Marriage in Serbia for Foreigners: Documents and Steps

Quick facts

• Only a civil ceremony before a municipal registrar creates a legal marriage.
• You do not need a residence permit. A legal stay in Serbia is enough.
• Both partners must be at least 18, unmarried, and a man and a woman.
• The foreign partner brings a passport, a birth certificate, a single status certificate and a certificate of no impediment.
• Foreign documents need an apostille or full legalisation, then a translation by a Serbian court interpreter.
• Two witnesses and a court interpreter must attend the ceremony.
• Marriage to a Serbian citizen is a ground for temporary residence, not for citizenship on its own.

Can foreigners get married in Serbia?

Yes. Two foreigners can marry in Serbia, and so can a foreigner and a Serbian citizen. You do not need a residence permit. A legal stay is enough, whether that is visa-free entry, a short-stay visa or a residence permit you already hold.

What limits you is time. On visa-free entry or a short-stay visa you may stay 90 days in any 180, so your paperwork has to fit inside that window. Read how the 90 days in 180 are counted before you book your trip. If you plan to live in Serbia after the wedding, the marriage itself becomes a ground for temporary residence, which we cover below.

Only the civil ceremony counts in law. Under the Family Law, a marriage is valid only when it is concluded before a registrar, the municipal official who keeps civil status records, called matičar in Serbian. A church wedding can follow, but on its own it has no legal effect.

Conditions for marriage in Serbia

Two sets of rules apply to a foreign partner. The Law on Resolving Conflicts of Laws with Regulations of Other Countries, article 32, says each partner must meet the marriage conditions of the country whose citizen they are. Serbian law then adds its own bars on top.

So the registrar will not marry you if either partner is already married, if the partners are close relatives, or if one of them cannot understand what they are agreeing to. This applies even where your own country's law would allow it. The ceremony itself follows Serbian law, because it takes place here.

Under the Family Law, both partners must also meet these conditions:

• Both are at least 18 years old.
• Neither is currently married.
• They are a man and a woman. The Family Law, article 3, allows marriage only between two persons of different sex, and Serbia has no same-sex marriage.
• Both agree freely and give their consent in person, in front of the registrar.

The registrar checks every condition before setting a date. This is why the certificate of no impediment from your own country matters. It is how the registrar confirms that you meet the conditions of your own law.

Documents to get married in Serbia

The foreign partner gives the registrar:

• A valid passport.
• A birth certificate. An extract on the international multilingual form is accepted as it is. Any other form must be legalised and translated.
• A certificate of single status, which confirms you are not married at the moment.
• A certificate of no impediment, which confirms that the law of your country has no objection to this marriage. Some countries combine it with the single status certificate in one document.
• If you were married before, the divorce judgment or the death certificate of your former spouse.

A Serbian partner brings a valid identity card. Registrars usually accept certificates that are not older than six months, so plan the dates of your requests backwards from the wedding. Some municipalities ask for more, such as proof of citizenship, so we confirm the list with the chosen registrar before you order anything.

Where each document comes from also matters. Some countries issue the certificate of no impediment only through their embassy in Belgrade, not at home. Australia is one example: its embassy in Belgrade issues the certificate, and one issued by another Australian mission is not accepted in Serbia.

Apostille and sworn translation of your documents

A foreign certificate has no effect in Serbia until it is verified. If your country is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, that means an apostille: a stamp added in the issuing country that confirms the document is genuine. Documents from countries outside the convention need full legalisation, which means verification by that country's authorities and then by the Serbian embassy or consulate there.

After the apostille, the document and the stamp are translated into Serbian by a court interpreter, a translator licensed in Serbia for official translations. We arrange the translation in Serbia from the apostilled original. A birth certificate on the international multilingual form is the one document that usually skips this stage.

This is the slowest part of the process. Ordering, apostilling and translating documents can take several weeks, and that matters if you are counting days on a visa-free stay.

How to get married in Serbia, step by step

1. Choose the municipality. You can marry before any registrar in Serbia, not only where you live. Because you choose, you can pick a municipality with a free date that suits you.
2. File the request in person. Both partners attend with the documents and state that they want to marry. The request can be oral, and the registrar writes it into an official record (Family Law, article 292). A court interpreter must be present if either partner does not speak Serbian.
3. The registrar checks the conditions. If a condition is not met, the registrar tells you. On your request, a written refusal must follow within eight days, and you can appeal it to the ministry within 15 days (Family Law, article 293).
4. The date is set. Once every condition is met, the registrar sets the wedding date in agreement with you (Family Law, article 294).
5. The ceremony. Both partners, two witnesses and the registrar must be present (Family Law, article 295). A witness can be any adult with full legal capacity, of any nationality. The court interpreter attends again.
6. The certificate. You, the witnesses and the registrar sign the marriage register, and you receive the marriage certificate on the same day.

The ceremony can take place in the municipal wedding hall or at another venue, such as a restaurant. A venue outside the hall costs an extra fee, which each municipality sets for itself.

Marriage by proxy exists, but only as an exception. The Family Law allows one partner to be represented by a proxy in especially justified cases, if the authority approves it. The power of attorney must be certified, made only for this marriage, and it is valid for 90 days. In ordinary cases both partners attend.

Using your Serbian marriage certificate abroad

Your marriage is valid in Serbia from the moment it is registered. Whether your home country recognises it is a separate question.

Registrars issue the marriage certificate in the Serbian form and on the international multilingual form. Countries that accept multilingual civil status extracts take this form without a translation. For other countries, the Serbian certificate needs an apostille from the Serbian court for the area where it was issued, and then a translation into your language.

Some countries also expect you to register the marriage with their embassy or their civil register at home. Check this before you travel back, because a later name change, residence application or birth registration may depend on it.

Residence permit based on marriage in Serbia

A foreign spouse of a Serbian citizen can get temporary residence on the ground of family reunification (Law on Foreigners, article 55). The same ground covers the spouse of a foreigner who already holds temporary or permanent residence in Serbia. Temporary residence is granted for up to three years at a time and can be renewed.

Family reunification comes with the right to work. A spouse with residence on this ground can work in Serbia without the single permit, the combined residence and work permit that most foreign workers need.

How you apply depends on your passport. Visa-free nationals usually apply from inside Serbia during their legal stay. Visa-required nationals generally need a long-stay visa D on the family ground first.

The authorities also check that the marriage is real. The Law on Foreigners allows them to refuse family reunification when a marriage was concluded only to get residence, which the law calls a marriage of convenience. Expect questions about how you met and about your life together.

From marriage to permanent residence and Serbian citizenship

Marriage shortens the route, but it does not replace it. Under the Law on Foreigners, article 67, a foreigner who has been married to a Serbian citizen for at least three years can apply for permanent residence. Permanent residence has no end date.

Citizenship comes after that. The Law on Citizenship, article 19, allows a foreigner who has been married to a Serbian citizen for at least three years and holds permanent residence to become a citizen. The applicant signs a written statement that they regard Serbia as their country. Unlike ordinary naturalisation, this route does not ask you to give up your current citizenship.

The ministry decides each case, so meeting the conditions makes you eligible, not automatically a citizen. You can read more about the Serbian citizenship route, or see how temporary residence, permanent residence and citizenship follow each other.

How we handle marriage and residence for foreign couples

Start in Serbia is a law consultancy in Belgrade. We prepare foreign couples for the registrar and then take the marriage through to residence.

Most of the work comes before the ceremony. We confirm what your chosen municipality asks for, check which documents your country issues and where, and arrange the apostilles and court translations. We file the request with the registrar, book the court interpreter and attend with you.

After the wedding, we file the temporary residence application on the family ground and answer the authority's questions. We also track the dates for renewal, permanent residence and citizenship, so none of them is missed.

If you are planning a wedding in Serbia, tell us your nationalities and your preferred date in the contact section below this article. We will tell you what your file needs and how long it will take.

Frequently asked questions

Can two foreigners get married in Serbia?
Yes. Neither partner needs to be Serbian or hold residence here. Each of you meets the conditions of your own country's law and brings its documents, and the ceremony follows Serbian law. The marriage does not give either of you the right to live in Serbia, unless one of you already holds residence here.

Is a religious wedding in Serbia legally valid?
No. Under the Family Law, only a marriage concluded before a registrar is valid. Many couples hold the civil ceremony first and the church ceremony afterwards, on the same day or later.

Can I get married in Serbia on a tourist visa or visa-free entry?
Yes. The registrar needs a legal stay, not a residence permit. Plan the dates so the documents, the request and the ceremony all fit inside your 90 days, because the marriage does not extend your stay by itself.

Does marrying a Serbian citizen give me Serbian citizenship?
Not directly. Marriage gives you a ground for temporary residence. After at least three years of marriage and with permanent residence, you can apply for citizenship on the marriage route, without giving up your current citizenship.