The Greek state is obliged to provide asylum seekers with housing, an allowance and hospital care. However, funding is insufficient and NGOs are filling the gap.

“The level of social care in Greece is low,” said Spyros Koulocheris from the Greek Council for Refugees. “There is no tradition like in other countries, like in Scandinavian countries. It is kind of a different country, different mentality.”

Still, even if temporary conditions for refugees improve, for the majority Greece will not become their new home.

Authorities in any country try to separate those who are genuine asylum seekers and cannot return to their home country, and those who are economic migrants.

In Greece, less than one asylum application in 200 is successful – one of the lowest rates in the world. Immigration expert Anna Triandafyllidou says there is a political will behind this.

“There is an overarching view that migration is a problem,” she said. “That it is an evil that has fallen upon us.”

Some Greek politicians believe the identity of their country is built on ethnic and religious unity – and immigration threatens it. Consequently, even those who legally work in the country cannot expect the same rights as the locals.

“Because you are a foreigner, they will never treat you as a Greek,” says one immigrant woman.

But whether Greek government likes it or not, the floodgates have opened, and the flow will not stop any time soon.