Southern Balkan invisible spatialities
By Viki Mladenova
Between April and July 2025, I conducted research in Skopje to examine how North Macedonia’s asylum system operates within the broader reconfiguration of the Balkan Route.
Research activities included informal and anonymous interviews with representatives from government and UN agencies, legal practitioners, and former officials from national asylum institutions.
The fieldwork revealed a highly complex and layered asylum environment in North Macedonia. Although often framed as a transit country, North Macedonia is increasingly embedded in European migration governance as the Balkan Route continues to shift geographically. The national asylum system remains centralized and formally aligned with EU standards—particularly since the 2018 Law on Temporary and International Protection—but significant gaps persist between legislation and practice.
Field insights further highlighted important shifts in migration patterns, including the emergence of alternative routes, and an increase in labor migration—with many workers moving into irregularity after short-term contracts end. These and other findings demonstrate a constantly changing migration and asylum landscape, even as North Macedonia remains largely “invisibilised” in research on the Balkan Route to-date.