Emergency Travel Document ("Putni list")

As a returnee upon readmission agreement, you will receive an emergency travel document. Emergency travel document is used for only one entry to Serbia and is valid up to three months from the day of issuance.

You should keep the emergency travel document with you because, if you do not have other documents, it is used for:

• personal identification
• access to health care
• access to social welfare
• enrolment of children in school

If you lose the emergency travel document, you should report it to the nearest local police station in order to obtain a certificate which replaces the emergency travel document.

Permanent Residence

As soon as you arrive in Serbia, register permanent residence and try to obtain personal documents. If your emergency travel document expires and you do not have personal documents – you lose rights to health care, social welfare and education.

You should register permanent residence personally in a local police station. When registering residence, you should submit:

1. filled-in form for registration of permanent residence (form No. 1)
2. evidence on legal basis of using a housing unit at the address at which you are registering (contract on usage of the apartment, ownership certificate or contract on lease)
3. valid ID card or other identity paper, and for minors birth certificate
4. evidence on payment of administrative fee  

Personal Documents

A citizen of the Republic of Serbia over 16 years of age is obliged to possess an ID card and carry it with him/her.

In order to obtain ID card in the local police station, you should submit:

1. request for issuance of ID card (can be obtained in the local police station)
2. birth certificate (in case the birth certificate is issued abroad, it should be issued on an international form, while a birth certificate from Sweden or Finland should be verified by notary public) 
3. citizenship certificate (not older than six months)
4. certificate on permanent residence (obtained in the police station)
5. evidence on payment of administrative fee

Registry books from Kosovo have been displaced to Serbia proper and are administered by the municipal administration bodies in the following towns:

KRUSEVAC: Prizren, Orahovac, Suva Reka, Gora
LESKOVAC: Urosevac, Kacanik, Stimlje, Strpce
KRALJEVO: Kosovska Mitrovica, Srbica, Zubin Potok, Vucitrn, Zvecan, Leposavic
NIS: Pristina, Podujevo, Glogovac, Obilic, Lipljan, Kosovo Polje
VRANJE: Gnjilane, Vitina, Kosovska Kamenica, Novo Brdo
KRAGUJEVAC: Pec, Istok, Klina
JAGODINA: Djakovica, Decani

If the registry books are destroyed or missing, a request should be submitted for re-registration into registry books. With the request, you should enclose all available documents (birth certificate, marriage certificate, citizenship certificate, identification document).

Social Welfare

Address the social welfare centre in place of your permanent residence or the place where you find yourself upon return and ask for:

• free counselling, information and assistance in exercising rights
• immediate cash assistance
• free one-way ticket to place of future permanent or temporary residence (address the City Centre for Social Welfare in Belgrade)

Health Care

During the validity period of your emergency travel document, you have the right to primary health protection in the health centre, without having to pay participation fee.

Upon expiry of your emergency travel document, you exercise right to health insurance on the grounds of a health booklet. Health booklet is issued by the competent branch of the Republic Institute for Health Insurance according to your place of permanent or temporary residence.

For obtaining a health booklet, you need to possess and identification document (ID card, passport, birth certificate or internally displaced persons’ (IDP) card) and a certificate on registered permanent or temporary residence.

Education

Primary education is compulsory.

Documents needed for enrolment in primary school:

1. birth certificate
2. certificate on permanent residence
3. medical certificate
4. validated certificates on previously acquired primary school education, except for enrolment in first grade of primary school

If you do not possess some of the above-mentioned documents, ask the competent body to enrol your child in primary school on condition that you obtain the documents later.

Documents needed for enrolment in secondary school:

1. birth certificate
2. validated certificates on previously acquired primary school education

A child who completed VII and VIII grade of primary school abroad, does not need to take entry exam for enrolment in secondary school (except for secondary school departments specialising in philology, mathematics and arts).

Documents needed for enrolment in University:

1. birth certificate
2. validated secondary school diploma and certificates

Documents referring to education acquired abroad must be translated in Serbian by a court interpreter.

Documents translated by a court interpreter, a request for validation and evidence on paid republic administrative fee for bringing a decision on validation should be submitted to the Ministry of Education and Sports (22 Nemajina Street, Belgrade, window No. 1); if you have registered residence on the territory of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, these documents should be submitted to the Provincial Secretariat for Education and Culture (16 Bulevar Mihajla Pupina Street, Novi Sad).

The fee for bringing a decision on validation of primary school documents is 1,750.00 RSD.

The fee for bringing a decision on validation of secondary school documents is 3,490.00 RSD.

You can request exemption from paying the fee provided that you submit a certificate from the National Employment Service proving that you are registered as unemployed, or a certificate issued by the competent social welfare centre proving that you are beneficiary of the social welfare, or a certificate from the Republic Administration of Public Income proving that you do not possess property.

If you do not possess the documentation on education acquired abroad, you can obtain it through the Directorate of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia (24-26 Kneza Milosa Street, Belgrade).

Employment

Working Booklet

A request for issuance of a working booklet is submitted for verification to the municipal administration in the municipality according to one’s place of permanent residence or according to one’s place of employment in case the employer issues a certificate confirming future employment. With the request you should enclose:

1. a form and a blank working booklet (can be bought in the town hall or bookstore)
2. ID card
3. a diploma on acquired degree of education (domestic or validated foreign diploma)
4. citizenship certificate

Registration with the National Employment Service

Registration is conducted in the competent branch of the National Employment Service according to one’s place of permanent residence, with verified working booklet, ID card and diploma (domestic or validated foreign diploma).

Accommodation

Centres for emergency readmission of returnees have been opened in four towns in Serbia – Obrenovac, Sabac, Bela Palanka and Zajecar – where the returnees are accommodated on the grounds of an order issued by the Commissariat for Refugees of the Republic of Serbia. The centres provide accommodation for returnees and their families for not longer than 14 days.

After the period prescribed for accommodation in the centres for emergency readmission, you will be referred to go to the place of your permanent residence before leaving Serbia, to the place of your temporary residence in which you stayed longest or to some other place where you plan to reside either permanently or temporarily. Commissariat for Refugees provides and organizes the transport to your future place of residence.

LEGAL ASSISTANCE

If you need free legal assistance in obtaining documents or if you seek legal advice in accessing health care and social welfare, education, right to work and employment, pension and invalidity insurance –address the non-governmental organization Praxis.

Download (Serbian only): Information Bulletin for Returnees upon Readmission

Download (Serbian only): Leaflet for Returnees upon Readmission