Cuban passport holders will have to apply for a visa in order to travel to Serbia starting on April 14, as the Serbian Embassy in Havana has confirmed.
According to Dario de Cuba, Cubans will have to apply for a tourist or business visa to travel to Serbia, and the authorities are yet to confirm whether the request can be made via an email, VisaGuide.World reports.
Fernando Almeyda, the Cuban lawyer and activist in Belgrade, noted that reintroducing visas was a necessary measure that was decided internally and it will enter force on April 14 or circa this date.
“The situation is identical to the other time, except that, from the testimony of one of them, I was able to analyze that since the previous complaint, they improved the treatment (the authorities) a bit. Apparently, they explained themselves better, they did not coerce much to sign the deportation document and asked if they wanted asylum when they saw the refusal to return to Cuba,” Almeyda explained to Diario.
According to him, the decision follows the surge in dozens of Cuban nationals to Serbia, to later reach the Schengen zone. Almeyda also pointed out that there are 22 Cubans at the Nikola Tesla Airport in the Serbian capital.
The Balkan country has served as a gate for third-country nationals to reach the Schengen zone, as Serbia is located between the newest member of the visa-free travel zone – Croatia, as well as Hungary, which enables third-country nationals to head towards Western European countries, seeking a better life quality.
Previously, Serbia took away visa-free privileges for Tunisians and Burundi, following a spike in illegal border crossings, and more countries might be reintroduced visa requirements from the Serbian government in the upcoming months.
So far, Serbia has removed visa-free travel for citizens of India and Guinea Bissau, which was reported at the beginning of the year. Since January, Indian and Guinea Bissau passport holders are no longer permitted to enter Serbia without a visa for stays of up to 30 days.
Visa-free entry into Serbia was scrapped for nationals of Bolivia, who are required to apply for a visa in order to travel to Serbia as of February.
“As of February 10, 2023 holders of all types of Bolivian passports need a visa to enter the Republic of Serbia,” the Embassy of Serbia in Bolivia said in a statement.
Visa requirements might be reintroduced soon for more nationals of third countries such as Belarus, Cuba, and Suriname.
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