Kosovo passport stamp - problem for Serbia?

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all this Kosovo stamp issue is quite outdated nowdays.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."

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1014.html

Macedonian stamps are not a problem. Kosovo stamp can be, but a lot of times they dpn't stamp it. To be sure, ask them not to stamp your passport. Otherwise, use one passport for Kosovo, and the other for the other countries.

Matthijs

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hmnn.. Well I won't be going straight from Kosovo into Serbia.

The plan is to go from Skopje to Prishtine back to Skopje, then Albania, Montenegro and Bosnia before heading to Serbia.

I then have a flight from Belgrade but not sure if I should switch that now?

Would it be better to go this order..

Sofia - Belgrade-Kosovo-Macedonia-Albania-Montenegro - Bosnia? ( then I can fly out of somewhere else)

Why are you heading back to Macedonia, getting two back-to-back Macedonian stamps?

There's a new and very fast expressway running from Kosovo to Albania. Apart from the stamp issue, it's the quickest way to get to Albania. No expense seems to have been spared building that road, with long tunnels and deep cuts the entire length.

I just checked this..

http://wikitravel.org/en/Kosovo

and it confirms that you should enter Serbia first

(not that it's the best source) but what I'm worried about is having my passport handed down en masse and not being able to avoid the "Don't stamp my passport please!"

Thanks for all the info Zircon.

So, just to be sure, there is no problem with leaving Kosovo, it's just Serbia that doesn't want to see it.

The reason why I would be going back to Macedonia is because I am flying into Sofia, then Skopje, then Kosovo, but wanted to head to Lake Ohrid before heading to Albania.

Now, after reading this, and knowing that I want to go do Kosovo I'm thinking

Sofia - night train to Belgrade, down to Kosovo, go go Macedonia, enter Albania, go to Montenegro, then Sarajevo- Mostar and I have found a cheap-ish flight out of Split.

Is there going to be a problem with that route?

Where are you going in Kosovo? Pristina doesn't merit a visit, in my view. Prizren certainly does, but it leads right to that nice superhighway straight to Albania.

Another possibility is to head Bulgaria > Macedonia > Albania, then go up to Prizren from Albania and come right back down to Albania before heading to Montenegro.

(After you've been on some roads in the Balkans you'll understand why I keep raving about that superhighway!)

For those of you who aren't familiar into daily/weekly/monthly updates on Balkans issues, let's say that today, 14th of June 2013, there are 14 days left until 28th of June when various EU commissions will have their yearly/half-yearly whatever they do, bringing important decisions regarding European Union integrations of countries mentioned here that are in the process of joining EU.

Lets say that Serbia is hoping that EU will set the date (within 2013) when final acceptance talks will start (with opening of some 30something chapters of final EU - Serbia contract). Kosovo hopes there will be green light for special kind of document that reflects some points from usual pre-candidate status where countries associate with some trading agreements and some other sorts of stuff with EU laws and standards. And so on and on.

Currently, this issues are huge political topics in both Kosovo and Serbia. Local politicians are trying their best to gather these EU statuses as they're using these things for their own political purposes. For example, in Serbia, there are rumors that elections will be held in October if Serbia starts final negotiations with the EU after 28th of June, as the strongest political party that forms the government could use this as their advantage and gather more votes, which will make them less dependent on two other significat parties in a coalition that is currently on power. Etc, etc, etc.

Therefore, political talks between Serbia and Kosovo were somehow put on steroides in recent months, and many points were agreed so far, waiting to be implemented or implemented already. In Kosovo and Serbia, this talks are refered usually as Bruxells talks between countries' delegations (in this case, prime ministers, so talks were the highest leveled) and Cathrine Eshton, who is EU high official for foreign diplomacy.
Not to list what have been negotiated there already and signed, as it's not relevant for this topic, let's say one of the very first things that was solved was the problem of double taxing of goods and resources traded between Serbian controlled bits of Kosovo and central Serbia.
For those of you forumers who aren't familiar with situation, there were huge protests on two border crossings (checkpoints) in the north of Kosovo, called Brnjak and Jarinje, since July 2012.

Not to get into more details why and what were causes, the point is that things like this are solved by so called Mutually Administred Checkpoints, implementing formula of what kind of police and customs goes to which checkpoint and what kind of goods is going to customs or not. With this, there comes the point of resolving the issue with stamp of Kosovo. So called agreement that resolves our travel problem is implemented on Brnjak, Jarinje, Merdare so far. These are three major checkpoints with Serbia proper.

I hope you got a bit more light over the issue.

On April 30, 2013, Serbia and kosovo have signed an agreement. Serbia now recognizes Kosovo, and has agreed to normalize their relations. So I expect this problem no longer exists.

Serbia now recognizes Kosovo, and has agreed to normalize their relations.

please keep trolling out of Thorntree. Keep along the topic. Thank you.

Here is a reference from a 'serious' newspaper, The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/30/serbia-kosovo-historic-agreement-brussels

I am refering to that quoted statement that can possibly lead this thread into discussion that is not releated to the topic. It is very hard to maintain neutral sided and objective on this board, so please let's keep out of this kind of political statements. That was my point.

Hi Zircon,

I want to go to both Pristina then Prizren. So, originally, I wanted to go to Skopje then in and out of Kosovo, back to Macedonia and then on to Albania.

I guess if I go on to Prizren, then on to Albania, I will be missing Lake Ohrid.

Thanks for all that info too, mpetrovic, very useful

I guess I just hear such varying reports...I'm not sure if I should change that flight out of Belgrade??

Also, I guess my worry is that i will be on a bus where I will hand over my passport with everyone else on the bus and won't have the chance to say no to the stamp.... or the Macedonia entry/exit stamps.

It's confusing as I seem to get opposite bits of information (that all seem valid)

Thanks for all taking the time to write.

On April 30, 2013, Serbia and kosovo have signed an agreement. Serbia now recognizes Kosovo,

Better to read your newspapers a bit better Willemspie. They reached an agreement on some points, but of course Serbia did not recognize Kosovo, just like multiple European countries and lots of others in the world didn't recognize Kosovo as an independent country.

Matthijs

Hi Zircon,

I think I missed your post 16.

So it would be fine to go in and out of Albania? I'm still starting in Sofia and ending in Belgrade

I am most likely going to be traveling on my UK passport, not my Canadian one.

So if I go to Sofia - Macedonia - Albania (on the super duper highway) then into Montenegro, up to Bosnia, then to Belgrade, that should be fine?

When I checked on the www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/ site I found this..

Kosovo/Serbia Border

The authorities in Serbia don’t consider the designated crossing points from 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 and the Serbian authorities may not allow you to travel into Serbia if you hold these stamps. We are also aware of isolated incidents where Serbian authorities have cancelled Kosovo stamps in passports of foreign nationals.

Foreign nationals are less likely to experience entry problems if they travelled into Kosovo from Serbia and are returning, or are travelling via Albania, Macedonia or Montenegro

However, I'm wondering what other options are there? You can travel from Serbia or all the other countries? Isn't that all of the options anyway?

I won't have been into Serbia at all before I get to Belgrade.

Carafa, i think you make the problem bigger than it actually is. Just don't enter Serbia for the first time via Kosovo, like you already cited from the foreign affairs webpage. That's it. With none of the other countries you will have difficulties. Just enter Serbia via one of its neighbours as long as it is not via Kosovo (you can of course go to Serbia, travel to Kosovo and get back to Serbia).

Have a good trip.
Matthijs

Yes, you could go up from Albania to Prizren, then return to Albania. I was suggesting this from a logistics, not a passport stamp, viewpoint. As I said, Pristina doesn't offer much unless you're a EU bureaucrat, and the new highway from Albania to Prizren is super fast.

Hello!!
Wow! lots of information!! excuse, I went to Belgrade for my holidays, from there I travelled to Sarajevo, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia,
tomorrow I got to Skopje, and from there I plan on going to Pristina-Kosovo, on a day trip.

Until now I'm reading about the issues that creates to have a stamp from Kosovo in your passport and then heading to Serbia, (I have the return flight to my home country from Belgrade airport )

..Since I have to catch my flight in Belgrade I'm not sure anymore if it is a good idea for me to travel from Skopje to Pristina anymore!
any advise? any information that can help me out make up my mind, I would really appreciate your comments.

Thanks a lot in advance!

Please dont post something you don't know, or youre not sure, because I have been turned away last week from the border..Was going to enter Srbija from Kosovo and came into Kosovo from Macedonia..So ppl you still could have problem.Is not out of date thing!

which border post?