Citizens seeking asylum in Sweden as well

After Belgium, Sweden is also warning that a large number of Serbian citizens have been seeking asylum in the country since the beginning of the year.

Swedish ambassador to Serbia Krister Bringeus told B92 that in February alone, 300 demands were received for asylum from Serbian citizens who enter the country with biometric passports, adding that all these people will be returned to Serbia.

“We noticed that in February, quickly after the visa liberalization, the number of those seeking asylum fro Serbia has increased. Last year, we had 580 such request, while we received 300 new demands in February alone,” Bringeus said.

He said that he is very concerned and believes that the people who are coming to Sweden and seeking asylum are being scammed by someone.

“They received the wrong information, probably from criminal groups, and maybe from someone else, because you cannot receive political asylum in Sweden for social and economic reasons, which is what they are seeking,” he said.

About 80 percent of those seeking asylum are Roma, and some are Albanian.

“These people will be deported from Sweden immediately and will be returned to Serbia, according to the readmission agreement,” Bringeus said.