Citizens’ interest in obtaining documents after the liberalization of visas in Kosovo has increased significantly. Only in the first six months of this year, about 270 thousand citizens have applied to be provided with passports and nearly 130 thousand others with identity cards.

Also, during this period, Serbian citizens have also expressed interest in integrating and providing Kosovo documents.

This is what the director of the Agency for Civil Registration, Blerim Camaj, announced in an interview for KosovaPress, while indicating that the largest flow of citizens with requests for documents was in the months of January, February and March of this year.

“Requests for equipment with documents have been increasing since January, so this year we have an increase in requests. In the first six months of this year, around 125,143 citizens applied for ID cards. Whereas, in order to be equipped with passports, 263 thousand 850 citizens have applied. This is the total for the first six months. Now we are back to normal, but the demands were very big at the beginning, we had a certain extended deadline in the equipment with citizens’ documents, which they had to wait for, but now we are in the legal deadline. Approximately, the deadline for equipment with passports goes about 7 working days, also for ID cards. 03:59 The months of January, February and mid-March were the biggest influx of citizens to get passports, because it was also the liberalization of visas,” says Camaj.

Camaj points out that after the liberalization of visas in Kosovo, interest has also been noticed by Serbian citizens in obtaining Kosovo documents.

He emphasizes that about four thousand Serbian citizens have applied for identity cards in the northern municipalities, while over three thousand have been provided with passports.

“Even Serbian citizens are interested in integrating and being provided with (Kosovo) documents. Especially after the liberalization of visas, Serbian citizens have applied in the northern municipalities, they think somewhere around 4 thousand citizens have been provided with identity cards. While, in the first month, around 3 thousand 200 citizens were provided with passports… Serbian citizens are also provided somewhere in 4 northern municipalities with identity cards, over 46 thousand citizens, with passports are over 7 thousand 500. Whereas, in the municipalities with a Serbian majority throughout the territory of Kosovo, about 102,000 are equipped with identity cards and over 37,000 with passports”, he emphasizes.

Among other things, in the interview for KosovaPress, Camaj says that nearly two thousand Serbian citizens have applied for the conversion of their driver’s license, since the decision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in May.

He points out that from 2011 to 2020, over 18,000 driver’s licenses were converted.

“Driver’s license, if we consider the conversion of driver’s license since May 10, when the minister’s decision was issued to enable Serbian citizens to convert from driver’s license to illegal structures of the Republic of Kosovo, until today (July 5) they have applied around 1956 citizens… Their conversion was done in stages, especially based on the agreements. Somewhere in the first agreements from 2011 to 2020, over 18 thousand driver’s licenses were converted”, says Camaj.

In addition to these, Camaj says that in the first months of this year, due to the large flow of citizens for documents, the process was slower, but he adds that now things have returned to normal.

He mentions that the deadline for equipment with passports and ID cards is about seven working days.