Visa requirements for Macedonia for Schengen-zone Permanent Residents?

those who want to travel to Macedonia with just an EU-ID card!

I want to share my own experience so everyone else who is considering travelling to Macedonia can go safely there and avoid flight cancellation. This was a costly lesson for me.

I’m a native Finn and so on also a permanent resident of the EU area. I booked a flight from Turku (Fi) to Skopje (N-Ma) on Wizzair Flight. Before the travel, I did a very comprehensive study and searched for information on web about needed travel documents to North Macedonia.

I had controversial information about CAN I TRAVEL TO MACEDONIA WITH JUST MY EU (FINNISH) ID-CARD? I didn’t have a passport at the time so I wanted to be 100% sure that I can travel there with just my ID card. I was on that belief that as EU-Citizen I can travel there with just an ID card.

To be sure, I ask the Finnish embassy in Belgrad about this: The answer was yes, you can travel with an ID card. The same information was told on the Macedonian government website.

Finally, after I had a green light on my travel documents I entered Turku airport and the worst possible scenario happened: my journey stops at the check-in counter.

The wizzair clerk insisted that I need to have a passport and I try to ask if so, why I was given information at the Finnish embassy that I can travel with just ID-card. Why also the Macedonian government website told the same? Clerks were very reluctant to give me the right answer, I had comments like "We have had this same situation sooo many times. You need to have a passport to enter Macedonia".

That was the closure of my travel. So sad, I haven’t had an opportunity to travel outside of Finland in 10 years.

In the end, I sent emails to the embassy why are you giving me false information? The reply was that those check-in clerks did a mistake, you should have the right to enter Macedonia!

I wasmore pissed off when I heard that so I made more queries to Turku airport (Finnavia) and Wizzair. Wizzair didn’t refund me anything (even though I had wizzair’s own cancellation insurance) and Finnavia denayed anything wrongdoing and refunds for me!

My point of sharing this is:
TRAVELLERS FROM OTHER EU COUNTRIES, PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN PASSPORTS IF YOU WANT TO TRAVEL TO MACEDONIA! Legislation might be different in each EU country but in the end, I had this closure: Finnavia told me that MACEDONIAN GOVERNMENT ALLOWS YOU TO TRAVEL THERE WITH JUST YOUR EU ID CARD HOWEVER the EU DOES NOT ALLOW YOU TO CROSS SCHENGEN BORDER WITHOUT PASSPORT! Since Macedonia is not an EU member state or the Schengen country.

I hope my example can save someone’s journey, please tell me if someone else here had travelled to Macedonia with just ID card or if someone has something to add up, thank you! it is still really a puzzle to me why I was denied at the border since wizzair didn’t required passport, only Finnish/Eu border officials.

Citizens of the following countries are not required to have entry visa for the Republic of Macedonia:

…

Third countries with multiple entry short stay Schengen visa type C valid at least 5 (five) days beyond the intended stay in the Republic of Macedonia.

may stay in the Republic of Macedonia for up to 15 (fifteen) days upon every entry to the territory of the Republic of Macedonia, and the total amount of the subsequent stays in the Republic of Macedonia must not be longer than 3 (three) months within a six-months period, starting from the date of the first entry.

Source

I called the Macedonian embassy and told them that I am student here in Germany from India. “I have a schengen visa,” I said. “Can I enter Macedonia with my current visa?”

And the embassy said yes. I along with my friend went to Skopje, Macedonia. We were stopped at the airport and sent back to Germany in the very first flight. As a gift, we got an entry rejection stamp on the passport. And I don’t have any written proof. I can just say: Go and get a visa.

I was searching on the internet and I found this document from the Embassy of Macedonia, Berlin website

In this document, it is mentioned that,

Any foreign national, holder of valid travel document of a third country, who is required to have visa for entry in the Republic of Macedonia, may enter the territory of the Republic of Macedonia without having to acquire Macedonian visa, if  the foreigner has a permanent residence in EU or Schengen member state

This confirms that you can enter Macedonia without having a Macedonian visa if you have a valid passport and a permanent EU Residence Permit.

Note:
The residence permit that you have must be permanent.

What is a Permanent residence permit?
A permanent residence permit is an EU residence permit with unlimited validity. If you have an expiry on your residence permit, then it is not a permanent residence permit and it is not sufficient.

I was born in Macedonia and do not think you need a Visa to enter. But you have to report yourself and where you staying and pay around 50 cent per day