
VIDEO INTERVIEW | Fazliu: By March, Porta Makedonija will become the new "Maticno", Skopje residents will receive a ceremonial hall for weddings
Will Skopje finally get a ceremonial hall for weddings and civil marriages? Is there a plan for its location? Will the hiring of registrars stop, as before, when newlyweds got married in Skopje restaurants? This morning, on the show "Sloboden Pechat", we asked the director of the Civil Registry Office, Faton Fazliu, for answers. He says that one of the problems he faced when he took over as director of the Office and which was his priority to solve was finding a solution for a ceremonial hall where young people could decently enter into a civil marriage.
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– We are in communication with the Ministry of Culture with whom we need to conclude an agreement for the new wedding hall to be located in Porta Macedonia. We are in the process of renting that space and having it be at the service of the citizens. I hope that will be done by March and the hall will be ready – says Fazliu.
He explains that until now, weddings have taken place in their offices within the municipalities. In Skopje, weddings are held in the old "Registry Office" in a small office that is not appropriate and ceremonial.
– Hiring a registrar will certainly remain an option in the future, it depends on the newlyweds. The prices remain the same for now. We are in the process of preparing a new Law on Civil Registration, which should be adopted by the end of this year, more precisely by September, and whether there will be new prices for our services will be discussed after the law is adopted – says Fazliu.
He says that now the Civil Registry Office is part of the Ministry of Digital Transformation and there is room for many things to change and improve.
– Citizens should receive better service from our institution. And I believe that from that aspect we will succeed in serving the citizens. We are in the phase of digitalization of the Administration and here we need to comply with existing laws – says Fazliu.
Regarding the errors that occur when issuing birth, marriage, or death certificates, Fazliu says that statistically they are not any different than before.

– We issue about 6 million documents annually from our Directorate. The errors in issued documents are minimal. Some errors are due to the human factor, but there are also technical errors. Most of the errors occur when printing the document, there is too much color or it goes outside the frames – says the director.
He says that getting a certificate takes 5 to 10 minutes. It depends on the crowds, when there are enrollments at university or high school, the crowds are big.
– For now, there is only a small problem when issuing a birth certificate for a newborn. Citizens think that the entire process takes place in our Administration, but we process it to the Ministry of Interior, from where the newborn should receive a personal identification number. The process lasts from 5 to 7 days and then citizens receive the certificate, says Fazliu.
He says that a certificate can also be obtained electronically for 150 to 160 denars, except for a single marital status which costs 1050 denars.
– As a director, I do not agree with the prices for issuing electronic documents, but we will wait for the new Law on Civil Registry. For example, I think that for some services the prices should be higher, increased, but some should be reduced – says Fazliu.
For all those who live in Skopje, but were not born in Skopje, he says they can electronically obtain a certificate from another city and have it delivered to their home address.
– There was a process that lasted several years, and that was the process of digitizing the books. And this process ended at the end of last year, the books in our archive are already digitized. This means that every citizen, no matter where they live, can obtain documents from the Administration, anywhere. They may have been born in Ohrid, but they can obtain documents here in Skopje – says the director.
The rule "certificate no older than six months" says that a person is born once and gets an original certificate once. All others are copies.
– The personal identification number is obtained once and remains forever. Our laws and regulations are like that and very often an extract no older than six months is required. I think that this can already be solved in the future, because we are in the process of transformation, of digitalization of all services and when everything is delivered electronically, we will no longer have such a problem – says Fazliu.