Over 220 Slovak citizens have demanded political asylum of Sweden since the beginning of the year, of that number 113 in August; the Slovak consul in Sweden has said that most of the applicants are Slovak Roma.
Slovak Roma have previously left in large numbers for Benelux countries, other Scandinavian states and Britain. The UK in 1998 imposed a visa regime on Slovaks after the numbers of Slovaks arriving in Britain and claiming asylum rose dramatically over a few months. Other European countries have imposed, and in some cases relaxed, visa regimes following large numbers of Roma arriving on their territory. The British visa regime remains in place.
17. Sep 2001 at 0:00 | From press reports of TASR and SITA
