The Visa Battles

The bureaucratic battle that every foreigner fights when they try to stay in Serbia longer then 3 months. 

So… even though you may think to yourself that not many foreigners want to live or invest in Serbia and that you would be welcomed with open arms when you announce that your idea is to stay in the country and make your life here… you are wrong.Getting your visa in Serbia can be a confusing and frustrating procedure, however if you see it in the right way, with a twinkle in your eye and a view of how funny everything is really… you can see the comedy in the whole situation and like me… enjoy it.

Visa time for me has ranged in levels of pressure and fear. Sometimes it seemed to be smooth sailing and very little hassle and sometimes…  it was hell. 

So first of all, If you are a visitor to Serbia for no longer then 3 months, you do not need a visa. What you must do, however, is announce at the local police station that you are here. This must be done within 24 hours of arriving, they can check this by the stamp on your passport when you entered the country. If you are entering with and ID card, its much easier to be less visible and you have more flexibility. I suggest that you enter with your ID card if you have one. I however, have only a passport and its pretty much full of Serbia entry and exit stamps, and also visa’s (which take up one whole passport page, so my passport looks crazy full).  When you go to the police station to announce that you are here… TA DA… find the foreigners office, in Novi Sad its on the 3^rd floor of the police station. You should go there with your passport and with the contract of the house of the place you are staying during your visit. If you are staying with a helpful friend, I suggest that they go with you to tell the officials that you are staying with them and just to talk in Serbian and make it all much easier.  If you are staying in a hotel, I think you can get a paper from the hotel stating that you are staying there, and some registered document, but you should ask, because I am not sure.

So if you are staying for longer in Serbia, there are a few different kinds of visa’s you can get, I think they are

1.       NGO visa

2.       Student visa

3.       Work visa

Funnily enough I have had all three. When we first came to Serbia we were students (studying Serbian language), then we set up an NGO and got our visa’s through that, after we started CE, I got myself a nice shiny business visa. It was a bit frustrating to switch to the business visa after the other ones, because you could only get it first for 3 months, then for 6, then for 9 and finally for one year… No matter what time they give you, you have to pay the same amount. I had to have a business visa while working at CE and it was not a problem for me to get this, because the CE business was on my name and I had a lot of papers to back up my work in Serbia.

Visa application form

There is a different office for each visa type you need, so when you go there find the right room. Now the next things that happen to you may be very confusing, as most of the time the people in the foreigners office do not speak English with you. I have still never spoken in English with any one of them, except for with one girl who had to translate for me during a very difficult paperwork moment, when I insisted that they get someone to explain to me what they were saying. Shouting angrily at my passport and then at me just was not going to get through to me what I needed to do to make it happen, and yes I got my translator.

Like most bureaucratic situations, the power of the people in the office is mostly reliant on the fact that they try to make you fearful. DO NOT BE AFRAID, so many times they have made me feel like I was doing something wrong or that they were upset that I did not understand, but now I grew some balls and I really don’t care what reaction I get from them. Its my right to live and work here under the laws of this country and however they feel should not affect it. If you need to go with a friend, you can, but sometimes they don’t let them into the actual office with you when they are talking… so you have to be prepared for that too. They should give you a paper with the requirements for your visa, the things you need to bring with you, it will be in Serbian, ask your friend or whoever you are staying with (or me if you are in Novi Sad and I am too) to help you.

If you are renewing your visa, you need to remember that you must renew your visa one month before it expires, this is VERY important. There will be big problems if you forget or don’t manage to make it… check the expiry date and try to come at least a month and a half before, because it will take you about a week or so to fill the application and bring them the required papers .

One time I was late in my application, there was not a month left on my time in the country. I went with my lawyer to the office and a huge argument followed. It was all in Serbian, the ladies seemed very angry and my lawyer was also shouting, in the end they gave me the visa. When we left, I asked the lawyer what happened and how they were behaving, and he was like ‘oh she was a sweet girl’… I was shocked, apparently they weren’t angry at all but just having a normal discussion about it. Serbian people can get pretty passionate and if you don’t understand the language you can think they are mad when they are just expressing themselves.

In the beginning when I would go for my visa’s, I was very afraid and flustered every time. They were never happy to see me and always made a scene. During the time when the other owner of CE got deported from the country it was really hard to keep cool in the visa office as they just seemed to want to make trouble for us. I remember one time when they were hassling the others I got so upset that I went into the room and asked they angrily what was the problem exactly, they asked me to leave, I did not, I demanded and explanation to the girls as to what exactly they needed to do and I demanded that it was in English. They got very upset and shouted at me ‘WHAT DO YOU WANT’, and I shouted back ‘I WANT TO STAY IN THIS COUNTRY’, they said ‘you can’, I told them that I could not if they were deporting all my friends and then I was told I must leave the room . When I went to do my papers they were extremely rude to me, I felt my cheeks getting hot and red and the frustration built up inside of me finally I told the translator ‘Can you translate this for me… Why are you so rude? I am living here, working here, paying taxes and trying to make the country better, I am not a criminal and you are treating me like one, can you tell meplease… why are you so rude to me’. There was total silence then she said ‘No one is being rude to you here’. ‘YES YOU ARE’ I said and left the room. When I came back with my papers, they handled them quietly and no one said a thing. Even though I don’t think its good to lose your temper or to be unkind or impolite to people, its important also to realise that you have rights and you should be allowed to at least understand the situation without being made to feel like you have done something wrong.

In October 2013, when all CE crew had been denied visa’s for Serbia, it seemed as if I would also get mine denied. Not for a real paperwork problem, but because of the political problems we were facing here. For this visa application I was called for a special interview with the chief of police, I went with my lawyer and with an official court translator. The police inspector went over every detail of mine and CE’s finances and asked a lot of questions, thankfully I understood what to answer and what to avoid. After the meeting I was told to wait while they decided what to do with me, when I came to the police station again and they told me I had got my visa, I was so happy I was jumping up and down and smiling so much… even the visa officials smiled a bit and congratulated me. It shouldn’t really be this hard, but it was.

So guys if you are going to stay in Serbia, and you want to get your visa here, be prepared but don’t be intimidated. Most things here sound harder then they really are, and actually, many people before you have gone through the same procedure, and endured it, and if they can, so can you. DO NOT try to live in Serbia without a visa if you want to work here or do some serious project, because it is not easy and you can get deported, if you do get deported and on the wrong side of the law, there Is almost nothing you can do to get out of it or get help, you just have to leave… which is not so bad either… just you have to continue your life in another place.

If you are in a long term relationship with a Serbian person, it is also possible to get your visa in that way. I know sometimes we have talked about faking it with one of our friends, though we never actually did it, so I don’t know how hard it is. Of course if you are getting married you can get a visa… but you still have to get it and don’t have automatic right to stay.

Something else to mention is that some lawyers offer to help foreigners with their visa, for a set fee they can do all the work for you. However I do not suggest it, we got ripped off this way with one lawyer who did not do his job on time, and this is one reason for some of the deportation of the CE owners. Also its not that difficult, you can do it yourself and no matter how complicated they make it seem, its perfectly fine for you to go and do your own paperwork. It doesn't even take that much time, just a bit of running around and once you are used to it and have done it a few times, you will know what to do.

So its actually visa month for me and that’s why I am writing this post, hope it’s a help and I hope you are all successful in any endeavour you are trying to do in Serbia. If you need assistance in any way, you can always contact me if I am in Serbia. 

My volunteer visa from a while ago