Kosovo postpones license plate deadline for Serbia registered vehicles

The Kosovo government announced that it has extended the deadline for local Serbs to replace their vehicle license plates issued by Serbia with Republic of Kosovo (RKS) plates.

"This change has come about as a result of the great demand and high interest in registering vehicles with RKS plates," the statement said on Thursday.

The initial deadline of Dec. 1 has been extended until Dec. 15.

Any license plates that have not been changed as of Dec. 15 will be considered illegal and the vehicle owners will not be allowed to drive in the region.

In early November, Serbs living in Kosovo began replacing their vehicle license plates issued by Serbian institutions and symbolising Kosovo cities with RKS license plates, ending a longstanding dispute.

They began forming a queue at a vehicle inspection station located in the north of Mitrovica, where mostly ethnic Kosovo Serbs live.

The deputy director of the Kosovo Police for the northern region, Veton Elsh Ani, told Anadolu that around 1,500 people had received RKS vehicle license plates at the beginning of November.

Illegal plates estimated

A group of Serbs who do not want to get an RKS license plate aim to register their vehicles in cities in Serbia and use them in Kosovo as an alternative.

The Kosovo government had previously announced that it was granting an additional period from Nov. 1 to Dec. 1 for the license plates to be replaced.

Kosovo authorities estimate that there are approximately 10,000 vehicles with illegal license plates.

The process of changing the license plates has caused crises many times in the north of the country.

Serbs who did not want to change their license plates set up barricades on the main streets of the northern settlements on July 31, 2022, and collectively resigned from the central and local institutions of Kosovo in November of the same year.

This year, more than 10 vehicles belonging to Kosovo Serbs who received RKS license plates were set on fire by an unidentified person or persons while parked.

Serbia considers Kosovo, which declared its independence in 2008, as its own territory. However, many world states, including Türkiye, the US and the UK, recognise Kosovo as an independent country.