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In Serbia and Macedonia, you have to register with the police if staying in those countries overnight.

I know that in Serbia, you're issued a white registration card that needs to be shown when exiting.

I've heard, however, that Macedonia doesn't issue them. Is this true?

If so, what happens when you register with Macedonian police?

To clarify: yes, I know the obligation to register is rarely enforced and, yes, I know hotels are supposed to take care of it all. Fact is, while you're usually not asked for the certificate, I've seen one tourist get in BIG trouble for not having it and, secondly, many hotels are too lazy to do the registration.

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    I never heard of anything like this when I visited both countries in 2011. Is it a new thing? – hippietrail Sep 14 '16 at 14:51
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    @hippietrail Definitely not, it's been like this for as long as I can recall, both in Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia. It's only applicable if staying overnight at an address. Like I wrote, it's rarely enforced, but you absolutely do not want to have bad luck in this regard, period! Unfortunately, while Hotels are supposed to take care of it, in my experience they rarely will unless asked, and even then they didn't do it correctly. The Person mentioned in the question was fined 60000 Denars when exiting and banned from entering for a year due to not having the card – Crazydre Sep 14 '16 at 17:22
  • I stayed mostly at hostels in both countries but also at a friend's house in Serbia. Do we know anything about how hostels are in this regard compared to hotels? – hippietrail Sep 15 '16 at 10:51
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    @hippietrail Not really I don't. From now on I'll take care of it myself (contrary to popular belief, at least in Belgrade and Ohrid they were perfectly fine about me applying myself, without the property owner). One way to find out if a Hotel/hostel is doing their job is asking them if they've got registration forms ("prijava karton", the same Kind I got at the "servis" in Ohrid). If they don't (and I hear they often don't), then you know you should take matters into your own hands. One hostel said they could simply send a copy of my ID to the police - this is not the proper procedure – Crazydre Sep 15 '16 at 11:30
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When i stayed in the country, i was not handed any related document, neither was i asked at the border for it, in both occasions i crossed the borders (from Kosovo and to Bulgaria) by land. Ps. I stayed at a hostel in Skopje.

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I stayed in Skopje, Macedonia last week. No mention of registration was made at any point, and the border officials did not ask for one when leaving. I stayed in the Ibis hotel, so I would have thought that being a very large hotel chain they would not let their staff be lazy and not follow the local laws. I have also been to Serbia in the past and did get a registration card.

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  • Clearly Ibis did not do their job, see my answer. That said, this is one of the laws that's usually not enforced, but if you are unlucky to get a border guard on exit who decides to mess with you, he has the law on his side. The fine is HUGE – Crazydre Sep 14 '16 at 11:04
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UPDATE: Registration is remarkably easy in Ohrid (unlike in Skopje with its many police stations, where it's frequently unclear where you're supposed to go): there's only a single police station in the city, where I was directed to the nearby "Servis", some administrative Kind of place. There I showed my ID card, and a man filled out most of the registration card (same Kind as in Serbia). I then paid 40 denars for it.

I didn't Need a Hotel booking confirmation stating the address - just memorised it and stated it to the servis man verbally

Went to the police station, where I presented my ID card+registration card. The guy tore the card in two and stamped the bottom, smaller part.

However, even though I told him the departure date, I had to insist on him writing it (the "servis" staff utterly refused to). If they don't, you'll have to come back to de-register.

He also forgot to put his signature on the bottom half (in addition to the stamp), so I had to remind him of that too.

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