Why isn't Kosovo in the list of countries in Upwork?

[sovranhoti]

I am from the Republic of Kosovo, a country that declared independence on February 17, 2008, and is recognized by 97 UN countries. 

Kosovo is an independent nation, has its own independent institutions, president, minister of Foreign Affairs, minister of Interior, and minister of Defense. 

I have seen other members who are born in Kosovo open a thread here only to receive mild justifications as to why it is not in Upwork. I can buy connects with my credit card, but I cannot add it to receive payment because Kosovo is not recognized by Upwork, which in turn I had to order a Payoneer card in order to get paid. 

Kosovars enjoy using Upwork, as do I, but these restrictions and not being recognized make it difficult for us Kosovar freelancers to operate and work in platforms like these. 

Will you add Kosovo? If the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo contacts you, will you at least consider it? 

[NikolaS]

Hi Sovran,

Thank you for reaching out to us. Unfortunately, we can't provide service in some locations due to limitations with our payment partners. However, we will definitely share your interest and feedback with the team.

[prestonhunter]

re: "Will you add Kosovo? If the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo contacts you, will you at least consider it? "

Sovran:

I want you to achieve your goals.

But you asking the wrong people for help.

Upwork is not going to "add Kosovo."

Upwork can not "add Kosovo."

Upwork does not decide what countries are on it the list of approved countries that can use Upwork as freelancers.

That list comes from Upwork's payment partners.

Upwork did not "add the United States." Upwork does not decide if the United States, or Germany, or India, are places that can use Upwork as freelancers.

When Upwork's payment partners add Kosovo, then Upwork will add Kosovo.

So the people to talk to are the payment partners, not Upwork.

[sovranhoti]

Dear Preston, 

Thank you for clarifying that. As I'm aware, Payoneer has Kosovo on their list of countries, and I can verify my phone number with my country's entry code. Does that qualify as a consideration for Upwork adding Kosovo, since one of its partners has done it? 

[sovranhoti]

Dear Preston, 

It's been over a year. I still haven't gotten a response. Can you help me in how can I resolve this?  

[ergjanjaha]

Now that a payment partner approves Kosovo payments, can Upwork do anything, or was your entire statement wrong, and Upwork simply does not want to?

[ArjayM]

Hi Ergjan,

We truly appreciate you reaching out and providing feedback on this matter. We always value insight from our users as you help to make Upwork a better platform for all.

This issue has been raised before. However, we don't have an update yet on having the country/state Kosovo to be listed on the list of countries that a user can select. Hopefully, in the near future, you will be able to as we are constantly evaluating our ability to extend our service to additional locations.
 

We seek your patience and utmost understanding while sorting this out for you. 

[ergjanjaha]

Mate, I'm really not interested in your copy-paste message template. This is not my business, but saying that to me is not helping me, or anyone complaining about this since 2019. The situation is no longer the same as when this issue started, Kosovo now has the means of receiving payments for their freelancers, which YOU have been using as an excuse so far. Now that the issue has been resolved, send a ticket to whoever is in charge, and have someone who actually can make these decisions look at it. Your response isnt based on anything, you just want your response statistics to improve.

You seek patience, but patience has limits, it has been 4 years. To be honest, I dont even understand why it is us who is pushing this, this should have been on your PATIENCE list, and been dealt with the minute it was resolved. Such a shame.

[kochubei_valeria · Accepted solution]

Hi All,

Thanks for reaching out. Currently, we can't provide service in some locations like Kosovo due to limitations with our payment partners. If the situation changes in the future, we'll make sure to update the Community.

That said, we understand that some users may need to select Kosovo as their country of citizenship when completing their W-8BEN tax form. Our product team is working on providing a solution for that within the next few weeks.

[sovranhoti]

Dear Preston, 

It's been over a year. I still haven't gotten a response. Can you help me in how I can resolve this? 

[c05f4cbc]

If I can express my opinion on this matter!

We as Kosovo citizens can't complete the tax identification form if we don't have Kosovo as an option to choose, so please help us out here because it is not okay to have completed all the required tasks as a country and still not get recognized by a lot of job opportunity sites like Upwork.

Please do something about it because we Kosovars have a lot of desire and motive to work as freelancers!