Family Reunification in Serbia
How to move your family to Serbia
A family can regulate its stay in Serbia through the ground of family reunification. It can cover spouses, common law partners and family members of Serbian citizens, or of foreign nationals who hold an appropriate residence status in Serbia.
Family reunification is a ground of temporary residence, which means each member gets their own permit, granted on the basis of the relationship rather than on their own employment or business. The starting point is always the status of the person already here.
In practice these cases are decided by documents from abroad rather than by anything that happens in Serbia. Marriage and birth certificates are what take the longest, and they usually need certified translation and, depending on the country of issue, an apostille. Families who start with those papers finish months earlier than families who start with the application.
Who can come on this ground
What you need depends on who is already in Serbia and what status that person holds.
Spouses
Marriage to a Serbian citizen, or to a foreign national with an appropriate approved residence, can be a ground for family reunification.
Common law partners
Family reunification can cover common law partners as well as spouses, with the evidence following your circumstances.
Children
Children can regulate their residence on an appropriate ground, including family reunification.
Family of Serbian citizens
If your spouse or parent is a Serbian citizen, the relationship itself is the ground of stay.
Family of foreign residents
If you already hold temporary residence or a single permit here, your family can apply on that basis.
Schools and kindergartens
The question that follows the permits. We help with choosing a school or kindergarten and with finding a home.
How a family application runs
Applications for the whole family are prepared together, so the same certificates are obtained once and used across the file.
- Checking the status of the family member already in Serbia
- Ordering marriage and birth certificates from abroad early
- Certified translation and apostille where the country requires it
- Address registration for every family member after arrival
- Filing the applications together
- Decisions, and collection of the residence cards
Frequently asked questions
Can my spouse get residence in Serbia?
Yes. Marriage to a Serbian citizen, or to a foreign national who holds an appropriate approved residence in Serbia, can be a ground for family reunification. The documentation required depends on the specific situation, in particular on where and when the marriage was concluded.
Can children get residence in Serbia?
Yes. Children can regulate their residence on an appropriate ground, including family reunification. When a whole family is moving, the applications are best prepared together so that the same supporting documents serve the entire file.
Does family reunification cover common law partners?
It can cover common law partners as well as spouses. What is needed to evidence the relationship follows from your particular circumstances, so these cases are looked at individually rather than from a standard list.
Which documents take the longest?
Marriage and birth certificates issued abroad. They usually have to be translated into Serbian by a certified court interpreter, and depending on the country of issue they may also need legalisation or an apostille. Ordering them is the first thing we do, not the last.
Can my family work in Serbia on this ground?
Certain grounds of temporary residence can give access to the labour market without a separate single permit, and whether that applies to a family member depends on the ground on which their residence was approved. It is worth asking before anyone signs an employment contract.
Do we all have to register our address?
Yes, every family member, including children, has to have their stay registered within 24 hours of entering Serbia. That registration is known in practice as the white card, and the residence applications rest on it.
