The European Commission launched a visa liberalisation dialogue with Kosovo on 19 January 2012. In June 2012, the Commission presented Kosovo with a Roadmap on Visa Liberalisation, which identified the legislation and institutional measures that Kosovo needed to adopt and implement to advance towards visa liberalisation. The Commission has adopted 4 reports on the progress made by Kosovo in the visa dialogue and presented its proposal to lift the visa requirements for Kosovo citizens on 4 May 2016. The Commission assessed that Kosovo fulfilled all requirements on 18 July 2018, satisfying all the benchmarks set in the Visa Liberalisation Roadmap.

Today, visa-free travel for Kosovar (biometric) passport holders has become a reality. Citizens of Kosovo are allowed to travel to the EU –and EU citizens to go to Kosovo- without requesting a visa, for periods of up to 90 days in any 180-day period. Kosovars had awaited 1 January with great enthusiasm perceiving it as a "historic day" as their country moves closer to the EU, local surveys showed. But they also blamed both Brussels and Pristina for such a long delay in lifting the visa regime.

For the past two months, the government in Pristina has been conducting a campaign urging people not to misuse the freedom of travel by looking for jobs in the EU. In fact, under the Schengen rules, working in the countries of the EU’s passport-free travel area without a work permit is illegal. Also staying in the borderless area of Schengen for a period of more than 90 days, without a residence permit or long-term visa, also has consequences and may lead to a travel ban in the Schengen Zone.

For further information please read various press releases such as "EU visa-free travel for Kosovo enters into force" or "Kosovo Citizens Warned of Consequences If They Violate Schengen Area Visa-Free Travel Rules".