Serbia has stalled plans to hand out passports to Russians and other foreign nationals who have lived just one year in the country, as the EU warned it could suspend visa-free travel for Serbs in the Schengen zone.
A Serbian draft law proposed allowing foreign nationals to apply for Serbian citizenship after a single year of temporary residency, but the European Commission warned of the 'security risk’ this could pose to the visa-free regime. Serbia is an attractive location to Russians, and the aim of the reform was to attract high-skilled workers to boost Serbia’s economy and depleted population. Timur, a Russian draft dodger, was disappointed when the proposed changes had been stalled and spoke of his concern that the Serbian government would extradite him, but admitted that being able to apply for citizenship after just one year did sound too good to be true.
Longtime Balkan observers said the Serbian government is likely to scrap the proposal due to EU pressure, but the government would most likely seek to extend residency permits for the roughly 200,000 Russians who have arrived in the country since February 2022.
CENTRAL EASTERN EUROPE NEWS
EU Halts Serbian Plans For Easy Citizenship
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