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From January 1, 2024 Kosovars can enter Switzerland without a visa for a short stay. The Federal Council followed an EU decision on Wednesday with a corresponding amendment to the regulation.

The European Parliament and the EU Council gave the green light to visa-free travel from Kosovo to the EU in April. As a Schengen country, Switzerland is also obliged to adopt further developments of the Schengen acquis, the Federal Council wrote in a statement on Wednesday. Kosovo complies with visa waiver requirements related to security, border controls and migration management.

All it takes to get in is the In possession of a biometric passport. Kosovo passport holders can then stay for a short time up to ninety days without a visa residence in Switzerland or the EU and vice versa Swiss and EU citizens in Kosovo.

If Kosovars want to work in Switzerland, a visa is still required. In addition, according to the announcement, Kosovar citizens are only allowed to work in Switzerland if they are professionally qualified and if no equivalent labor force can be found on the Swiss labor market or in the EU/EFTA countries.

Kosovo is not yet a member of the EU, but so far only has a “prospect of EU accession”. The main obstacle to rapprochement with the EU is that five EU Member States – Spain, Romania, Slovakia, Greece and Cyprus – do not recognize Kosovo.

(jam/sda)