Albanians in North Macedonia are unable to obtain new passports in Albanian as a result of the lack of forms in both languages ​​for travel documents.

“There are no forms in Albanian so you must decide whether to take the passport only in Macedonian or wait,” the administrator told Radio Free Europe’s journalist on Monday, January 22, at a biometric data registration point in Skopje, stressing that the forms in Albanian have been missing for over three weeks now. He says there is no information on when these forms will be available.

Meanwhile, the deadline for obtaining new documents with the new name of the state, North Macedonia, based on the Prespa Agreement, expires on February 12 of this year.

In a statement on January 24, the former Minister of Interior, Oliver Spasovski, said there is no shortage of bilingual forms.

“There are forms for passports; a new batch will arrive on Monday, and the second batch will arrive in a week, so there are forms in this regard, and there should be no concern if the whole process will continue,” Spasovski said, following the Ombudsman’s statement to Radio Free Europe that since the beginning of this year, his office has received many complaints about the lack of forms in Albanian for travel documents.

“In certain unofficial conversations, I have received information that there is a shortage of forms. I can confidently say that there is a shortage of forms for bilingual travel documents, but I think there is also a shortage of forms for other documents,” said the Ombudsman for Radio Free Europe, Naser Ziberi.

Ziberi told Radio Free Europe on January 24 that citizens’ complaints about exercising the right to obtain passports in Albanian can also be addressed to the Ombudsman’s office via email.

“Through complaints, we will urge the Ministry of Interior to ensure forms as soon as possible,” emphasized Ziberi.

The change of documents stems from the Prespa Agreement, signed on July 17, 2018, between North Macedonia and Greece, which put an end to longstanding disputes between the two states.

Under the Prespa Agreement, personal documents must be changed to reflect the new name of the state within five years from the entry into force of the agreement, by February 12, 2024.

The short time frame for changing personal documents has led to long lines in front of counters where biometric data for new personal documents is collected.

Although according to the Law on Travel Documents, a regular passport should be issued within 15 days, this is not respected in practice.

Citizens who applied in December through regular procedures say they have not yet received their travel documents and are waiting for hours in front of the police department counter where ready-to-use travel documents are issued.

“They took my photo for the new passport on December 2 of last year, and after waiting in line for four days, I was told that it’s not ready,” says a citizen from Skopje.

Those who applied for expedited processing and paid triple the amount, namely 6,100 denars (100 euros), should receive their passports within 48 hours.

But even those who paid more cannot get their passports even after a week.

“I paid more because I have to return to work in Vienna. I also bought the bus ticket, and it’s been three days in a row that I’ve been coming here, and they tell me the passport is not ready,” says Darko Vitanov, who was waiting to pick up passports with his wife.

According to data from the Ministry of Interior, as of January 16, 1,050,430 citizens have been issued new identity cards, and 1,211,776 of them have new passports, while 546,741 citizens have been issued driver’s licenses.