Every visa for Serbia, and who needs one
Visa for Serbia is one of two documents, and which one you need turns on how long you are staying and what you will be doing here. C covers a visit of up to 90 days, and D a stay long enough to become residence. Transit has no visa of its own.
The first question is not which one to apply for. It is whether you need one at all. Serbia admits most Western nationals on the passport alone, and admits holders of a valid Schengen, UK, US or Irish visa on the same terms.
- Visa C
- Up to 90 days in any 180
- Visa D
- 90 to 180 days, then residence
- Transit
- No visa if you stay airside
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The two visa types for Serbia
There are two, and they are not steps on a ladder. C is a visit and D is the start of a stay, they do not substitute for one another, and arriving on the wrong one costs the trip rather than a fee.
Short-term visa
The visit visa: up to 90 days inside any 180, for business, tourism, a private visit, an event or treatment. It is the one most people mean when they say they need a visa for Serbia, and it is not a route to living here.
Long-stay visa
Between 90 and 180 days, granted on the ground your residence permit will rest on: employment, your own company, family, property or study. This is the visa you take if you intend to live here rather than visit.
What about transit? There is no separate transit visa
Change planes without leaving the international transit area and you need no visa at all, whatever your nationality. Leave the airport, or cross Serbia by road or rail, and you have entered the country: that is a visa C, on the same terms as any other short stay. The old transit visa B is gone, and the airport transit visa A is a category nothing is issued under.
Do you need a transit visa for Serbia →Do you need a visa for Serbia at all
A good share of enquiries end here, with a written answer that nothing needs to be applied for. It is worth spending five minutes on this question before spending three weeks on an application.
Visa-free on the passport alone
Nationals of the EU, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and a long list of others are admitted with no visa. The allowance is not the same for everyone: most get 90 days in any 180, Chinese, Russian, Belarusian and Kazakh nationals get 30, and a few get less again.
A visa you already hold
Holders of a valid Schengen, United Kingdom, United States or Irish visa or residence permit are admitted for up to 90 days even where their own nationality would need a Serbian visa. It has to stay valid for the whole of the stay, and this route is missed constantly.
Where a visa is genuinely required
Everyone the first two do not reach, and everyone intending to stay past what visa-free entry allows. The second group is the one that catches people out: a visa-free passport does nothing for a stay of six months, and the visa for that is a D.
How we handle a Serbia visa application
You are told at the outset what each stage requires from you and what we do without you. Nothing is filed before you have seen it.
Start the processWhether you need one, answered first
Your nationality, any visa or permit you already hold, and your dates, checked against the current requirement before anything is prepared. A good share of enquiries end here, with a written answer that no application is needed and no fee is due.
The right type chosen
C and D are not interchangeable, and the line between them is not always where people expect. A layover that takes you out of the transit area is an entry, and needs a C. A stay of five months is not a long visit. We settle the type before the file is built rather than after.
The purpose or ground evidenced
Every visa is granted on one stated basis and the file is built around it. Business, tourism, a private visit, employment, your own company, family and study each call for different proof, and the invitations and contracts behind them are drafted here in Serbia.
Prepared, filed, and followed
Passport, photograph, insurance, funds, accommodation and the purpose evidence, assembled as one file and lodged for you. The decision is due within 15 days and can run to 30 where there is reason for it. We follow it and tell you what is outstanding.
What comes after it, planned now
A visa is rarely the whole job. Where the plan is to stay, the residence application has to be filed on the same ground and inside the visa validity, so we set that date at the beginning rather than discovering it at the end.
What the visa service covers
- A written answer on whether a visa is needed at all
- Your nationality and any visa you hold checked against the rules
- The right type chosen, A, C or D, with the reasons given
- The purpose or ground selected and properly evidenced
- Invitations, contracts and registrations drafted here in Serbia
- Apostilles and certified translations arranged
- The application prepared, filed, and followed to decision
- The residence application after it, where the plan needs one
Bring these to the first call
Two things decide most of these cases: the passport you travel on, and how long you intend to be here. Send both before anything else, because together they usually settle which of the two visas is even in question, or whether either is.
- Your passport, and any visa or residence permit you hold
- Your dates, and every entry to Serbia in the last 180 days
- What you will be doing here, and who you will do it with
- Any earlier Serbian visa, refusal, or refused entry
- Whether this is a visit or the start of a move
Questions we are asked first
If your situation is not covered here, describe it and we will answer it directly.
Ask your question →Two that are issued: visa C for a short stay of up to 90 days, and visa D for a long stay of 90 to 180 days. They are separate documents for separate situations rather than stages of one process, and neither converts into the other. The Law on Foreigners still names an airport transit visa A, but it applies only to nationalities the Government places on a transit list and no such list is in force, so there is nothing to apply for.
There is no longer a transit visa to need. If you change planes in Belgrade and stay inside the international transit area, you need no visa at all, whatever your passport says. If you leave the airport, even for one night, or you cross Serbia by road or rail, you are entering the country and that is a visa C. The old transit visa B was abolished and folded into the visa C.
Often not. Nationals of the EU, the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, Japan and many other countries are admitted on the passport alone, and holders of a valid Schengen, UK, US or Irish visa or residence permit are admitted on the same terms even where their own nationality would need one. Send us your passport and we will confirm the position in writing.
No, and it catches people out. Most visa-free nationalities get 90 days in any 180, but Chinese, Russian, Belarusian and Kazakh nationals get 30, several others get 30 days within a year, and a Hong Kong passport gets 14. Check the allowance for your own passport rather than assuming the common one.
Neither on its own. Visa D is the one that leads somewhere: it gives 90 to 180 days and is the basis a temporary residence permit is applied for on, provided the application goes in on the same ground and while the visa is still valid. Visa C is a visit and cannot be converted into anything.
The state fee is currently 90 euros for a short-term visa and 50 euros for a long-stay one, paid in dinars at the National Bank middle rate, with a handful of nationalities exempt under bilateral agreements. The decision is due within 15 days of the application and may run to 30 where there is reason for it.
Not always. Serbia has moved to issuing visas in electronic form for eligible nationalities, carried as an approval you present rather than a sticker fixed into the passport. Which form yours takes depends on your nationality, and we tell you at the outset so nothing is a surprise at the check-in desk.
It has to have been issued within the last ten years, carry two blank pages next to each other, and stay valid for at least 90 days after you intend to leave Serbia. Check it before anything else, because replacing a passport takes longer than obtaining a visa.
Yes, within 24 hours, and it applies whether or not you needed a visa. A hotel does it for you as part of checking in. In a private flat the obligation sits with the owner and is regularly overlooked in short lets, which is why we arrange it for clients staying privately.
Start with the passport, not the paperwork
Tell us your nationality, your dates, and what you intend to do in Serbia. You will get a written answer on whether a visa is needed at all, which of the three it is, and what it takes to obtain it.