Serbia has suspended the introduction of a simplified procedure for granting citizenship to Russians and other foreigners after the European Union threatened to roll back the visa-free regime with the country. On this subject writing Financial Times (FT).
In April, the Serbian government presented a draft law which stipulates that foreigners who have lived in the country for a year, working in local businesses or as freelancers, will be able to obtain Serbian citizenship. Under current laws, foreigners must reside in Serbia for at least five years before applying for citizenship.
The European Commission has warned Serbia that it is monitoring the situation of the visa-free regime with the country “in order to prevent and mitigate possible risks to EU security”. “If the granting of citizenship under the Citizenship-by-Investment regime is deemed to present an increased risk to the internal security and public order of the Member States (EU), the visa-free regime may be suspended “, she said.
The European Commission also reminded Belgrade that it had given “clear recommendations” last year to refrain from introducing the procedure for granting citizenship by investment.
According to the FT, the objective of the reform, which the Serbian authorities planned to implement, was to attract highly qualified workers to stimulate the economy in the face of a declining population. A Serbian government adviser told the FT that the bill was just a proposal that was not accepted.
In April, the director of the Russian Center for Science and Culture “Russian House” in Belgrade, Evgeny Baranov declared TASS that within a year the number of Russians living in Serbia has increased from 3.5 thousand to 200 thousand people. At the end of December 2022, The Bell* estimated that at least 566,000 people had left Russia since the start of the military operation in Ukraine. According to the publication, 132,000 people moved to Turkey, 112,000 to Georgia, 100,000 to Kazakhstan and 60,000 to Serbia.
- registered by the Ministry of Justice in the register of foreign agents
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