Hi all,
I have heard different reports about this.
My plan is to go Bulgaria - Macedonia -Kosovo-back to Macedonia-Albania -Montenegro-Bosnia-Serbia
Some say the Kosovo stamp is fine, but I have a flight into Sofia and then a flight out of Belgrade, so I will switch around my travel order if I need to.
I have both a Canadian and a UK passport.
Thanks!
If you ask, the Kosovans will normally not stamp your passport on entry or exit, but you have to be alert. On buses they usually collect all the passports and just stamp them en masse.
Of course you'll have Macedonian entry/exit stamps, but I'm not sure they present a problem.
You can always enter and exit Kosovo from Serbia proper to avoid entry/exit stamps from an adjoining territory.
Hi Zircon, thanks for the info... I hadn't thought about the Macedonian entry/exit stamps being a problem
Yes, I have asked the border guards not to stamp my passport on entry/exit.
No, I have not tried to enter Serbia proper with that passport.
Thanks Zircon, I didn't thought that the Macedonian entry/exit stamps would be a problem.
Have you done this? And asked them not to stamp it on a bus? I'm guessing this is the way I'm going to be entering the country.
all this Kosovo stamp issue is quite outdated nowdays. Travel in the area however you want, cross any border any way you want.
So you can now enter Kosovo from Serbia proper, exit to Macedonia, then re-enter Serbia proper from Macedonia without a problem? Or enter Kosovo from Macedonia and exit to Serbia proper without a problem?
The problem in the past in these cases has not so much been the presence of Kosovo stamps but the absence of exit/entry stamps from Serbia proper.
So you can now enter Kosovo from Serbia proper, exit to Macedonia, then re-enter Serbia proper from Macedonia >without a problem? Or enter Kosovo from Macedonia and exit to Serbia proper without a problem?
you could do this even before.
The problem in the past in these cases has not so much been the presence of Kosovo stamps but the absence of >exit/entry stamps from Serbia proper.
yes, and administratively speaking, it had nothing to do with Serbian POV over that issue, but with technical implementations of various international agreements regarding border guarding policies.
There were certainly posts here in the past -- now deleted in the purge -- where travellers were unable to enter Serbia proper from Kosovo after entering Kosovo from Macedonia.
And the UK Foreign Office still warns of this issue:
"If you try to leave Serbia without an entry stamp or exit-entry visa you may face charges of illegal immigration, a heavy fine and possible imprisonment. You should only enter Serbia through recognised border crossings. The authorities in Serbia don’t consider the designated crossing points with Kosovo to be official ‘international’ border crossing points. Foreign nationals have been denied entry to Serbia if they have Republic of Kosovo stamps in their passports."
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/serbia/entry-requirements
As does the US State Department:
"Travelers coming to Serbia by land through Kosovo have had problems with Serbian border authorities at checkpoints on the borders between Kosovo and Serbia. Serbian immigration police have refused to accept travelers’ Kosovo entry stamps, claiming that the travelers were in Serbian territory illegally, and refusing to allow them to travel any farther into Serbia."