Amendments to the Law on Foreigners and the Law on Employment of Foreigners

Author: Attorney at Law Krneta Lj. Marko from the Law Firm “VUK Tax Attorneys”

Date: 17th August 2023

Since the Republic of Serbia has been the choice of many foreign citizens for life and work in recent years, there was a need to amend the regulations governing residence and employment of foreigners, in order to make the procedure for the aforementioned purposes more efficient, although existing conditions for approval of temporary residence and work permit were not too complicated and strict (for example, foreign citizens are not obliged to speak Serbian language).

Majority of important amendments to the Law on Foreigners and the Law on Employment of Foreigners will be applicable starting from 1st February 2024 (such as the introduction of a “single permit” which simultaneously represents approval of residence and work, then the period after which it will be possible to request permanent residence, etc.), about which we will publish the newsletter in a timely manner, while further-on in this text we will briefly highlight the most important amendments to both of the aforementioned laws that are already applicable, i.e. as of 4th August 2023. Amendments to the relevant by-laws, i.e. the Rulebook on Conditions for Approval of Temporary residence and the Rulebook on Work Permits, have not yet been enacted.

With regard to the Law on Foreigners, most important change is that starting from 4th August 2023, temporary residence is granted to foreign citizens for three (3), instead of one (1) year, and that their stay in Serbia can be extended for the same period, depending on reasons for which temporary residence is approved.

If a foreign citizen wants to extend the approved temporary residence, he can now submit the request for extension no later than the expiration date of the temporary stay (one day before the expiration date), while previously he had to do it no later than 30 days before the expiration date of the temporary stay.

Additionally, regarding permanent residence, now it can be approved if a foreign citizen resides in the Republic of Serbia continuously for three (3) years on the basis of temporary residence permit, while previously, minimum period of temporary residence for this purpose was five (5) years.

The legislator has now defined more precisely that temporary residence can be granted to a foreign citizen who intends to stay in the Republic of Serbia for longer than 90 days in a period of 180 days, then longer than the period of stay defined by the international agreement, i.e. longer than the period for which the visa was issued for longer stay. In other words, the period during which a foreign citizen can stay without approval for temporary residence is now more precisely defined.

The responsibility of the organizer of a tourist or business trip, i.e. the inviter, has also been increased, and they are obliged to ensure that a foreign citizen who comes in the Republic of Serbia in their organization, i.e. on the basis of an invitation letter, stays in the country in accordance with the provisions of this law, as well as to take measures to prevent illegal stay of a foreign citizens after entering the Republic of Serbia, so the penalty provisions have also been changed in this regard. The minimum amounts of monetary fines for illegal conduct of transporter, tour organizer and inviter (legal entities, entrepreneurs, natural persons), who enables to a foreign citizen to come in the Republic of Serbia, are raised from RSD 5,000 to RSD 50,000, from RSD 10,000 to RSD 100,000, depending on the type of misdemeanour, possibility of banning business activity is also introduced, and the minimum amount of monetary fine for illegal behaviour of a foreign citizen is raised from RSD 5,000 to RSD 50,000.

Regarding the Law on Employment of Foreigners, it is important that the period for which the work permit is issued remained unchanged – one year, although the period of validity of the work permit until now followed the period of validity of temporary residence permit, which is now been extended to three (3) years. Starting from 1st February 2024, the period of validity of the work permit will follow the period of validity of the temporary residence permit.

Provisions regarding assignment of foreign citizens to work in the Republic of Serbia are now regulated in more detail, such as existence of an act between a domestic employer and a foreign employer on temporary assignment in the Republic of Serbia, which determines manner of exercising rights and obligations from work (working conditions, professional training and development, method of payment and the amount of salary, salary compensation, working hours, method of exercising the right to annual leave, etc.).

The amounts of monetary fines have also been changed, so the fine for legal entity – employer is in the range from RSD 800,000 to RSD 2,000,000 for misdemeanour, if it does not ensure realization of rights and obligations from work in accordance with the act of secondment, and for actions contrary to the subject law, minimum amounts of fines for responsible persons in a legal entity are raised from RSD 50,000 to RSD 500,000, that is, from RSD 10,000 to RSD 100,000, depending on the type of misdemeanour.

Anyhow, until 1st February 2024, the procedures itself for obtaining temporary residence and work permit will be fundamentally unchanged.

Our Law Firm will promptly and carefully monitor all upcoming activities in this field of legislation, in order to effectively help clients with our experience and professional analysis in removing all ambiguities and successfully resolving the residence and work status of foreign citizens who want to live and work in the Republic of Serbia.