Why visas for Croats to UK?

[Barba Jere]

why is UK only European country that still insists on visa regime for Croatian citisens?

it started with few Croatian Serbs asking for asylum in UK after 95 and this regime is still imposed. No other country in Europe including Swiss and Norway require visa for Cro citisens.

Do you really thing that UK is trying to protect itself from nonexistent Croatian illegal immigrants or it’s a kind of pressure that UK is trying to have on CRO government.

If Croatia is stronger it should impose reciprocity measures for UK citizens but it would deprive itself from some of the tourist income and probably would piss off Foreign Office.

[emiz]

It is completely untrue to say there were no Croatian illegal immigrants. I worked in a prison and one whole wing was full of Croatians. These people were not criminals but deportees.

The problems happened when Catholic Bosnians started claiming Croatian citizenship, and entering the UK.
It would be much easier for me if there were no visa requirements, but there is no doubt that if we did open up the borders, many Bosnian Croats and impoverish Croats would move to England.

It is sad, and I wish there was a way around bit it is true. You will ask why the uk needs stricter rules than the rest of Europe, well answer me this, why do immigrants already in France risk their lives crossing the channel on air beds.

The answer is simple, the UK is a liberal country and nobody will be left on the streets, if they follow the rules.

Illegal immigrants are given free housing and free food.

I have no problem with any immigrants, I can fully understand that people wish to move to improve their lifestyle, and foreigners add diversity to any country.

The only problem I have with illegal immigrants is when undesirables are entering, convicts, people carrying aids etc.

As for the British embassy, they are very rude to Croats, I know this from personal experience and this is unfortunate.
I wish we could stop the visas, especially for people married to British citizens, but for now I understand why the rules are as they are.

[Barba Jere]

hmmm tell me how come there is no invasion of 40 million poles compared to 4 milion croats. economic situation in Poland is worse then in Cro.i do not know if Romanians and Bulgarians need visas now for UK but for Shengen they dont.


And claim that UK is only social liberal country that does not leave anyone on the street is wrong.

i think Sweden takes much better care of its citisens then UK and still Croats can travel there without visa and my god there is no invasion of Illegal clandestines from Croatia anywhere.



I still think its the way of telling Croats their place by british colonial mentality

[Guest]

Well ... each country have right to decide what is best for it's own interest.

We decided that Croatian citizenship is very wide term ... Passports was (and still are) given like lollypops (with very strange "privilege" methods) ...

I was surprised seeing that almost every mobster in Balcan region between other always had Croatian passport too ...

So, first we need to fix holes in our legal perception of "citizenship", and then complain about "colonial aproach" from anybody ...

When UK become aware that we have legal "ingerencies" over all our citizens ... they will remove passports.

Unfortunatly I don't think that anybody in UK will cry if we put reciprocity on "visa regime".

[Barba Jere]

what you are saying is what was going on in Mostar croatian consulat 10 years ago. Even passports changed since then.

it a way of preassure on Croatia and also showing that UK has same policy for all western balkans. they want it in EU in the package and they will lift visas in the package.

reciprocity would affect increasing number of property owners in Croatia just as many agencies who are making more and more money on croatia and they would trough their lobbys press foreing office to change this unfair visa regime.

The only country in EU. and funny enough during the war there was no visas.

[Guest]

Guest-Barba said:

what you are saying is what was going on in Mostar croatian consulat 10 years ago. Even passports changed since then.

it a way of preassure on Croatia and also showing that UK has same policy for all western balkans. they want it in EU in the package and they will lift visas in the package.

reciprocity would affect increasing number of property owners in Croatia just as many agencies who are making more and more money on croatia and they would trough their lobbys press foreing office to change this unfair visa regime.

The only country in EU. and funny enough during the war there was no visas.

To get new passport you need - old passport. Those mobsters and "rent a killers" got their passports plus "honnorable citizenships" - legaly.

If it is metter of choice (an taste, in my oppinion), you should allow UK to consider some of our "honnorable citizens" to be "personas non grata" in UK.

After all, EU created "blacklist" with bunch of "Croatian" polititians, advisors, "businessmans" and "honnorable citizens", almost all with "multiple citizenships", not UK.

Again, unfortunately.

P.S.
Just look at elections. We need prime-minister and Supreme Court president to publicaly agree that "on first sight elections looks legal", and in second sentence "anyway, we can't legaly do anything in case that citizenship was maybe misused by 400 000 of our citizens".

[Andypandy]

Barba Jere,

I understand the frustration but again Croatian ignorance on "Empire building rears" its ignorant head.

The truth is since the war and before when Britain was 99.9% Anglo-Saxon/Celtic, we now have some 5 million other races due to immigration in recent years.
If there was not strict controls Britain would be even more overpopulated.

How would Croatians feel about it if it was the other way round. A lot worse!!!

[barba Jere]

it is one of the main reasons Croats "dislike" Brits.

Nobody doing that in EU except Brits. its normal that people think that UK has a awkward opinion of Croatia and that they dislike it for some reason.

[Barba Jere]

Da li ste ikada bili upleteni u davanje naloga za, pripremu ili organizaciju genocida ili zločina protiv čovječnosti ili ratne zločine počinjene tijekom oružanih sukoba?

and look at this question croats have to answer when applying for visa to UK.

Askes have you ever been involved in ordering or organising GENOCDE or war against humanity that were commited during the armed conflicts?

How would you feel if you have to answer this??

not to talk about this one:

Da li ste ikada imali veze s davanjem naloga za, pripremom, organizacijom ili podrškom činova terorizma, unutar ili izvan UK; ili ste ikada bili član organizacije koja je bila upletena ili zagovarala terorizam ili promicanje njegovih ciljeva

Have you had and links to prepare,organise or support terrorist acts in or out of UK:have you been a member of organisation that was involved terrorism??

all for tourist visa to UK.

and if you cant get a hold of someone in UK to write you a
guarantee letter you can kiss bye bye your trip to UK

[Neil]

As a Brit married to a Croatian lady and living in Germany we've had to go through the visa process several times up until now.

For Croatians already living in the EU I find it absurd that they require a visa to visit another EU state. Even more so, the fact that I am British has in the past meant that my wife has been subjected to what I believe to be reverse prejudice. A couple of years ago I wrote to the British foreign office complaining about this but their response was a simple standard letter.

At least now Croatians married to Brits (and living outside the UK) are treated the same way as spouses of other EEA nationals when applying for a visa. I'm not sure if this only counts if you live in another EEA country though.

Barba Jere
The questions about terrrorist activity and war crimes have to be answered by all applicants and are not aimed at any particular nation. I first thought these were there for legal reasons, however it is interesting to note that a person applying for a Shengen visa is not required to answer similar questions....