Working in Greece, part 2

I am finally legal! On Friday, the last of my paperwork came through. I now have residency here, with a VAT number (which is needed for large purchases, such as a car or house), and an AMKA number (which is similar to a SSN in the US, and whose functions include calculating my retirement as well as unemployment, and because we are a seasonal business that is important, as well as for my healthcare, and pretty much any other government needs). I was finally able to sign a contract.

Thankfully, we had an accountant working to help get all of these things pushed through, because it was a lot of steps to get here. Interestingly, now that I have these numbers, all of this information is now available to me through Taxinet, and Gov.gr. These are the government apps that allow you to transact almost anything for business. Want to know how much time you have accumulated for retirement? There. Want to know how much unemployment you can collect? There. Want to see any legal documents you have entered into? There. Any legal filings against you? Want to enter into a legal document? Gov.gr allows you to login, which verifies you are who you are, and then upload signed documents and send it to whomever. They then login theirs and countersign. Fascinating! Without these logins, you then have to physically go to the office of the KEP, which is like a notary, but free. Also, your accountant keeps access as well so that they can push through documents on your behalf and monitor to let you know if anything has come through you should be aware of.