Request for regulation of Serb residence status in Croatia

BELGRADE - President of the Coalition of Refugee Associations in Serbia Miodrag Linta wants all Croatian citizens living abroad to be allowed to register a temporary residence outside the Republic of Croatia for the period of five years and thus be able to preserve their Croatian IDs.

In the period from 1991 to the end of 2013, the Croatian Ministry of the Interior illegally removed over 50,000 Serbs from the registers of citizens with permanent residence in Croatia, Linta said in a letter addressed to Croatian authorities.

He recalled that the deadline by which Croatian citizens living abroad are obliged to report a change of permanent residence or temporary residence outside Croatia is due to expire on December 29, 2014.

Linta said that this is why it is very important for the Croatian Interior Ministry to adopt the Book of regulations for police departments and diplomatic and consular representative offices and thus clearly define six manners for registering a temporary residence outside Croatia for the period of five years.

He explained that the Book of regulations should make it possible for Croatian citizens living aboard to preserve their Croatian IDs in the five year period in case of potential needs for housing, reconstruction of houses destroyed or damaged in the past war, education, employment, medical treatment and sustenance allowances for the elderly and unemployed family members.

In case the Book of regulations is not adopted, it will be a clear sign that the Croatian Interior Ministry does not have the genuine will to implement the nationality law to all citizens regardless of their ethnicity and confession, Linta said.

Photo Tanjug/Z. Zestic (archive)