The Visa Business: Report on the cost of visas for Kosovars in the period 2010-2012 16 pages, pdf  Download Back

THE VISA BUSINESS
Report on the cost of visas for Kosovars in the period 2010-2012

Publisher: Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS) and GAP Institute, Kosovo

Date: May 2013

Volume: 16 pages, pdf


Description

Kosovo is the only country in the Western Balkans region against which the European Union (EU) applies visa regime. At the same time, Kosovo remains the poorest country in Europe, with the highest unemployment rate. Nevertheless, Kosovars have to spend a great deal when applying to obtain visas for travel to EU member states. In three years, 217.862 kosovars applied for “Schengen” visas, of whom 82.450 in 2010, 67.901 in 2011 and 67.556 in 2012. Over 17% of visa applications were rejected by states of the “Schengen” area. Over the past three years kosovars spent 15 million euro for visa application processes, of which 9 million were spent on direct payment in embassies (visa fee), whereas at least 5.8 million in expenditures for obtaining various supporting documents needed to complete the visa application form, including bank fees and travel expenses. The largest number of applications for “Schengen” visas is submitted in the German and Swiss Embassy. Kosovo has long way to go in the visa liberalization process, therefore it is expected that kosovars will continue to spend a considerable amount of money for visa applications throughout 2013. Considering the trends since 2010, it is expected that over 65.000 kosovars will apply for visas in 2013, and the estimated cost of 4.5 million euro.
GAP Institute and GLSP conducted a research on how much Kosovo citizens spend when applying for a ‘Schengen” visa. The calculation was based on the European Commission statistics on the number of “Schengen” visa applicants in Prishtina, for the period 2010-20123. Further, all embassies issuing visas in Prishtina were asked about the prices applied for the visa fee.