DAMASCUS - Syria has relaxed measures introduced last month that limited the stay of Iraqi refugees to two weeks, a representative for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said Monday in Damascus.Previously, authorities demanded that Iraqi refugees leave Syria for one month once their residency permits expired and only after that period could they return and reapply. Now, Iraqis who are fleeing the violence back home can stay for a month before applying for a three-month permit which can be renewed by leaving Syria and returning as early as the same day, UNHCR representative Deitrun Gunther told AFP.
‘Iraqis can come into Syria for a period of one month. Then they have to report to immigration to apply for a three-month permit,’ Gunther said. Once a three-month permit is issued, ‘they must go back to Iraq but can come back to Syria the same day,’ she said, instead of having to wait a month in the war-torn country.
The changes came into effect on February 15 and have not been officially announced, though immigration services have been notified of the changes, she said.