Citizens of North Macedonia, Serbia and Albania, from March 5, can have free access to the labor market in these three countries, as provided for in the agreement reached within the Open Balkans initiative.
According to the Macedonian Government, the purpose of this measure is to contribute to the removal of barriers that hinder trade and the free movement of people, as well as to enable the use of electronic services within the framework of the regional initiative.
The measure is based on the international agreements signed between three countries, members of the Open Balkans initiative, namely the agreement on the conditions of free access to the labor market in the Western Balkans and the agreement on the interconnection of schemes for the electronic identification of citizens from the Western Balkans.
Citizens interested in free access to the labor markets of North Macedonia, Albania and Serbia must first obtain the Open Balkan identification number on the electronic services portal in their country, with which they apply for approval for free access in the labor market in the other two countries.
The procedure, as announced in the communique of the Government in Skopje, takes place entirely electronically and lasts up to 30 days.
In the case of Macedonian citizens, after registering on the website uslugi.gov.mk and submitting a request for the issuance of the Open Balkans identification number (OB ID), which is generated immediately, the next step is to use that number to submit a request for the issuance of the certificate for free access to the labor market in Serbia on the website euprava.gov.rs or in Albania e-albania.al .
The Open Balkans initiative, originally called Mini Schengen, was launched on October 10, 2019 in Novi Sad and was signed by the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, and the then Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Zoran Zaev.
The initiative was opposed by the opposition in Albania and rejected by Kosovo, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Within it, several agreements were reached, including those on economic cooperation and free movement./REL– Argumentum.al
