The card is a valid international travel document in Europe (except to Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and for non-settled Greeks to the United Kingdom), to French overseas territories, Georgia, Turkey, Tunisia (on organized tours)[2][3] and Montserrat (for 14 days in transit to a third country).

[18] On February 17, 2023, some further changes were made to the issuance process and the characteristics of the existing ID cards, such as the reduction of their validity from 15 to 10 years and the removal of the AMKA field, as it is planned to be replaced with a Personal Number for each Greek citizen.

They follow the ID1 format and are similar to a credit card, in compliance with ICAO international standards and the country's legal requirements under EU Regulation no.

The printing method used is laser engraving, which applies all details, as well as the colour photo, on the inner layer of the ID card, rendering any forgery attempts impossible.

New Greek ID cards incorporate modern security features to enhance security and prevent counterfeiting, such as transparent diffractive optically variable image device (DOVID), colour shifting ink (OVI), changing laser image (CLI), tactile relief, microtext and invisible UV rainbow print.

Before 2005, the ID card was mandatory for citizens over 14 years of age and included data that has been removed after 2005 due to privacy concerns or because they are no longer considered necessary for the purpose of identification.

This data is: profession, religion, address, name of spouse, head shape, right hand index fingerprint, eye and hair colour, citizenship.

[25][26] On May 8, 2000 in an interview published in newspaper Eleftherotypia, Minister of Justice Michael Stathopoulos announced that the mandatory inclusion of religious affiliation on identity cards was contrary to law 2472/1997 for the protection of personal data.

On August 29, 2001 Archbishop delivered the signatures to the President of the Hellenic Republic Konstantinos Stephanopoulos but he refused to order for a referendum saying that "everyone must comply to State Law".

[27] The Council of State decided that the mandatory inclusion of religious affiliation on identity cards is not legal,[28] while the Hellenic Data Protection Authority also opposed to the optional reference to religion by adding the letters "XO" (Christian Orthodox - Χριστιανός Ορθόδοξος) following the signature of the bearer.