Analysis of changes in the status of the concept 'migrant' in Athens from the 1990s to the current day. As Greece had no legislation on migration until the 1980s, people from abroad were classified as 'foreigners', which had a very different meaning from today's meaning. The chapter also considers the effects of Greece joining the Schengen zone in terms of its migration policies. Formal abstract: One aspect of the financial and then fiscal crisis in Athens was the simultaneous change in, and increase of, migration to the city. Their sheer numbers seemed to add to a pervasive sense of disproportion affecting the city. Of course, it is not the first time there has been a sudden arrival of large numbers of people from elsewhere in Athens: the 1920s was another notable moment, following the compulsory exchange of populations after the final breakup of the Ottoman Empire. There was also the 1990s, after the end of the Cold War. Both the city’s past and present transnational relations leave their traces in the form that migration takes, and the way it is experienced here. The paper takes a brief look at some of those traces in order to explore how the city has been affected by changes in border regimes, changes in the way different parts of the world are entangled with one another.Non peer reviewe
