LONDON, Nov 18 (Hina) - Great Britain decided to impose visas for Croatian citizens due to economic migrants who abuse the British asylum system, Immigration Minister at the British Home Office Barbara Roche said on Thursday. ""We are
imposing this visa regime because of the abuse of the current visa free arrangements by some passengers from Croatia", Roche stressed. She said that The UK welcomed genuine visitors and those fleeing persecution, however, she said, they would not allow economic migrants to abuse the system. In the first nine months of this year 1,140 Croatian citizens claimed asylum in the United Kingdom, in comparison to 335 in the whole 1998, spokesman of the British Home Office Any Cole told Hina. The majority of the persons claiming asylum are Serbs from the Croatian Danube River region and Romani. British and Croatian authorities have already tried to decrease the number of Croa
LONDON, Nov 18 (Hina) - Great Britain decided to impose visas for
Croatian citizens due to economic migrants who abuse the British
asylum system, Immigration Minister at the British Home Office
Barbara Roche said on Thursday.
""We are imposing this visa regime because of the abuse of the
current visa free arrangements by some passengers from Croatia",
Roche stressed.
She said that The UK welcomed genuine visitors and those fleeing
persecution, however, she said, they would not allow economic
migrants to abuse the system.
In the first nine months of this year 1,140 Croatian citizens
claimed asylum in the United Kingdom, in comparison to 335 in the
whole 1998, spokesman of the British Home Office Any Cole told
Hina.
The majority of the persons claiming asylum are Serbs from the
Croatian Danube River region and Romani.
British and Croatian authorities have already tried to decrease the
number of Croatian citizens seeking asylum in the United Kingdom
due to economic reasons. Croatian air company "Croatia Airlines"
participated in the implementation of such measures, however, the
arrival in Great Britain continued with the help of other air
companies, namely British Airways, Slovenia's Adria Airways, and
Hungary's Malev, said director of Croatia Airlines branch office in
London Dalibor Pavicic.
In the first nine moths of this year, over 51,000 persons from
around the world claimed asylum in Great Britain, in comparison to
46,000 in 1998.
(hina) it