The Albanian immigrants in Greece are facing new obstacles for their
residential documents, and again, the problem is caused by the names of
Greek birthplaces written in Albanian on their children passports. Last
year these emigrants were not allowed to cross the border, and this year
they are facing problems with the renewal of their documents.
Thousands of Albanian families have received a letter from the Greek state, which leaves them only one month to fix the birthplace names on the Albanian passports, or they will be forced to leave Greece.
The birthplace of their children born in Greece is written in Albanian, but the Greek government wants them written in English.
Iris Hajdinaj is a mother of two children born in Greece, whose residential permit is in danger only because their birthplace on their passports says “Selanik” for “Thessaloniki”.
There are thousands of other cases who cannot renew their documents, who have requested help from the Albanian Socialist Party offices in Greece.
The Thessaloniki SP leader, Tomor Dermiraj, says for Top Channel that hundreds of Albanians are facing this problem in Greece, and for this reason, leaders of the SP headquarters in Thessaloniki have arrived today in Albania to seek help from the government, the Prime Minister and the Foreign Ministry.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Albanians have challenged this decision of the Greek government in courts, but this is not a solution either, since courts take a longer time than the deadline for renewing their documents. The only ones who profit in this case are the Greek lawyers, who are exploiting the emergency and are charging high prices for their services. However, their clients are eager to pay.
From Tirana they have been told that they are working with the Greek side for a final solution, but the deadline from Greece is very short.
Top Channel
