.943 are hosted in the region of Attica, 8.442 on the Greek islands and 2.482 are hosted in different areas in central and southern Greece.
5.602 refugees and migrants are hosted in several facilities rented by the UNHCR, 4.915 are staying in non-organized facilities while approximately 1.500 persons are living outside organized facilities.
Last week, a new operation to pre-register refugees and migrants started in order to process international protection requests more efficiently as many of the people who entered Greece since January 1, 2015 already hold expired documents.
The program is implemented by the Greek Asylum Service in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the European Support Office on Asylum (EASO).
Pre-registration will grant refugees and migrants the legal right to stay in Greece for one year and access to basic services.
According to the head of Greece’s asylum service, Maria Stavropoulou, “pre-registration” will be “a first step either for relocation to other member-states, or for family reunification, or to apply for international protection in Greece”.
Once they are registered, refugees receive an asylum applicant’s card which means they will get an interview in the next few months with the asylum service. However, they are facing numerous challenges as conditions in refugee camps are described as less than adequate and processes are long and stressful.