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whose circumstances are 
much more complex.  
Based on LIL’s field experi-
ence, the following prob-
lems in determining the 
legal status of “habitual 
residents” from the Roma 
community in the Republic 
of Macedonia the most at 
risk group in unfavourable 
position regarding resi-
dence and rights in relation 
to their legal status in the 
country: 
After gaining its independ-
ence in 1991, Macedonia 
provided a timeframe of 
one year for all residents 
to apply for citizenship, 
foreseeing mechanisms and 
naturalization procedure 
defined with the 1992 Law 
on Citizenship of the Re-
public of Macedonia. Sec-
ond window of opportunity 
for persons with unregu-
lated status was the 2004 
Law for Changing and 
Amending the Law on Citi-
zenship of the Republic of 
Macedonia, enabling acqui-
sition of citizenship for 
great number of citizens, 
ethnic minorities, stateless 
persons (including refugees 
from the 1999 Kosovo cri-
sis, among which great 
number of Roma) and 
stateless long-term resi-
dents of Macedonia. How-
ever, none of these legal 
measures have fully solved 
the status of the so-called 
“habitual residents”, 
While this target group had 
the same opportunities for 
obtaining citizenship as the 
other residents described 
above, for number of rea-
sons this group has not 
managed to exercise this 
right, namely: (i) they ei-
ther had no information 
about the opportunity (ii) 
no valid documents at the 
time; or (iii) due to the 
length of the procedure, 
some members of the 
group that had applied for 
citizenship as “persons un-
der 18” became ineligible 
upon turning 18 years, for 
which different conditions 
applied. By then, it was 
not possible to reapply, as 
the legal opportunities had 
already been replaced with 
a more stringent citizen-
ship and naturalization pro-
cedures. 
Until January 1, 2008 these 
persons have regulated 
their status using their 
available documents, such 
as birth certificate, or have 
not regulated their status 
at all. Since 2008, when 
applying for temporary 
residence permit or citi-
zenship, they need to show 
a proof of either existing 
citizenship (valid and rec-
ognized travel document 
issued in her/his country of 
origin or the parents’ coun-
try of origin) or proof of 
ineligibility for acquisition 
of the other citizenship. 
However, since these per-
sons have not been residing 
in their country of origin 
for 20 years or more, or 
have never left the terri-
tory of the Republic of Ma-
cedonia since their birth, 
they are unable to provide 
the required documents 
and thus fail to regulate 
their status in their present 
country; often those per-
sons are not registered in 
the Birth Registry or have 
never registered as citizens 
of their country of ethnic 
origin/country of parents’ 
origin and have no address 
of residence there. Addi-
tional registration in the 
Birth Registry within their 
countries of origin is com-
plicated and often results 
with negative answer by 
the authorities.   
Habitual residents living in the Republic of Macedonia prior to the 
dissolution of Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) 
in 1991, that were born on the territories of other successor-states, 
or persons born in the Republic of Macedonia from such habitual 
residents.  
IN THE LIMBO: SOLVING THE STATUS 
AND CITIZENSHIP OF ROMA IN 
MACEDONIA 
Targeted Resolving of Citizenship Status of Romani Habitual 
Residents in the Republic of Macedonia 
J U N E  2 0 1 0  P O S I T I O N  P A P E R  
BACKGROUND 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
TARGET GROUP 
 
 
 
 
IDENTIFIED  
PROBLEMS 
In the Limbo: Solving the Status and Citizenship of Roma in Macedonia 
Policy recommendations 
To the Council of Europe Chairmanship: 
• To recommend to Yugoslav-successor states to utilize the conventions they have signed and rati-
fied; to consider adhering to other conventions of the Council of Europe and utilizing other avail-
able mechanisms this organization offers for resolving this issue; and to consider new possibilities 
for alleviating the cooperation between countries in solving this issue. 
To the European Union: 
• To support this action by reminding and urging the aspiring countries to consider utilization of 
these international instruments or to initiate ratification if deemed necessary. 
To the Macedonian authorities: 
• To prepare and propose an amendment of the national legislation for citizenship in favour of this 
particular group of persons, while retaining the current general policies on acquisition of citizen-
ship and naturalization. Namely, an amendment of article 7-a of the Law on Citizenship of the Re-
public of Macedonia, that will enable alleviated/loosened procedures for obtaining citizenship for 
these persons is proposed, in which: a person without a citizenship or stateless person that resides 
on the territory of the Republic of Macedonia since before 8 of September, 1991 can apply for (and 
be granted) citizenship of the Republic of Macedonia based on proof that s/he is/has been residing 
in the country and personal statement/other proof of non-existence of citizenship from the country 
of origin/birth country of their parents. 
Implementation recommendations 
In order to decrease the number of Romani people with unregulated status in the Republic of Mace-
donia and to increase the possibilities for acquiring citizenship as a basis for access to main free-
doms and rights, the following recommended actions for implementation of the above policy rec-
ommendations are foreseen: 
• To identify and map all Romani and other people that fall under the category of “habitual resi-
dents” (engaging mobile teams to go on field to identify, inform and assist those persons); 
• To provide them with free legal aid and financial assistance for people under social risk if they 
fulfil the criteria to apply for citizenship; 
• To waive the administrative taxes for people/families under social risk for applying and citizen-
ship acquisition.  
Bearing in mind the outreach of the civil society to the target group, the contribution of the Roma 
and other NGOs in solving the problem of legal status of these persons, is envisaged in:  
• Organization of campaigns and workshops, more intensive field work and publishing of bro-
chures and other propaganda materials in order to introduce Romani people with the opportu-
nities to acquire Macedonian citizenship; 
• To develop the consciousness among Romani people for possession of legal identification docu-
ments; 
• Free legal aid for people under social risk if they fulfil the criteria to apply for citizenship. 
C O N T A C T :  
Organization for women and children rights protection “LIL” 
Tel: 00389(0)22031201 ; E-mail: lil@on.net.mk 
Centre for regional policy research and cooperation “Studiorum” 
Tel/Fax: 00389(0)23065837; E-mail: office@studiorum.org.mk ; Web: www.studiorum.org.mk 
RECOMMENDATIONS 


In the Limbo: Determining the Status and Citizenship of Roma in Macedonia - Targeted Resolving of Citizenship Status of Romani Habitual Residents in the Republic of Macedonia