Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Kosovo Serbs to be allowed visa-free entry to Switzerland for short stays

Picture of a person's fingers on a scanner in airport
Holders of a Serbian biometric passport can travel to the Schengen area without a visa. But this doesn’t applied to those with a passport issued by the Serbian Coordination Directorate in Belgrade. Keystone

Kosovo Serbs will be able to travel to Switzerland for stays of up to 90 days without a visa.

The Swiss government announced on Wednesday that it would adopt the new European Union (EU) regulations.

+ Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

Since December 2009, holders of a Serbian biometric passport have been able to travel to the Schengen area without a visa. However, this exemption has not applied to those with a passport issued by the Serbian Coordination Directorate in Belgrade until now.

The Coordination Directorate processes passport applications from Serbs living in Kosovo, as well as members of their diaspora abroad. Holders of these passports are currently the only individuals in the Western Balkans who still require a visa to enter the Schengen area, even for short stays.

More

On September 18, the EU decided to exempt these individuals from visa requirements as of October 13. The Swiss government has chosen to follow this decision, as announced in a statement. Switzerland is obligated to implement changes related to the Schengen acquis.

Serbian nationals will still need a visa if they wish to take up paid employment in Switzerland. As nationals of a third country, they can only obtain a work permit if they are highly skilled and if their prospective employer has been unable to find suitable workers in the Swiss labour market or within the EU or EFTA member states.

Translated from French by DeepL/sp

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

Brienz GR must prepare for another evacuation

More

Swiss village Brienz to be evacuated due to rockslide risk

This content was published on Local authorities announced that up to 1.2 million cubic metres of rock could move towards the mountain village of Brienz. The municipality is preparing a preventive evacuation.

Read more: Swiss village Brienz to be evacuated due to rockslide risk
"With Temu and Shein Swiss merchants lose billions."

More

Swiss businesses losing billions due to Temu and Shein

This content was published on Swiss businesses are losing billions of francs a year as a result of the spread of Chinese online platforms Temu and Shein, says the director of the federation of Swiss retailers.

Read more: Swiss businesses losing billions due to Temu and Shein
Swiss Armed Forces have around 147,000 personnel

More

Number of Swiss armed forces exceeds specified limit

This content was published on The Swiss armed forces had an effective headcount of around 147,000 as of March 1, 2024. This exceeds the upper limit of 140,000 specified in the army organisation by 5%.

Read more: Number of Swiss armed forces exceeds specified limit

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR