We are pleased to announce two new e-services in Serbia, whose implementation is important in order to facilitate the process of obtaining the necessary visa and residence permits for foreign citizens.

THE SERVICE “E-CONSULATE”

On May 20, 2021, a new service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs “E-Consulate” was presented in Belgrade. This service is intended for foreign citizens with the aspiration to work in the Republic of Serbia, and its implementation has enabled initiating the procedure for issuing work permit before the entry of a foreigner into the Republic of Serbia (focus is on visa “D”), which completely avoids most of the procedure related to the issuance of a work permit, that is waiting until the foreigner regulates his/her stay.

Having in mind the above, a foreigner is enabled to start working immediately upon entering the Republic of Serbia.

The intention of implementing this service is to relieve the Diplomatic-Consular Mission of the Republic of Serbia of visa matters. Foreign companies are transferring an increasing number of workers from other countries to work in Serbia, mainly on large infrastructure projects, and they are mostly citizens of Asian countries, as well as Turkey, Russia or Ukraine.

Namely, the basis for the employment of foreigners in the Republic of Serbia is the Law on Employment of Foreigners and the Law on Foreigners.

In accordance with the said laws, the employment of a foreigner in the Republic of Serbia is realized under the condition that the foreigner has: 1) a visa for a longer stay – visa D, which is an approval for a foreigner to enter and stay in the territory of the Republic of Serbia on the basis of employment and which is issued for a period of 90 to 180 days; 2) temporary residence permit and 3) permanent residence and work permit.

Procedure for obtaining a type D visa

Through E-Consulate, the user can file a request by filling in the form for obtaining the visa D and submitting the necessary application and the proof of the payment of the fee, in accordance with the Law.

After the request is submitted, the Diplomatic-Consular Mission takes over the request and further processes it and changes its status, of which the user is notified by e-mail. The Diplomatic-Consular Mission is authorized to send a comment to the user, request a supplement to the request and send an attachment.

After the approval of the request, the user must appear at the Diplomatic-Consular Mission in order to enter the visa in the passport.

THE SERVICE “E-FOREIGNER”

Another electronic service whose implementation has been announced is “E-foreigner”. It is intended for every foreign citizen who plans to stay on the territory of the Republic of Serbia for more than 90 days (registration of residence), and consists of granting a residence permit by the Ministry of Interior. After the issuance of the mentioned approval by the Ministry of Interior, the foreign citizen is invited to enter the Republic of Serbia.

In this way, communication with foreigners was indisputably facilitated and accelerated, which previously lasted much longer.

The implementation of the E-foreigner service is announced in the near future, and above all, the integration of the e-consulate and e-foreigner service into a single system is being strived.

For any additional questions and future notices related to the mentioned electronic services, feel free to contact BOPA.