North Macedonian passport: Difference between revisions

Macedonian passport
Macedonian passport
	The front cover of a pre-2019 Macedonian biometric passport (Passport comes in Macedonian, Albanian (optional), English, & French).
	First page of a Macedonian biometric passport
Type	Passport
Issued by	North Macedonia
Purpose	Identification
Eligibility	Macedonian citizenship
Expiration	5 years for persons 4 years of age to 27; 10 years for those 27 years of age and older; 2 years for children under the age of 4.

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Revision as of 14:47, 8 June 2019

The passport of North Macedonia is issued to citizens of North Macedonia (before 2019 the Republic of Macedonia) for the purpose of international travel. Responsibility for their issuance lies with the Ministry of the Interior. The validity of the passport is 5 years for persons 4 to 27 years of age, and 10 years for those 27 years of age and older. For children ages four and under the validity of the passport is limited to two years. Macedonian passports conform with recommended standards (i.e., size, composition, layout, technology) of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The latest Macedonian passport is a biometric passport.

History

From 1945 to 1991, when Macedonia was a constituent republic of Yugoslavia, Macedonians traveled with Yugoslav passports. Under the Yugoslav federal system, each republic had its own variety of passports; in particular, Yugoslav passports issued in SR Macedonia were printed in Macedonian and French, rather than in Serbo-Croatian.^[1]

The first post-independence Macedonian passports were issued in 1991 after Macedonia declared its independence from Yugoslavia. Their design and contents changed over the years. The first passports issued were blue with a silver color inscription without the Macedonian Coat of Arms. The second generation of Macedonian passports had a golden color inscription on the cover and the third generation had the Macedonian Coat of Arms added. The first three generations had only "Република Мaкедонија" and the English translation "Republic of Macedonia" inscription on the cover page. The fourth generation passport became red with the French translation of the official country name, "République de Macédoine", added on the cover as well as "Passeport" beneath the Coat of Arms. It was a biometric passport which contained a RFID chip, which enabled storage of biometric and other retrievable data. An issued non-biometric passport will remain valid until its stated date of expiration.

Effective November 16, 2009, the Coat of arms of North Macedonia changed. A five-pointed red star on North Macedonia's official coat of arms was removed, but the emblem otherwise remained unchanged. The current coat of arms is emblazoned in the center of the front cover.

After the naming dispute with Greece ended with the Prespa Agreement coming in effect in February 2019, North Macedonia's authorities started stamping passports with the country's new name as an interim measure before new passports are issued by the Ministry of Interior. The trilingual stamp states “This passport is property of the Republic of North Macedonia” in English, French, and Macedonian.^[2]

Physical appearance

Macedonian passports are red in colour with the Macedonian Coat of Arms emblazoned in the centre of the front cover. The words "Република Македонија" with "Republika e Maqedonisë" (optional for ethnic Albanians, the default passport doesn't carry the Albanian translation of the country name), followed by the English "Republic of Macedonia" and the French "République de Macédoine" are inscribed above the coat of arms then the words "Пасош", "PASAPORTË", "PASSPORT" and "PASSEPORT" are inscribed below the coat of arms. Macedonian passports have the standard biometric symbol at the bottom of the cover page. There are 32 pages in a biometric passport. The passport's critical information is both printed on the data page of the passport and stored in the chip.

Data page and signature page

Each passport has a data page. A data page has a visual zone and a machine-readable zone. The visual zone has a digitized photograph of the passport holder, data about the passport, and data about the passport holder:

Photograph
Type [of document, which is "P" for "passport"]
Code [of the issuing country, which is "MKD" for "REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA"]
Passport No.
Surname (Macedonian Cyrillic Transcription with ICAO Standardized Transcription/Translation underneath)
Given Name(s)
Nationality: Македонско, Macedonian"]
Date of Birth (Date/Month/Year Format)
Unique Master Citizen Number (EMBG)
Sex
Place of Birth
Date of Issue
Issuing Authority [which is “MBP/MOI” – Ministry of Interior]
Date of Expiration
Holder’s Signature

At the bottom of a data page is the machine-readable zone, which can be read both visually and by an optical scanner. The machine-readable zone consists of two lines. There are no blank spaces in either line. A space which does not contain a letter or a number is filled with "<". The first line of a machine-readable zone of a passport contains a letter to denote the type of travel document ("P" for passport), the code for the citizenship of the passport holder (e.g., "MKD" for "North Macedonia"), and the name (surname first, then given name or names) of the passport holder.

The second line of a machine-readable zone of a passport contains the passport number, supplemented by a check digit; the code of the issuing country (e.g., "MKD" for "North Macedonia"); the date of birth of the passport holder (two digit year, two digit month, two digit day i.e. 020507), supplemented by a check digit; a notation of the sex of the passport holder ("M" or "F"); the date of expiration of the passport, supplemented by a check digit; the holder’s personal number and, at the end of the line, two overall check digits. The data page has a line for the signature of a passport holder. The non-biometric passports of the first three generation were not valid until they were signed by the passport holder. If a holder was unable to sign his passport, it was to be signed by a person who has legal authority to sign on the holder's behalf. The new biometric passports however, require that you sign the passport on the day when you apply for the passport, which is done by signing with a digital pen on a tablet, after which the image of the signature is printed on the first page along with the other data, and cannot be altered thereafter.

Types of Passports

Regular (Ordinary) Passport - Issuable to all citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia. It has a red color, valid for two, five, or ten years depending on the age of the passport applicant/holder. Those passports are not extendable or renewable and new one must be obtained once expired.
Diplomatic Passport - Issuable to North Macedonia's diplomats accredited overseas and their eligible dependants, and to citizens who reside in the Republic of North Macedonia and travel abroad for diplomatic work. Title and function of the bearer (Diplomat) is listed on the data page of the Diplomatic Passport in addition to the information already contained. It is valid for five years.
Official Passport – Issuable to citizen-employees of the Republic of North Macedonia assigned overseas, government employees working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or at a Macedonian diplomatic mission assigned abroad. An official passport can be issued to other government officials that are to travel abroad, with prior approval, as well as to their spouses and children living in the same household. Title and function of the bearer (Official) is listed on the data page of the Official Passport in addition to the information already contained. It is valid for five years.
Temporary Passport - Is issued to a Macedonian citizen who needs to come back into North Macedonia and has extenuating circumstances such as a lost or stolen passport; when issued it is valid for 30 days or until the return trip is completed and can be issued at a Macedonian diplomatic mission.

Documents required

The following documents are required to obtain a Macedonian passport:

Passport Application Form (Obtained from the MOI or download from their website)
Valid State Issued ID (If citizen resides abroad, he/she needs to submit the foreign ID in order to prove identity)
Old passport (if applicable, regardless of expiry date)
50 MKD (€0.82) Administrative Stamp
1500 MKD (€24.50) Processing Fee (4500 MKD (€73.50) for Expedited processing – usually passport requests are processed and completed in 48 hours, and can only be picked up in Skopje, in the police station in the MRTV building)
Administrative tax Receipt (50 MKD for children 4 and under; 250 MKD (€4) for persons between ages of 4 and 27 and 500 MKD (€8) for persons ages 27 and older).
Picture, fingerprints, and all biometric data is collected at the Passport Application Center(s); fingerprint data is not collected from minors ages 12 and under.

Visa requirements

As of May 2018, Macedonian citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 125 countries and territories, ranking the passport of North Macedonia 41st in terms of travel freedom (tied with Colombian, Marshallese and Tuvaluan) according to the Henley visa restrictions index.^[3]

Gallery of historic images

Macedonian biometric passport (2009–2017)

External links

Images of a 1994 Macedonian passport from www.passportland.com
Republic of North Macedonia : Biometric Passport (2010 — 2015) from www.PaperToTravel.com

Sources

References

^ Shaw, Jo; Štiks, Igor, eds. (2013), Citizenship After Yugoslavia, Routledge, p. 21, ISBN 1317967070
^ https://greekcitytimes.com/2019/02/16/police-stamp-passports-with-countrys-new-name-north-macedonia/
^ "Global Ranking - Visa Restriction Index 2018" (PDF). Henley & Partners. Retrieved 12 January 2018.

[1] Shaw, Jo; Štiks, Igor, eds. (2013), Citizenship After Yugoslavia, Routledge, p. 21, ISBN 1317967070

[2] ttps://greekcitytimes.com/2019/02/16/police-stamp-passports-with-countrys-new-name-north-macedonia/

[3] "Global Ranking - Visa Restriction Index 2018" (PDF). Henley & Partners. Retrieved 12 January 2018.

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