No Visas to Albania for Macedonians
Macedonian citizens will now enter our country without needing a visa and only paying an entry tax instead. This was the decision taken yesterday during the governmental meeting and was announced by Prime Minister Sali Berisha in person. According to the governmental decision, all the Macedonian citizens that will enter Albania, will have to pay a tax determined by the government. This practice is equal to the one Albanian citizens obey to enter the neighbouring country. In order to cross the Macedonian border, all citizens in possession of an Albanian passport simply pay a sum of 10 Euros and are then free to move around Macedonia.The same practice applies to Tukey, where the entrance tax is 10 Dollars. Albania has now signed a free movement agreement with Montenegro and Kosovo also. To enter these countries it is enough to show your passport and after a brief verification, the passport is stamped and the movement within the country is free. The addition of Macedonia to the list of countries access to Albania for which is liberalised, aims at increasing the flow of people moving on both sides of the border. According to the governmental decision which enters into force after it is published in the Official Bulletin, all those Macedonian citizens that enter Albania need only have a genuine passport and 10 euros to be free citizens within the country. The liberalisation of visas is a system that guarantees the free movement of citizens and simultaneously guarantees an increase in custom revenues from the entrance tax. According to the governmental decision, the visa is not altogether eliminated, but it will simply be bought with a reduced tariff at the moment the border is crossed. This amendment to the law on ‘The entrance, stay and treatment of foreigners in the Republic of Alabania’, comes in support of article 100 of the Constitution and other articles and paragraphs from law no. 8492 ‘on foreigners’ as proposed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs.