Serbia will strengthen the control of requests for the Serbian passports, particularly of those people who are trying to reach foreign countries with Serbian passports, learned Danas in the Government of Serbia. As said, Serbia probably will not issue the passport to all Albanians from Kosovo who request it. As explained, the reason for this is that if the Albanians would massively leave the country with the Serbian passports might be compromised visa liberalization of Serbia. Reintroduction of visas for Serbia, at the moment, according to officials, is not on the agenda.
The topic, mentioning the interest of the Albanians from Kosovo for the Serbian passports, was recently opened by the Minister of Internal Affairs of Serbia, Nebojsa Stefanovic, in the midst of a mass departure of Albanians from Kosovo, through Hungary in other EU countries. He said that in Serbia, at this moment, have been submitted about 60,000 requests of Kosovo Albanians for passports.
Minister without portfolio in charge of European integration Jadranka Joksimovic said that the real question is how some migrants legally got a Schengen visa in Pristina. “We are a reliable partner of the EU and I do not think our visa liberalization system is in jeopardy,” said Joksimovic.
Many citizens of Kosovo do not know that there is a difference between a passport which people residing in Serbia and people residing in Kosovo and Metohija receive. Visa liberalization does not apply to the Serbs, or the Albanians, living in Kosovo. Albanians from Kosovo cannot benefit from the Serbian passport if they are registered in Kosovo, which means that they need visa. The only possibility, but uncertain, is that Albanians register their resident place in some of the places in central Serbia. That was happening, especially in the south of Serbia, in the period before and after 2009, when Serbia got visa liberalization. Such things are not so rare even now.
