The number of asylum seekers is increasing. The Netherlands also notices this. Last year, 35,000 people applied for asylum here, and this number was reached in September this year. According to internal figures from the Ministry of Justice, which NRC reported this week, it could well be 50,000 in 2023 – a figure for which reception in the Netherlands is far from calculated.

One of the most popular routes to get to the Netherlands or other northern European countries is through the Balkans. Turkey is the first hub for many people from, for example, the Middle East, Afghanistan and parts of Africa. From there, people often travel via Bulgaria or via Greece and North Macedonia to Serbia, the second hub.

From Serbia the tour continues via Hungary or Croatia and Slovenia. The disadvantage of Hungary is that there are strict controls and there is a fence along the border to stop migrants. The advantage: Hungary is already part of the Schengen area, so subsequent border crossings can usually be crossed without controls. If the Croatia route is chosen, this only applies from Slovenia.

In many cases, asylum seekers pay large sums of money to people smugglers to cross borders. Most of them do not have visas for the countries they transit through or travel to. So you have no formal right to cross borders. And in the “transit countries” they usually do not apply for asylum. The European border protection organization Frontex therefore speaks of “irregular immigration” to avoid the word “illegal”.

70 percent increase

Overall, Frontex counted 228,240 “irregular border crossings” in the first nine months of this year. Although it was not nearly as many as in the peak year of 2015, when the counter passed the million mark, the increase compared to the first three quarters of 2021 was 70 percent.

By far the most migrants passed through the Balkans: 106,396. This was also an increase of 70 percent compared to the previous year. As in previous years, these were mainly people from Syria (43,500) and Afghanistan (more than 16,000).

Visa for the EU, not for Serbia

However, a new phenomenon can currently be observed in the EU: a significant increase in people from countries that require visas for the Schengen area but not for Serbia. One of these countries is India. People with an Indian passport initially travel to Serbia without any problems and then cross the border to Hungary or Slovenia (via Croatia) “irregularly”.

In this Nieuwsuur video you can see how this works:

The German news agency DPA reports on the basis of an EU document that between January and August 4,500 “irregular border crossings” took place on behalf of Indians. A year earlier there were 550. More asylum seekers than usual come to the EU from countries such as Tunisia, Burundi and Cuba; You can also enter Serbia without a visa.

Germany angry

Relatively small numbers, hundreds if you don’t count India. But a country like Germany is very annoyed that Serbia, as an EU accession candidate, does not agree with the European visa policy.

According to Interior Minister Faeser, Belgrade will reward countries that do not recognize the independence of the former Serbian province of Kosovo with visa exemptions. “I don’t think that’s acceptable,” she said recently. “Serbia has to change the visa practice. Not at some point in the future, but immediately.”

The EU Commissioner for EU Internal Affairs, the Swede Ylva Johansson, also insisted on this. She even threatened to reintroduce visa requirements for Serbs wishing to travel to the EU. It was abolished 13 years ago.

Serbian President Vucic seems ready to comply with this request. He promised to align Serbia’s visa policy with that of the EU by the end of this year. He has already lifted the visa waiver for Burundi and Tunisia. In addition, Serbia has agreed with Hungary and Austria to take joint action against irregular immigration.