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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Agreements on visa relaxation, readmission signed between Serbia, EU

Belgrade/Brussels, 18 September 2007

Serbian Minister of Interior Dragan Jocic signed today in Brussels agreements on visa relaxations and readmission between Serbia and the EU, which will come into force on January 1, 2008.

Brussels

According to a statement by the ministry, concluding these agreements on readmission and visa relaxations are extremely important steps for Serbia and all Serbian citizens due to the fact that they bring Serbia closer to being put on the White Schengen List, which would imply complete removal of visa restrictions for Serbian citizens, and that is the primary goal.

Concluding the single agreement on readmission with the EU provides conditions for gradual, organised and institutionalised return of those Serbian citizens who are staying in EU countries illegally.

A realistic agreement was reached after almost one year of intensive negotiations during four rounds of negotiations, as well as several meetings and consultations on the technical level.

All ambiguous regulations concerning return of Serbian citizens which were offered earlier were avoided, and according to the agreement it is precisely determined in which situations Serbia will be obliged to accept these persons.

Serbia is obliged to accept Serbian citizens only if it is established that there is a direct link with and responsibility of Serbia regarding the illegal stay of these persons in EU countries.

The agreement on visa relaxations which is of paramount interest to Serbian citizens will come into force on January 1, 2008, and will allow certain categories of Serbian citizens to obtain visa for travel to EU countries more easily.

The agreement regards certain categories of citizens, such as businesspeople, lawyers, doctors, architects, journalists, artists, sportspeople, students, professional drivers, and civil servants, representatives of religious and non-governmental organisations.

The agreement is not limited only to these categories, but also relates to other situations in which Serbian citizens may travel, such as travel for medical treatment, tourism, visit to family, attending funerals etc.

The relaxations also regard the number of documents necessary to obtain a visa.

The Ministry stressed that if the duration of visa is respected, the next visa could be issued for a longer period to certain categories of citizens, even up to five years, while the cost of the visa will be the same for all citizens, and for a large number of the categories mentioned it will be free of cost.

After this important day for Serbia and all her citizens, intensive work continues on fulfilling the rest of the conditions for being put on the White Schengen List.

These conditions include adopting necessary laws, issuance of secure travel documents, strengthening border control, controlling organised crime and harmonising the visa regime with the EU regime when third countries are in question, concludes the statement.