Potentially tens of thousands of Macedonian citizens who live or work abroad, and who have not received passports with the imposed name “North Macedonia” yet could face serious problems in ten days. The Government is notifying countries across the world that the passports with the name Republic of Macedonia expire on February 12th, in accordance with the Greek demands for strict implementation of the Prespa Treaty, even though an estimated million citizens haven’t been able to replace their passports yet.

Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani said that citizens who find themselves stuck abroad with a passport with a valid date but declared invalid by the Government, will have to go to a consulate office and see if there they can receive some help.

I don’t want to lie to the citizens. The Prespa Treaty can’t be amended. We will set up a team in the Ministry that will take calls from our citizens and we will instruct them what to do, Osmani said.