Foreign Affairs confirms that Spain accepts Kosovo's passport despite not recognizing its independence

Spain has accepted the passport of Kosovo as valid despite the fact that it does not recognize the independence of that country, which in 2008 proclaimed its unilateral independence from Serbia. This was announced by the Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister, Besnik Bislimi, citing the European Commission, and sources from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation have confirmed to EL PAIS.

Kosovo has joined, as of January 1, 2024, the visa-free regime in the Schengen area, so its 1.8 million citizens can travel freely to the 27 countries of the European area without borders (23 the EU and four non-EU countries) and remain there for a maximum of 90 days during a period of 180. And vice versa.

Visa liberalization with Kosovo was approved by the European Council last March and the European Parliament a month later. However, the Commission warned at that time that Spain was excluded from this measure by not recognizing the validity of the passports issued by the Kosovar authorities. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, then alleged: “Spain has a policy of non-recognition of Kosovo and it entails the non-recognition of Kosovo passports, which we have been applying consistently.”

Of the other four EU countries that do not recognize the independence of the former Serbian province (Romania, Cyprus, Greece and Slovakia), the last two are part of Schengen and do accept Kosovo passports, which made Spain an exception. Although the Spanish customs authorities did not require a visa, in practice they would not let Kosovars enter by not validating their identification documents.

“The good news continues,” the Kosovo deputy prime minister wrote last Saturday on his account. Facebook. “The Interior General Directorate [de la CE] has announced that now even Spain recognizes the passports of the Republic of Kosovo. Then we can travel without visas to this country. Although visa-free circulation began on January 1, Spain is an added destination to the countries to which we can travel thanks to liberalization, where the obstacle was the non-recognition of our passport. We move forward to bring other good news that positively affects our citizens,” she added.

When consulted by EL PAÍS, sources from the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs have confirmed the acceptance of the Kosovo passport at Spanish customs and have explained that “all non-recognising Schengen States [de la independencia de Kosoyo] We have accepted the use of ordinary Kosovo passports. This does not imply in any way the recognition of Kosovo,” they pointed out. The same sources have added that, “without this modification, the holders of these passports would have had problems legally visiting the non-recognizing States” and have stressed that “Spain favors and will continue to favor the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue as a way to resolve this issue.” and seeks to minimize its impact on citizens.”

In recent years, the Spanish Government has conditioned the recognition of Kosovo's independence on an agreement with Serbia, but has assured that it would not hinder Pristina's rapprochement with the European Union. Thus, the Spanish Government has accepted the participation of the Kosovo authorities in the EU summits with the Western Balkans, although excluding the flags and distinctive signs of the Kosovo State. The last of these summits was held on December 13 in Brussels, under the Spanish Presidency of the Union.

Kosovo was the last country in the Western Balkans whose citizens needed a visa to enter the Schengen area. In the region, Bulgaria and Romania remain outside the borderless European space, but the EU has agreed to lift controls in ports and airports (not yet on the land border) as of March 31.

_