Permanent residence (‘settling or an indefinite leave to remain’)

The application for approval of permanent residence (‘settling or an indefinite leave to remain’) shall be submitted to the Police Directorate for the City of Belgrade-Department for Foreign Nationals and regional police directorates, depending on a foreign national's residential address, i.e. to organizational units in charge of residence and movement of foreign nationals in the Republic of Serbia.

The application for permanent residence shall be submited in person, whilst the application form shall be followed by complete documentation, i.e. all prescribed proofs. The application may be supplemented by additional proofs if requested by an authorized official.

Proof of administrative fee payment

Payment slips for administrative fees are generated on the eGovernment portal by entering a name and surname, registration number, short-term residence address or permanent residence address, after which the СТРАНЦИ (FOREIGN NATIONALS) option is selected in the first drop-down menu, and later the administrative fee prescribed for the application you wish to submit.

More detailed conditions for the approval of permanent residence are prescribed in the Rulebook on Detailed Conditions for Permanent Residence Approval, Permanent Residence Approval Application Form Layout and Manner of Placing a Sticker of Permanent Residence in a Foreign Travel Document.

CONDITIONS FOR PERMANENT RESIDENCE APPROVAL

A foreign national shall be eligible to submit an application form for permanent residence after three years of having been continuously approved temporary residence or constant residence in the Republic of Serbia based on asylum rights.

In the moment of applying for an approval of a permanent residence permit, a foreign national must have been granted a temporary residence on one of the grounds prescribed for a temporary residence permit.

Continuous residence is considered an effective residence of a foreign national in the territory of the Republic of Serbia, with the possibility of multiple absences from the Republic of Serbia for up to ten months or one-time absence for up to six months, for a period of three years.

The competent authority issues an identity card for a foreign national to a foreign national, who has been granted a permanent residence, for which reason the foreign national's personal presence is required in order to take his/her biometric data.

Neither fingerprints nor signatures are taken for a minor foreign national until he/she turns the age of twelve, on which occasion when an identity card for a foreign national is issued to a minor, the presence of one parent, guardian, or legal representative is required.

In special cases, permanent residence may also be granted to a foreign national:

• who is a minor with a granted temporary residence in the Republic of Serbia, if one of the parents is a citizen of the Republic of Serbia or a foreign national who had been granted permanent residence;
• who originates from the Republic of Serbia;
• who is of Serbian origin;
  
• to other foreign national, who had been granted temporary residence, if it is in the best interest of the Republic of Serbia.

Documentation required for permanent residence approval

If applying for permanent residence permit, the following shall be enclosed:

• valid foreign national's personal passport (passport shall be enclosed for inspection purposes, whilst a passport copy shall be enclosed compete with the application form);
• proof of possession of means of subsistence;
• proof of health insurance;
• registration of residential address in the Republic of Serbia (registration of the address is the residential address where a foreign national has been granted temporary residence);
• proof of prescribed administrative fee payment;

Aside from the aforementioned documents, depending on the grounds on which a foreign national had previously been granted temporary residence in the Republic of Serbia, and which represents the grounds for submitting an application for permanent residence, some of the following documents shall be enclosed:

• proof of real estate ownership (extract on the land register, etc.);
• proof of employment in the Republic of Serbia;
• proof of kinship with a citizen of the Republic of Serbia or a foreign national holding an approved permanent residence (birth certificate);
• marriage certificate not older than 6 months and citizenship certificate for the spouse, if the spouse is a citizen of the Republic of Serbia;
• marriage certificate proving marriage with a foreign national who has been granted permanent residence in accordance with the national legislation of the country where marriage was solemnized;
• single status certificate for both partners and other proofs of a common-law marriage;
• proof of origin from the Republic of Serbia (birth certificate for the applicant, birth certificate for one or both parents of the applicant).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Proof that a foreign national has secured means of subsistence shall be considered as follows:

• salary certificate (salary slip, etc.);
• employment contract, fixed-term temporary employment contract or other contract proving the employment of a foreign national in the Republic of Serbia in accordance with labor regulations;
• proof of pension insurance payments;
• proof of entry on the Register of Agricultural Holdings;
• certificate of or extract on bank account funds of a bank registered in the Republic of Serbia in the amount of the minimum salary in the Republic of Serbia;
• guarantee by either an employer or a natural person who is a member of a foreign national’s household, who has submitted an application for permanent residence approval and who shall incur the costs of supporting a foreign national;

Proof that a foreign national has health insurance shall be considered as follows:

• European health insurance card, i.e. another document proving that a foreign national is insured in their country of origin, in accordance with the regulations of the Republic of Serbia on health insurance;
• a foreign national’s health insurance policy;
• proof of funds that can cover the costs of emergency medical care, or treatment of chronic diseases;
• a guarantee from either an employer or a natural person that he/she shall cover the costs of emergency medical care, i.e. treatment of chronic diseases;
• valid health insurance card of the Republic of Serbia.

Proofs not issued by the competent authorities of the Republic of Serbia shall be submitted complete with a translation by an authorized court translator.

Statements made by a foreign national, which serve as proof of fulfillment of the appropriate legal conditions for granting temporary residence or permanent residence, shall be certified by a notary public.

In order to submit an application for a minor’s permanent residence approval based on an approved temporary residence, whose one of the parents is either a citizen of the Republic of Serbia or a foreign national with an approved permanent residence, the presence of both parents shall be required. If it is not possible to ensure the presence of both parents, the certified parental consent affidavit of one parent shall be enclosed in addition to the presence of the other parent.