Ansamed

(ANSAmed) - BELGRADE, AUGUST 24 - Increasing numbers of Albanians from Kosovo are trying to obtain resident status in Belgrade, for which they are prepared to pay up to 3.000 euros for it.

The new Serb biometric passport gives its holder the right to travel in the Schengen area without a visa requirement. For the government in Belgrade, which does not recognise the independence of Kosovo, Albanians from Kosovo are to all effects citizens of Serbia and therefore enjoy all the rights of others.

''Having arrived en masse in the South of Serbia, Albanians are now preparing to 'invade' the North'' runs the alarmist headline in a popular daily. The ''fares'' for obtaining some kind of residency status in the Serb capital range from between 1,500 and 3,000 euros.

The newspaper cites Serbia's Interior Minister, Ivica Dacic, as guaranteeing that the police will carry out all the necessary checks on any doubtful cases of possible forged documents or double residency. Although, he notes, ''we cannot prevent our citizens from exercising freedom of movement in our country''.

The EU dispensed with its visa requirement for citizens of Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia in December last year. This measure, however, only applies to those in possession of a new biometric passport, meaning around 2 million persons out of a total population of 7 million. Those holding an old-style passport will still need visa-clearance. (ANSAmed).