The agreements on visa facilitation and readmission between the European Community and Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia enter into force on 1 January 2008.

The Agreements were signed on 18 September 2007, approved by the European Parliament on 24 October 2007 and concluded by the Council of the European Union on 8 November 2007. The Western Balkan countries all completed ratifications in November 2007 thus allowing for the entry into force of the agreements on 1 January 2008.

At present, citizens from all Western Balkan countries except Croatia are subject to a visa requirement for entering the EU. A readmission agreement with Albania is already in force. Visa facilitation will make travelling to the EU easier for citizens of Western Balkan countries, thus rendering the European perspective more tangible. It is also a first step towards the establishment of a visa-free regime.

All travellers to the EU will benefit from lower visa fee rates. Visa fee rates will remain for all at the level of 35 €, when fees were recently increased for most countries in the world to 60 €, and certain categories such as students and pensioners will be exempted from visa fees. The processing of visa applications will be accelerated. For certain categories of persons, e.g. businessmen, students and journalists, the requirements on documents supporting a visa application will be simplified. Certain categories of frequent travellers will be granted multi-entry visas with long periods of validity. Finally, holders of diplomatic passports will be exempted from the visa obligation.

The agreements on readmission set out clear obligations and procedures for the authorities of both the Western Balkan countries and EU Member States as to when and how to take back people who are illegally residing on their territories. The agreements cover not only the illegally staying nationals of both parties but also third country nationals and stateless persons provided they have transited through the country which is asked to accept the readmission, or have a visa or resident permit from that country.

• The full text of the agreement on readmission, as published in the Official Journal L334, 19.12.2007 (PDF format) [1.4 MB]

Steps will need to be taken by EU Member States to ensure that all existing arrangements are in line with the letter and spirit of new agreements (e.g. need to increase the number and improve accessibility of consular offices, as well as to ensure appropriate approach of consular services on the ground).

It should be noted that these agreements do not apply for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Ireland, The Kingdom of Denmark, the Republic of Iceland and the Kingdom of Norway.

Visa facilitation is a part of a broader set of measures aiming at increased people-to-people contacts between the EU and the Western Balkan countries. These include awarding more scholarships to students and researchers from the region, further cooperation in the areas of research, education and culture, including through participation into the relevant Community programmes and agencies, and simplified rules for researchers and students for admitting them to the EU and granting them resident permits.

The entry into force of visa facilitation agreements is to be seen as an important step along the path set out by the Thessaloniki agenda towards a visa free travel regime. In order to move forward in this area, the Western Balkan countries will have to implement relevant reforms and reinforce their cooperation with the EU and at regional level in areas such as strengthening the rule of law, fighting organised crime and corruption, and increasing their administrative capacity in border control and security of documents by introducing biometric data.

The Commission has already publicly announced its intention to start a dialogue in the beginning of 2008 with each of the Western Balkan countries on the requirements for visa liberalisation.