Andric Rakic on visa liberalization: In some companies, 50% of workers have announced their departure

Andrić Rakić
Source: Kosovo Online

Milica Andric Rakic, Program Manager of the non-governmental organization New Social Initiative from Kosovo, stated to Kosovo Online that she believed the announced visa abolition for citizens of Kosovo starting in January 2024 would deal a significant blow to the labor market.

"Many professional associations in Kosovo warn that an outflow of workforce, both qualified and unqualified, can be expected. I must say that the procedure in Germany has been greatly eased since November 1, when the law was amended to allow applying for a work visa before finding a job. So, probably, the stronger outflow has already begun, as the changes in the law essentially have almost the same effect as visa liberalization," Andric Rakic says.

She adds that some companies are already warning that up to 50 percent of their workers have announced that they will leave in January.

"A certain outflow is certainly expected. Perhaps it is not currently clear to what extent, but it will undoubtedly be a significant blow to the labor market in the first half of the year. The question is whether it will stabilize and how. Kosovo has already started the practice of importing workers from India, Bangladesh, and Turkey, so I assume that the workforce will be sought in those other countries," she notes.

Our interlocutor believes that the effects of visa liberalization will also affect the Serbian community in Kosovo.

"We may not have an outflow of the workforce to the same extent as the Albanian community, but we will certainly feel the effects of visa liberalization. I hope that the effects will be felt most in terms of travel and tourist visas without abuse of the visa-free regime. But it remains to be seen. I think there are no relevant studies in the Serbian community about the number of people waiting for visa liberalization to move. And again, in our community, people mainly decide to move to Serbia. From the southern part, we may have more migrations abroad; here, if people leave, they go to Serbia," Andric Rakic says.