After an attempt to renew their residence permit, one of the monks of the Raska-Prizren Diocese faced a threat that, within a few days, he could be deported from Kosovo and Metohija (KiM), KoSSev portal reports. The problem of documents that the majority of Kosovo Serbs have, has proven to be one of the more serious problems Serbs have been facing in this area.

M.S. has been for years a monk in one of the monasteries of the Diocese of Raska-Prizren. On November 8, he tried to renew his residence permit in KiM. He came at the invitation of the Interior Affairs Ministry of Kosovo (MIA) to take a photo at the police in Pristina, after being told he was granted a residence permit (third time in a row).

According to the previous agreement, he was expecting to have a temporary Kosovo ID card issued for the period of 5 years (regular ones are valid for 10 years). However, when he arrived, after waiting for a couple of hours, two policemen appeared and took him to a car behind the police building. There he was told his request had been rejected a month ago although M.S. had received a written confirmation that he would be granted a Kosovo I.D. He was told that the deadline for appeal had expired, so he could be immediately deported, according to the law.

When M.S. tried to calmly explain he had not received any notice of refusal, but that he was even promised he would receive an ID card, he asked for a reason for the refusal, and the policemen told him this was because he had travel documents from the Coordination Administration (i.e., documents the Republic Serbia issues for Serbs living in KiM), and that, in the meantime, the Kosovo MIA stipulated such documents cannot be used in applications for an extension of residence.

However, he was told to come the next morning, to see the head of the Migration and Foreigners Office at the MIA. So it was. M.S. arrived today (November 9, 2018) in the morning, expecting the disagreement to be resolved, but this time he received written confirmation (a decision) that his request had been rejected. He was given a new 8-day deadline to appeal, with a promise that he will not be deported from Kosovo until the appeal is decided.

Raska-Prizren Diocese was immediately notified about the case, and through our lawyers and the Diocese has been in touch with the OSCE Mission that mediates in such issues.

It is particularly worrying that the monk, M.S. was told by the police to notify other clerics who have documents from the Coordination Administration for KiM that they will be deported from Kosovo if they do not obtain regular documents from the Republic of Serbia, which again, the Serbian MIA does not issue to citizens in KiM, unless they have a place of residence outside of KIM.

See at: https://kossev.info/kosovo-institutions-threaten-our-monks-and-nuns-with-deportation/