Spain Grants Visa-Free Entry for Kosovo Citizens, Despite Not Recognising Its Independence

Spain Grants Visa-Free Entry for Kosovo Citizens, Despite Not Recognising Its Independence

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Although Spain has not officially recognised Kosovo's independence, it has decided to permit visa-free travel for Kosovars to Spain.
  • The announcement came from Kosovo's Deputy Prime Minister, Besnik Bislimi.
  • Bislimi noted that the confirmation of Spain recognising Kosovo passports was communicated by the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs of the EU.

In spite of not recognising Kosovo as an independent country, Spain now accepts for entry passports issued by authorities in Kosovo, permitting Kosovars to visit this country visa-free.

The decision has been confirmed through a statement by Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister, Besnik Bislimi, calling it “good news” for Kosovars and the state as a whole.

According to Bislimi, the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs of the EU has announced that Spain now recognises the passports of the Republic of Kosovo.

DG Home has announced that Spain now recognises the passports of the Republic of Kosovo. Therefore, we can travel to this country without visas. As of January 1st, visa-free travel has begun, and Spain is a destination added to the Schengen Zone countries where we can travel through liberalisation, and where the obstacle was previously the non-recognition of our passport.

Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister, Besnik Bislimi

However, authorities in Spain have not yet provided any official confirmation in this regard.

From January 1, 2024, citizens of Kosovo are eligible to travel visa-free for short-term stays to Schengen Zone countries. The European Union and Kosovo visa liberalisation agreement was signed in April 2023. Back then, the EU adopted visa-free travel for holders of Kosovo passports, emphasising that they would be able to travel without visas from 2024.

However, soon after, Spain said that it wouldn’t apply visa liberalisation for Kosovo, in spite of EU agreement. In April 2023, Foreign Minister of Spain, Jose Manuel Albares, said that citizens of Kosovo would still not be allowed to travel without visas to Spain, after his country does not recognize the Republic of Kosovo as an independent country, thus it does not recognise the passports issued by its authorities.

“Spain has a traditional policy of non-recognition of Kosovo, and that traditional policy leads to non-recognition of Kosovo passports, and it is something that we have been applying consistently already for many years, and it is well known,” Albares

The recent changes announced by the Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo, mean that Kosovars will not be subject to additional requirements such as visas when planning to travel to Spain.

The abolishment of visas for citizens of Kosovo has also strengthened the power of its passport. The update of the Passport Index of VisaGuide.World made this month showed that Kosovo’s passport climbed up from the 188th position in which it was placed last month to the 98th position which it now occupies.

The founder of VisaGuide.World, Besart Bajrami, has considered the climbing up by 90 positions of Kosovo’s passport  in this index that ranks passports of 199 countries in terms of the power of their passports, as a ‘historic achievement.'”

This is a historical achievement for Kosovo, and a historical climb up in the passport strength index, which showcases that only the EU has the exclusive authority to increase the power of a passport overnight, to such an extent. 

Besart Bajrami, founder of VisaGuide.World

However, Kosovoars need a traditional visa when planning to travel to a total of 97 worldwide countries, a visa on arrival to visit 32 countries and an eVisa when travelling to another 33 countries.

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