The decision to suspend immigration visas for citizens of North Macedonia, taken by the US, was adopted within the framework of their reinforced migration policy, assesses the country’s former ambassador to the US, Vasko Naumovski. In a statement to Alsat, Naumovski stressed that despite this decision, US residence visas, which are the most requested by our citizens, will continue to be applied for.
“They are temporarily freezing immigration visa procedures, in order to verify whether the entire system for using social assistance is in accordance with their laws or not. This is only a temporary suspension of issuing immigration visas, and not tourist, business visit or student visas, which are mostly used by our citizens,” declared Vasko Naumovski, former Macedonian ambassador to the US.
Shortly after the decision to add North Macedonia to the list of countries that will not be issued immigration visas for stay in the US, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said that he nevertheless expects good news from Washington soon. According to Naumovski, the good news could be in the direction of abolishing tourist visas for entry into the US, something that he says has been under negotiation for about 15 years.
“Several steps are being taken in various areas, in order to meet the criteria for Macedonian citizens to be part of the citizens who will not need visas to enter the US. This is a long-term goal and I believe that in the period ahead, that dialogue will intensify and eventually we can expect results in that direction,” said Vasko Naumovski, former Macedonian ambassador to the US.
On the other hand, according to the latest data from the State Department, the number of immigration visas from Macedonia to the US has decreased in the last decade. Thus, in 2024 the number of visas issued to Macedonian citizens was 573, while in 2016 this number was 1.354. /Alsat.mk