Stip civil registry operates with only two employees
Of six counters only two are active; staff say they repeatedly requested new hires and expect solutions within five–six months.
The civil registry office in Stip is operating far below capacity: of six service counters used to issue extracts and certificates, only two are active and they are staffed by just two employees — one registrar and one assistant registrar for civil records.
Signs have been placed at the inactive counters informing visitors that those desks cannot issue documents. The two remaining staff try to help citizens whenever they can; when workload allows they voluntarily process additional requests. On average they prepare and hand over more than 1,000 documents each month.
Several people waiting outside the office described long delays. "For ten years I have been obtaining various extracts for members of my family. I cannot get served because clients from the whole Eastern Macedonia come to the Civil Registry Office in Stip for the same documents — mostly birth and marriage extracts. The busiest times are when there is a public announcement, a job competition or school enrolment, when candidates need updated extracts," several visitors told us in front of the registry.
Requests for new hires, promises from Skopje
The local registry staff say they have repeatedly asked — both in writing and by phone — for new vacancies, but have only received assurances. According to the office's staffing plan, the department required at least seven employees already ten years ago, because it issues documents for residents from all towns of Eastern Macedonia, a population of more than 300,000. Instead, over the last five to six years the office functioned with three registrars. A few months ago one colleague was transferred to Skopje, leaving the office with only two registrars who also must attend scheduled weddings and other marital registrations.
Faton Fazliu, director of the Directorate for Civil Registry in Skopje, acknowledged the staffing problem and the broader challenges facing regional units. "We are aware that this is a wider problem that does not concern only Stip, but also the need to improve staffing capacities in other regional units of the country. In that direction, activities are being taken to overcome the situation and to improve the functioning of the services, so that citizens receive timely and quality services. We believe that in the next five to six months we will succeed in overcoming and closing this issue through appropriate solutions for staffing and improving working conditions," Fazliu said.
Employees explain that they accept requests throughout the day and immediately deliver the documents that can be issued on the spot. Other extracts and paperwork are prepared in the mornings, with staff arriving early to finish required services. They add that some smaller towns in the country have twice as many registry employees as Stip.
Citizens complain that the shortage has not been resolved, while these services generate steady state revenue: a birth or death extract costs 170 denars paid by card at the counter, or 250 denars if paid through a bank or the post office.
Photo: SDK.MK)
