On the eve of parliamentary and local elections on December 17, American computer engineer and co-founder of Apple Steve Wozniak and his wife Janet Hill became citizens of Serbia.
In his speech, the President of Serbia especially thanked Janko Tipsarević and said that we can brag about "what a computer genius he is a Serb who will live most of his life in America, but will often come to his own Serbia, and we are proud of that and very happy about it."
Serbian overnight
But how did someone who does not live or stay in Serbia get citizenship and on what basis? In the specific case - how did Wozniak and his wife get a passport and become "Serbs" overnight?
Jelena Ilić, coordinator of the Asylum and Migration Program of the Belgrade Center for Human Rights, explains to Vreme that Woznijak acquired the right to a passport under the Law on Citizenship, which provides for such an option for foreigners whose admission to citizenship would be in the country's interest.
According to a similar system, passports were previously obtained by numerous athletes, from those who then played for the Serbian national team, to those who were not considered foreigners in the ranks of Crvena zvezda and Partizan.
The Government of Serbia decides on the acceptance of citizenship from this paragraph on the proposal of the competent ministry.
However, Ilić believes that it is problematic that the real reasons and motivation behind it do not have to be explained, nor the origin of the decision.
This can easily be interpreted as a certain abuse, bearing in mind that this is one of the most liberal and simplest ways to acquire Serbian citizenship.
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A passport is fine, but only for honorary ones
On the other hand, Serbs who live on the territory of Kosovo cannot obtain a passport in the places where they live, but in Belgrade. The passport is issued by the Coordination Administration, which is why, if they want to travel to the Schengen area, they must obtain a visa.
Sanja Sovrlić, a journalist from N1 born and raised in Kosovo, tells "Vreme" that the request for issuing documents, and later picking up passports, is carried out by Serbs from Kosovo in Belgrade, in Ljermontovljeva Street, where there is a department for persons from Kosovo and Metohija.
"The European Commission conditioned Serbia, due to the fact that Kosovo does not have visa liberalization, to stop issuing such passports, which Serbia did in 2009," points out Sovrlić.
The passport for Kosovo Serbs looks the same - but does not have the same value as the others.
Asylum seekers on eternal wait
Jelena Ilić also mentions the problem of people who received asylum in Serbia. He says that the Law on Citizenship is still not aligned with the Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees, which guarantees the right to seek and obtain citizenship. Even though Serbia is a signatory.
He adds that people who have been staying in Serbia for a long time often wait a very long time for an answer to their application for citizenship and that in those cases the legal deadlines are not respected.
And while honorary foreigners receive a passport based on Article 19 of the Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Serbia, that is, of largely unknown interest to Serbia, Serbs from Kosovo and refugees and foreigners who have their right to a Serbian passport remain cut off until a better tomorrow.
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