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I am traveling to North Macedonia soon and will be staying there for 3–4 weeks. The country has an address registration requirement (as per Articles 190 and 218 of the law on foreigners):

  1. If a tourist stays at someone’s place for money, the host must register the tourist with the police within 12 hours.

  2. If a tourist stays at someone’s place without paying, the host must register the tourist with the police within 48 hours.

  3. If a tourist does not stay at anyone’s place, the tourist must register with the police themselves within 48 hours.

  4. If a tourist fails to register as required by (3) above, they are liable for a fine of 500–1000 euros when leaving the country.

I'm concerned that if I don’t have solid proof of staying at a hotel, I may have to pay the fine as per (4) above. I've seen a couple of messages on the Internet with stories of tourists who ran into this trouble when leaving the country.

I have traveled to North Macedonia before, and my experience makes me worry. During my first visit, the hotel manager told me he had registered me electronically, but he initially refused to provide any paper confirmation. Only when I threatened to rate them 1 out of 10 on Booking.com and write a bad review did he agree to give me a paper confirmation. He printed out my registration with the police and stamped it with the hotel seal. It’s possible he hadn’t even registered me at all initially. He also didn’t give me any receipt.

During my second and third visits, since I stayed no more than two nights, I was at no risk of being fined, because the law gives 48 hours to register. However, the hosts didn’t even ask to see my passport, and I doubt they would have agreed to register me with the police if I had asked. They also didn’t give me any receipts.

Since I’ll now be staying for 3–4 weeks, I want to minimize my accommodation expenses by staying at cheap hotels. These are often managed by private hosts, who may be reluctant to register me or provide receipts.

I understand that booking an expensive, highly reputable hotel would provide solid proof of my stay, but given that I’ll be there for 3–4 weeks, the cost of such accommodation may well exceed the fine itself.

What’s my best strategy to avoid getting fined while also minimizing my accommodation expenses? What should I do?

Mitsuko
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2 Answers2

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Unless they have registration cards at the reception (with the word "по̏тврда" at the top), insist that they take you to the police station in order to get a "white card" as it's often called. Or, in Ohrid, simply turn up and fill out the form yourself (they may not have forms, in which case buy one for MKD 15 at a bookstore)

In Skopje, you also have to go back to the same police station just before leaving the city to de-register (you can do this yourself).

If going from one city to another, present your old registration card to the police in the new city, which will be exchanged for a new one. Your registration card is collected at the border when exiting the country.

Crazydre
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Could you just register with the police yourself, as in point (3)? Then you'll know you're registered and have appropriate proof upon departure.

Of course I don't know if that's disallowed by law, as I can't read the linked doc.

lxop
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