Seven months have passed since the agreement that intends to allow citizens of Kosovo and those of Bosnia and Herzegovina to move visa-free to each other’s territory by only holding a valid ID card was officially signed in Berlin. However there is still no sign of its implementation.
Delays in the functionalisation of this consensus force citizens of both countries to continue going through the costly and time-consuming visa application process, VisaGuide.World reports.
In November last year, Western Balkan states’ representatives signed three agreements in Berlin, among them the freedom of movement between Kosovo and BiH citizens. The concurs were part of the Berlin Process, an initiative that aims to tighten connections between European Union candidates as well as potential candidate states from Balkan territory.
Back then German Foreign Minister, Anna Baerbock, said that citizens from Kosovo and BiH would benefit the most from the deal, adding that they would no longer need visas to visit each other’s territories, thus putting to an end the last remaining visa wall in this territory.
In spite of the fact that the deal was signed on November 3, and ratified by the government of Kosovo on February 23, this process has been blocked for months while it was previously reported that Republika Srpska President, Milorad Dodik, vowed in March this year to prohibit the new changes from becoming effective.
Citizens of Kosovo are required to apply for a visa to reach BiH since Kosovo declared its independence in 2008. Even though authorities in BiH recognise passports issued by Kosovo’s authorities since 2012, they do not recognize Kosovo as an independent state.
Kosovo MFA: We Are Waiting for Bosnia to Ratify the Agreement
Kosovo’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that both Balkan countries are signatory parties of the agreements resulting from the Berlin Process, in which a multilateral deal was also signed with the six countries of the Western Balkans with the designation “Agreement on Free Movement with Letters of Notification in the Western Balkans”.
Qendresa Fazliu Senior Communication Officer in Kosovo’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs while confirming that the deal was signed at the level of Prime Ministers on November 3, 2022 in Berlin, stressed that its implementation is foreseen in its final provisions with the same text as follows:
“The Agreement shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the deposit of the third formal notification of ratification, acceptance or approval for the Parties that have deposited their formal notification of ratification, acceptance or approval.”
According to this provision and based on the notification received by the depositary state, which is North Macedonia as the third country that has completed the ratification process, the notification was made on May 3, 2023.
The same concludes that the deal between the three countries, the Republic of Kosovo, Macedonia of the North and Albania will be considered effective from June 3, 2023.
“Since North Macedonia is a depositary state, in the following days it will notify all parties of any notification received in accordance with the final provisions of this agreement. Therefore, we, as the Republic of Kosovo, are waiting for the announcement about the ratification process from the side of Bosnia as well, but that this announcement will be made by North Macedonia as the depository state,” Fazliu noted.
Kosovo Citizens Struggling to Get Visas (On Time) at the BiH Embassy in Skopje
In May this year, 27-year-old Elita Limani* from Kosovo received an email that she had been accepted to participate at the POINT Conference in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is the largest conference in South-East Europe, bringing together civil activists and society representatives from the region.
She was beyond excited about this opportunity, yet this excitement did not last long.
As all Kosovo passport holders, Limani was required to obtain a BiH visa in order to be able to enter the country. Due to the absence of a BiH representative mission in Kosovo, she had to travel to the neighboring North Macedonia on a workday and submit the pile of documents she had collected the previous days at the BiH Embassy in Skopje.
“I was told I could be there on Monday, although the participants from Kosovo had to travel on Wednesday and be there for the conference on Thursday,” she said.
Telling her story, Limani stresses that despite the tight time frame, she had sincerely hoped that the embassy would understand the urgency and make the necessary efforts to accelerate the visa issuance process so she could make it on time to Sarajevo.
Yet, her expectations were not met and the organizers informed her the night before leaving that she could not join the other participants as it was not possible for the embassy to issue the visa in such a short time.
While the inconvenience caused her a lot of stress and frustration as well as financial loss, the conference organizers have expressed their willingness to refund the visa fees.
Due to her experience, Limani hopes that in the future, the embassy adopts better processes and makes sure no one has to experience similar inflexibility and lose many good opportunities. Or even better, visas are removed completely so no youngster has to lose opportunities like this ones due to politics and bureaucracy.
Limani is not the only one going though such procedures as in the recent years, there have been many POINT participants from Kosovo who have either lost their chance to attent the conference due to visa delays, or have taken their visas at the last moments.
Albert Lekaj, regular attendee from Kosovo at the POINT conference has been subject to the visa application process for seven years now. According to him, a large number of people throughout the years have canceled the conference as a result of the visa issues.
He considers the trip to Skopje in order to apply for a visa as troublesome, after “ we have to take a day off for this.”
Lekaj admitted that at first he was shocked that there is a visa regime between BiH and Kosovo, stressing that participants from Kosovo would be more relaxed when it comes to the participation to the POINT Conference, if the visa regime would not exist.
Lekaj also noted that the abolishment of visas would also permit Kosovars to travel to BiH for other purposes.
Shkenda Jaha*, who participated at the POINT conference in 2018 and 2022, says that the visa regime is the reason she no longer looks into opportunities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“I really like Bosnia, and feel welcomed whenever I’m there. However, the visa regime is pure hostility. We have to take two days off at work, one for applying, and one more for collecting the visa, which is often issued in the very last moments, just a few hours before the trip,” she says.
According to Jaha, who’s been to BiH in four different occasions and for each of them she had to take a separate visa, also complains of the short validity of visas.
“I had to take part in a ten-day long training course, and I was issued a four-day valid visa,” she points out, frustrated.
She also expresses he belief that if the visas were removed, more people would travel between Kosovo and BiH, amongst others, due to the large community of Bosnians that live in Kosovo, and Kosovo Albanians that live in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
*These two names have been changed at the request of the interviewed persons
“I Remember at One Point Sitting in My Room Surrounded by Piles of Papers & Crying From the Stress Wondering If It Was Really Worth It”
Kosovo citizens are not the only ones that need to go through such procedures, as BiH citizens are also required to apply for a visa to Kosovo. Authorities of the latter claim that the visa requirement is imposed as a reciprocity measure.
In order to enter Kosovo citizens of Bosnia are required to travel either to Albania or Croatia to apply for a visa, as there isn’t a Kosovo mission in Bosnia either.
Then 18-year-old Ajna Ganic from Bosnia and Herzegovina was set to participate in Erasmus+ project that took place in Peja, Kosovo in late summer of 2021. Though she was aware she would need a visa from the start, she did not expect the procedures to be so complicated and time-consuming.
She considers herself lucky that they didn’t have to go through the visa application process alone.
“The person who helped us with collecting visa information, sending emails, express mail, etc. was part of the organization of the project itself, a girl from Kosovo, Berna Xhemajli. We were in constant contact with her, and if we hadn’t had her help, we probably wouldn’t have come to Kosovo,” Ganic said.
Ganic, who is from Zenica, recalls that she had to go to Zagreb, in order to apply for a visa. She stressed that there were too many documents, adding that she does not understand why some seemingly unimportant documents were needed.
“It was very stressful even though I didn’t have to do everything by myself. I remember at one point sitting in my room surrounded by piles of papers and crying from the stress wondering if the trip was really worth it. It was worth it,” she emphasized.
Ganic said that costs were very high and if there was no refund, they certainly would not have gone.
“I think that the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina would gladly and often come to Kosovo if our departures were not complicated by visas,” the 20-year-old said.
Ganic also pointed out that Bosnian citizens are connected with Kosovo in a special way, but the procedure is really big and somewhere in the middle the will is lost.
“I would very much like all that you are doing to be worth the visa cancellation. I want to come again, and half of me is still wandering around Kosovo’s cities,” Ajna pointed out.
VisaGuide.World has contacted the BiH Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the matter by has not received any response to date.
BiH & Kosovo Passports Rank at the Bottom When It Comes to Passports Power
The passport of Bosnia and Herzegovina is ranked in the 89th position in the VisaGuide.World Passport Index which ranks the passports of 199 countries worldwide, taking into account the power of their passport, or more specifically where they can travel visa-free.
It permits its holders to travel visa-free to 89 countries, and passport-free to just six countries, with a passport score of 60.54, which shows that BiH passport holders can travel to a limited number of countries without additional requirements.
In the Passport Index of VisaGuide.World, Kosovo’s passport has a score of 10.89 and it’s ranked in the 194th position, which makes it the worst passport to have as a European.
All persons who hold a passport issued by authorities in Kosovo are eligible to travel visa-free to just 11 countries and passport-free to only five countries.
The founder of the VisaGuide.World, Besart Bajrami, previously said that in spite of visa liberalization process for citizens of Kosovo, which would almost quadruple the power of its passport, it would remain at the bottom of the list in comparison to other Western Balkan countries’ passports, despite the fact that it would jump by 93 positions in the VisaGuide.World’s Passport Index.
“In the VisaGuide.Passport Index, Kosovo’s passport is ranked in the 195th position with a Passport Score of 10.39. Below Kosovo are ranked the passports of Iraq, Syria, Somalia, and Afghanistan. In case of visa liberalization by the EU, Kosovo would move by 93 positions, to the 102nd place, and the power of the passport would almost quadruple, reaching 38.93,” Bajrami pointed out.
The ranking of passports’ of both these Balkan countries in the Passport Index of VisaGuide.World shows that in spite of the fact that they are still not eligible to travel with ID cards to each other’s territories, they are obliged to follow visa application process when planning to head to a large number of countries worldwide.