For citizens of Montenegro, who live and work in China, obtaining a new or extending an old passport can cost thousands of euros, and sometimes the question is whether to stay in that country. The reason for this, as they told "Vijesti", is because the Embassy in Beijing is not technically equipped to issue them that travel document.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Internal Affairs informed about everything. From the Department of Foreign Affairs, at the head of which he has been since the formation of the Government on April 28 Ranko Krivokapic, they told the newsroom that colleagues from the MUP informed about everything. From the minister's department Filip Adžić they did not answer the questions of "Vijesti". Unofficially, they believe that they are not the only address for solving that problem.
"On June 1, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs forwarded to the Ministry of Internal Affairs a letter, that is, a request from Montenegrin citizens from the People's Republic of China, the Republic of Korea and Vietnam, regarding their initiative for the possibility of issuing passports at the Embassy of Montenegro in Beijing. We consider the need of our citizens to be expedient and their reasons justified, however, in order to solve this problem, it is necessary for the Ministry of Internal Affairs to systemically/software and technically enable the installation of biometrics in the Embassy of Montenegro in Beijing and ensure connection with its databases", said the Ranka department to "Vijesta" Krivokapića.
On April 17, colleagues from China sent a request for a decision on the creation of ordinary passports at the Embassy of Montenegro in Beijing to the ministries of foreign and internal affairs, at the request of 59 Montenegrin citizens.
"The basic and only concrete problem that we want to announce is the technical impossibility of the Embassy of Montenegro in Beijing to issue a new passport to our citizens or extend the existing one. The problems that arise due to this technical deficiency are great and many of our citizens are already facing them," the petition states, among other things, in which specific problems that Montenegrin citizens have faced only during the last two years are described.
"One of our citizens had to leave China in August of last year due to the extension of his passport, because he could not get a new visa without a new passport. He did not return due to too many administrative and financial obstacles. Another example is our citizen who went to Montenegro last month to renew his passport and whose return date is unknown due to lack of flights. And even when he finds a flight, he will spend over 5.000 euros on airlines and quarantine in China. His family is waiting for him in China. Will there be a job waiting for him", he writes, among other things, in the application.
One of the problems they cite is the impossibility of children of Montenegrin citizens, who are born in countries for which the Embassy of Montenegro in Beijing is responsible, to obtain a passport.
"Here, the problem is just becoming insurmountable without the technical assistance of our embassy. Although the Chinese border agencies will certainly not deport us or the newly born child, that child must get a passport at some point, because the rule is that within one to three months (depending on the province in China) the child must have a passport and a visa to be legal in China. In this case, even going to Montenegro will not help because in that case the child will not have a visa to return to China, because the Chinese centralized visa regime does not yet allow issuing that type of visa in Montenegro due to the pandemic. So - a passport cannot be used in China, a visa cannot be used in Montenegro", Montenegrin citizens describe the problems they face when they become parents in China.
The problem also affects students, sports workers, artists... The signatories of the petition claim that many of them have returned to Montenegro, "some due to the extension of their passports, some due to the lack of pages in their passports because the authorities in the Republic of China extend their visas every two or three month, and sometimes more often (depending on the change of place/city of employment), so the pages in the passport wear out very quickly".
"These are just four living examples that our citizens are currently facing, and which are a template for anyone who has had this problem during the last two years at least. Also, people who lose their passport or have it stolen would also be in this hopeless situation. Currently, every departure from China by our citizens presents several life problems", the letter to the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs states, adding that these are very likely job losses, because the employer does not want to wait two months for a worker, loss of business results due to excessive breaks. They further state that they are faced with the fact that they may not be able to return to China, that family separation is also a problem.
In mid-April, a 21-day quarantine was mandatory in China, which, depending on the results of the PCR test, could be extended to 34 or up to 60 days, and the price for the first 21 days, according to citizens of Montenegro in China, is 1.000 euros per person.
"To all that, let's add a serious financial cost, because ticket prices to Montenegro and back range from 5.000 to 10.000 euros. We are not sure what the price of that device is, although while researching we heard that it is a 'box', i.e. a special computer, but whatever the price is, it is hardly worth the trouble of our people who are currently in China, thousands of kilometers away from their homeland . Only five people lost a total of at least 30.000 euros and even more nerves due to this deficiency. Wouldn't it be better if we spent part of that money in Montenegro, instead of giving it to airline companies", they state in the letter.
They also remind that the Embassy of Montenegro in Beijing is the only embassy of Montenegro in that part of the world and that the long-term problem would be solved, not only for Montenegrin citizens in China, but also for Montenegrin citizens in all surrounding Asian countries.
"According to our knowledge, there are three Montenegrin embassies/consulates in the world where ordinary passports are made, but we assure you that there is no place where this device would be more necessary than here in the People's Republic of China, due to the distance from Montenegro and the specific situation in China which is still closed for normal functioning and movement. We hope that you will hear and understand how big a problem we are facing and that you will solve this problem with the technical improvement of the Embassy in Beijing. The state is not only a historical and geographical concept, but it is the protector of all its citizens, wherever they are. This letter is an invitation in that direction," reads the request, which was sent to the MFA and MUP in mid-April.
The production of passports and the taking of biometrics, as they said in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is currently possible only in three diplomatic and consular representations of Montenegro - in Belgrade, Frankfurt and New York.
According to the Rulebook on the internal organization and systematization of MFA workplaces, Montenegro has 29 embassies, six missions and four consular representations.
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