{"id":7735,"date":"2025-07-28T10:44:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T10:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/physically-visible-legally-invisible-2\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T10:44:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T10:44:25","slug":"physically-visible-legally-invisible-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/physically-visible-legally-invisible-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Physically visible, legally invisible"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Due to the inability to obtain personal documents from Kosovo, I am legally and formally invisible, and therefore deprived of fundamental human rights \u2013 the right to work and live, which is guaranteed by the Convention on Human Rights.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Written by Ivana Joksimovi\u0107<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

When it comes to personal documents, specifically identity cards, the first association we have is that this is a public document through which a person verifies their identity. By verifying their identity, a person exercises the rights guaranteed by law. Unfortunately, in Kosovo, there is a problem of considerable proportions, as there are still people who do not have and cannot exercise the right to register in the civil registry and, consequently, to obtain an identity card. This is a long-standing issue, and its resolution has been sought over the past decade by the highest levels and various actors. The issue of the civil registry and travel and identification documents has also been discussed within the framework of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina in Brussels. However, the status of all persons without a Kosovo identity card has not been resolved, and therefore the exercise of the right to obtain identification documents remains unresolved. Unfortunately, this problem persists and is becoming increasingly alarming over time, especially for individuals from non-majority communities in Kosovo.<\/p>\n\n

I came to Kosovo in 2002 from central Serbia to complete my studies. One year later, in 2003, I found my life partner and stayed to live in the territory of Kosovo. From the extramarital relationship in which I lived for 10 years, I have two children. During this period, it was possible to obtain the \u201cUNMIK identity card\u201d.<\/p>\n\n

However, the perception of UNMIK\u2019s administration among the Serbian community at that time was very negative, so I avoided collecting personal documents that were considered \u201coccupying.\u201d My battle to obtain Kosovo documents began later, in 2014, and continues to this day.<\/p>\n\n

There are many obstacles to obtaining personal documents.<\/p>\n\n

In my case, as a citizen who was not born in Kosovo and who can only acquire citizenship through naturalization, one of the obstacles is the non-recognition of the documents I possess that confirm my residence in Kosovo, issued by Serbian institutions that Kosovo considers parallel. One of the documents required during my application for registration in the central citizen registry was my Serbian birth certificate with an apostille. The institutions of the Republic of Serbia refuse to issue such certified documents for the purpose of verifying personal data in Kosovo, because such documents are used in international public transport, which would imply recognizing Kosovo as a sovereign state. Furthermore, it is required to have a foreign currency bank account with a minimum monthly income of 500 euros, or 6000 euros per year. However, besides this income requirement, there is also a paradoxical obstacle \u2014 it is not possible to open a bank account in any Kosovo bank without a Kosovo ID card (the Serbian passport for residents in Kosovo is also not recognized). There are other documents that are also not recognized, but I have listed the main obstacles here.<\/p>\n\n

So, even though I have lived in the territory of Kosovo for 23 years, I cannot exercise the right to be entered into the central citizen registry through naturalization and obtain personal documents of Kosovo. Due to the inability to obtain Kosovo personal documents, I am legally and juridically invisible, and for this reason deprived of fundamental human rights \u2014 the right to work and to live \u2014 which are guaranteed by the Convention on Human Rights. My personal case is just one among many, as there are many people facing the same or similar problems as I do. I must also emphasize that the issues with document issuance are not limited only to persons who are not registered in Kosovo\u2019s civil registry, and as we have seen from the example of driving licenses, the problem often occurs with travel documents as well.<\/p>\n\n

The solution to this problem is complex. As one of the individuals facing this issue, I would like to offer some suggestions for resolving it. First, it is necessary to enable the recognition of original documents issued by Serbian institutions through a legal regulation, without requiring additional stamps or certifications. Then, the required minimum monthly, or annual, balance that a person must have in their bank account as a guarantee should be reduced. Finally, persons living in the territory of Kosovo, who can provide valid proof that they have resided there for more than five years, should be granted the right to retroactively prove their residence so that they can obtain personal documents as soon as possible. These changes would resolve the problems faced by many members of non-majority communities living in Kosovo who wish to continue living in Kosovo.<\/p>\n\n

(The author is a history professor and museum worker in North Mitrovica. This publication was made possible within the project \u201cDialogue, Solution, Future,\u201d supported by the Federal Republic of Germany\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, implemented by the New Social Initiative (NSI) and the Musine Kokalari Institute for Social Policy. The content of this article does not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Republic of Germany\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs).<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Due to the inability to obtain personal documents from Kosovo, I am legally and officially invisible, and for this reason deprived of fundamental human rights \u2013 the right to work and live, which is guaranteed by the Convention on Human Rights.<\/p>\n

By Ivana Joksimovi\u0107<\/p>\n

When it comes to personal documents, specifically identity cards, the first association we have is that this is a public document by which a person proves their identity. By verifying identity, a person exercises the rights guaranteed by law. Unfortunately, in Kosovo there is a problem of considerable proportions, and there are still people who do not have, and cannot exercise the right to register in the civil registry and consequently cannot obtain an identity card. This is a long-standing problem and its resolution has been sought over the past decade by the highest levels and by various actors. The problem of the civil registry and travel and identification documents was also discussed within the framework of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina in Brussels. However, the status of all persons without Kosovo identity cards remains unresolved, and consequently the exercise of the right to obtain identification documents. Unfortunately, this problem is becoming increasingly alarming over time, primarily for persons from non-majority communities in Kosovo.<\/p>\n

I came to Kosovo in 2002 from central Serbia to finish my studies. A year later, in 2003, I found a life partner and stayed to live in Kosovo\u2019s territory. From the extramarital union in which I lived for 10 years, I have two children. During this period it was possible to obtain the “UNMIK ID card.”<\/p>\n

However, the perception of the UNMIK administration in the Serbian community at that time was very negative, so I avoided gathering personal documents considered \u201coccupier\u2019s.\u201d My battle to obtain Kosovo documents started later, in 2014, and continues to this day.<\/p>\n

There are many obstacles to obtaining personal documents.<\/p>\n

In my case, as a citizen who was not born in Kosovo and who can only acquire citizenship through naturalization, one of the obstacles is the non-recognition of the documents I have, which confirm my stay in Kosovo, issued by Serbian institutions that Kosovo considers parallel. One of the documents required during the application for registration in the central citizen registry was the Serbian birth certificate with an apostille. The institutions of the Republic of Serbia refuse to issue such certified documents for verification of personal data in Kosovo because such documents are used in international public transport, which would imply recognition of Kosovo as a sovereign state. Then it is necessary to have a foreign currency account with a monthly income of at least 500 euros, i.e., 6000 euros per year. But besides the income requirement, there is also a paradoxical obstacle \u2013 I cannot open a bank account in Kosovo without a Kosovo ID (Serbian passports for citizens living in Kosovo are also not recognized). There are other documents that are not recognized, but here I have listed the main obstacles.<\/p>\n

So, although I have lived in Kosovo for 23 years, I cannot exercise the right to be entered in the central registry of citizens through naturalization and obtain Kosovo personal documents. Due to the impossibility of obtaining Kosovo personal documents, I am legally and officially invisible and therefore deprived of fundamental human rights \u2013 the right to work and live, guaranteed by the Convention on Human Rights. My personal example is just one among many, as there are many people facing the same or similar problems. I must also emphasize that problems with document issuance are not limited only to persons not registered in the Kosovo civil registry, and as we have seen from the example of driving licenses, the problem often occurs with travel documents as well.<\/p>\n

The solution to this problem is complex. As one of the persons facing this problem, I would like to suggest some solutions: first, recognition of original documents issued by Serbian institutions should be enabled through a legal regulation, without additional stamps and certifications. Then, the monetary threshold required on a monthly or yearly basis for the person\u2019s account should be lowered. Finally, persons living in Kosovo, who can provide valid proof that they have resided there for more than five years, should be allowed to retroactively prove their residence so they can obtain personal documents as soon as possible. These changes would resolve the problems of many members of non-majority communities living in Kosovo who wish to continue living here.<\/p>\n

(The author is a history professor and museum worker in North Mitrovica. This publication was made possible within the project \u201cDialogue, Solution, Future,\u201d supported by the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany, implemented by the New Social Initiative (NSI) and the Musine Kokalari Institute for Social Policy. The content of this article does not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7735"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7736,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7735\/revisions\/7736"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}