The New Protocol of the Entry into the Republic of Serbia

With the abolishment of Serbia’s state of emergency in mind, and the expected full reopening of borders, the Government of the Republic of Serbia, held a meeting on 12 May 2020, where the protocol for the entry of both foreign and domestic citizens into the Republic of Serbia was adopted, in order to circumvent the spread of COVID-19.

Serbian citizens, as well as foreign citizens with approved temporary or permanent residence in the Republic of Serbia, have two options to enter the country – possession of a negative PCR test (not older than 72 hours) or self-isolation for 14 days from the date of entry into the country. If they decide to enter the country without the PCR test, they can do the test after the entering the country, and if the test proves negative, they case stop the mandatory self-isolation.

The procedure for foreign citizens, who do not have approved temporary or permanent residence in the Republic in Serbia, is slightly different. With the mandatory negative PCR test (not older than 72 hours), a foreign citizen should also obtain a permit for entering the country, issued from the working body of the Government of the Republic of Serbia. 

According to the information from the Consular department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a permit for entering the country is obtained by a submission of a request to the working body of the Government via an official e-mail to the address: info.covid-19@gov.rs. As an important precondition for the approval of entry into the Republic of Serbia, a “strong and justified” reason is needed, which will be assessed in each specific case.

The response to the submitted request, i.e. a permit for entering the country, shall be delivered to the foreign citizen electronically, without a prior in-person visit to the embassy or consular office of the Republic of Serbia in the country where the foreigner is located. The permit for entering the country will be automatically forwarded to the Ministry of Interior, for its records.

Also, the recommendation of the consular department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is that foreign citizens, who have temporary residence or permanent residence in the Republic of Serbia, should contact the Ministry of Interior before their planned arrival to Serbia, in order to “announce” their entry to the country, which can be done via the following numbers or official mail address: borderpolice@mup.gov.rs ; (+381 – 11) 311-8890; (+381 – 11) 311-7679; (+381 – 11) 300-8130.