Only half of the citizens in North Macedonia have managed to obtain the new personal documents that bear the country\u2019s new name.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Interior of North Macedonia has informed Radio Free Europe that as of December 25 this year, they have issued 1,151,628 new passports, 993,966 ID cards, and 525,225 driver\u2019s licenses for 1,836,000 citizens of North Macedonia.<\/p>\n
All Macedonian citizens are required to change their personal documents by February 13, 2024. After this date, the current documents, those with the designation \u201cRepublic of Macedonia\u201d, will be invalid, regardless of their expiration date.<\/p>\n
The change in documents stems from the Prespa Agreement, signed on July 17, 2018, between North Macedonia and Greece, which put an end to longstanding disagreements between the two states.<\/p>\n
Officials from the police department state that the closest free deadline for obtaining new personal documents is May or June of the coming year.<\/p>\n
This has led to long queues forming at the only point where citizens can apply for new documents in the municipality of Kicevo.<\/p>\n
Atanas Mitrevski says that, although it is difficult to wait, he has to because without a valid ID, he cannot perform any services at a bank. He jokingly mentions that he will postpone applying for a passport since, as a pensioner, he has no intention of traveling.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery difficult, I\u2019ve been waiting for hours, but what can I do? I\u2019m old, but I have no other choice because without an ID, I cannot perform any tasks, whether at the bank, hospital, or anywhere else,\u201d says Mitrevski.<\/p>\n
Amet Rexhepi, who works as a seasonal worker during the summer months on the Croatian coast, tells Radio Free Europe that he applied to set a date in November, but since the nearest appointment for an ID was at the end of June, he had to come and wait at the Kicevo point for obtaining personal documents without a scheduled appointment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a work contract for three months during the summer \u2013June, July, August \u2013 if it ends in June, I lose a third of the season,\u201d says Rexhepi.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Interior informs that, apart from Skopje, in all other cities over 80% of citizens have obtained new personal documents.<\/p>\n
For citizens from Skopje, the only option remains the point in Kicevo where personal documents can be obtained without a scheduled appointment.<\/p>\n
However, the police department states that elderly people and those who are ill cannot go to the point for applying for personal documents; they can present themselves to mobile teams, but only after obtaining a medical certificate stating that they have health problems.<\/p>\n
The Prespa Agreement also obliges the authorities of North Macedonia to change vehicle license plates by placing the new state code NMK instead of MK, as it was until now.<\/p>\n
To avoid additional expenses for citizens, the Ministry of Interior has announced that instead of new plates, stickers with the new acronym NMK will be affixed to the existing ones.<\/p>\n
Although only two months remain until February 12, citizens fear that long queues will also be created for obtaining the stickers.<\/p>\n
The North Macedonian Vehicle Association says that in these days, regulations for placing stickers will be determined, and a decision will be made on their cost, emphasizing that it will be much lower than the approximately 25 euros it would cost to change vehicle license plates.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, to change all documents for a four-member family, around 180 euros must be allocated.<\/p>\n
For all those who do not manage to change their personal documents with the new name of the country by February 12, the Minister of Interior, Oliver Spasovski, has stated to the media that there will be no penalties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Only half of the citizens in North Macedonia have managed to obtain the new personal documents that bear the country\u2019s new name. The Ministry of Interior of North Macedonia has informed Radio Free Europe that as of December 25 this year, they have issued 1,151,628 new passports, 993,966 ID cards, and 525,225 driver\u2019s licenses for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":64165,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[164],"tags":[4947,243,151,298,5627],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n