If a Serbian company hires you on an employment contract, your stay and your work are covered by a single permit — a combined authorisation for temporary residence and work in Serbia. The employer applies to the National Employment Service, while the application for the single permit can be filed either by you or by the company. The state fees for filing and approval come to 23,200 dinars; you may also have to pay separately for the translation of your educational or professional qualification.
How employing a foreigner works in Serbia
A foreigner hired by a Serbian company does not need to obtain a residence permit first and a work permit afterwards. A single permit is issued instead. It comes from MUP — the Serbian Ministry of the Interior — as a plastic biometric card.The single permit is a combined authorisation for temporary residence and work in Serbia. It is obtained by foreigners who want to live in Serbia and work officially
To hire an employee, the employer first applies to the National Employment Service of Serbia (NSZ). It files a notification of its need for an employee, stating the post and the requirements for the candidate: education, qualifications and the necessary skills, for example.The National Employment Service of Serbia
The NSZ runs a labour market test — it checks whether its database holds jobseekers who match the requirements of the vacancy. If there are such people, the service may refer them to the employer. The result of the check is recorded in a report, but the existence of suitable candidates does not prevent the company from hiring a foreigner.
The NSZ also checks the employer: whether in the previous 90 days it made anyone redundant from the same post for technological, economic or organisational reasons. If there were such dismissals, the condition for hiring a foreigner has not been met: the NSZ will give a negative assessment and MUP will refuse the single permit. You can apply again once 90 days have passed since the dismissal.
The single permit is arranged in parallel. The application is filed online through the state portal Welcome to Serbia. It can be done by the employee, by the employer or by an authorised person. If the decision is positive, the foreigner receives a plastic biometric card confirming the right to live and work in Serbia on a temporary basis.The Welcome to Serbia portal
What you need to do
The documents for the single permit are gathered by you and by the employer. Below is the sequence for the case where you file the application yourself.
Gather your own documents
You will need:
- your passport;
- a colour photograph, 35 × 45 mm;
- the address in Serbia where you are registered and live;
- a diploma, certificate or other official document confirming the education or qualification required for your post;
- a translation of the educational document into Serbian.
The Serbian Ministry of Justice keeps an official register of court-certified translators — you can use it to find a translator from your language into Serbian.Choose a court-certified translator
Get the documents from your employer
The company has to prepare a draft employment contract and a document describing the post and the requirements for the employee. This is usually an extract from the company's job classification document. If the company has fewer than ten employees, the employer may instead draw up a statement setting out the post, the duties, the education or qualification required and the other conditions of work.
The employer files the notification of its need for an employee with the NSZ, and the NSZ runs the labour market test. Once registered, the notification is given an ID number. If you are filing the single permit application yourself, ask the employer to pass that number on to you — it has to go in the form. You do not need a certificate stating that the company made nobody redundant from the same post in the previous 90 days: the NSZ obtains it itself.
Register on eID
eID is the state electronic identification system you use to log in to Serbian government portals. You can create an account at eid.gov.rs: you will need your passport details and an email address.
When registering you have to upload a clear image of your passport, fill in your details and give an email address. Then confirm the address through the link in the message. Once confirmed, your details are checked and the account is activated.Register on eID
File the single permit application
The application is completed online on the Welcome to Serbia portal. In the form you enter your own details, your address and your employer, add the ID number of the labour market test and upload the documents. At the last step the portal generates the payment.Step-by-step filing instructions
A correctly completed application should be decided within 15 days. All notifications arrive in eSanduče — the electronic mailbox for official messages from Serbian government bodies. If something has to be corrected or added, that request appears there too.Log in to eSanduče
Once it is decided that the conditions for issuing the permit are met, eSanduče will carry the date of your visit to the MUP department for foreigners. There they take your biometric data: a photograph, fingerprints and signature. The plastic single permit card is produced after that. If the employer filed the application, the biometrics appointment arrives in the company's eSanduče — so agree in advance who is watching the messages.
What it costs
The Welcome to Serbia portal currently lists two state fees for the single permit.
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Filing the application | 430 dinars |
| Approval of the single permit | 22,770 dinars |
| Total | 23,200 dinars |
Budget separately for the court-certified translation of documents — the cost depends on the translator and the volume.
Points to bear in mind
A single permit may be issued for up to three years, but the actual term depends on the ground and the documents. Your passport must be valid for at least three months longer than the period you are applying for.
If you want to move to another company, you do not need a new single permit. While the current permit is still valid, you can apply to change employer through the Welcome to Serbia portal. You can move to the new employer once the NSZ has agreed.
After the previous employment contract ends you have 30 days to conclude a new employment contract, or another contract that gives you the right to work. So it is better to start arranging a change of employer before you leave the old job.