Serbia: residency, citizenship, tax and living

You can get a temporary residence permit in Serbia for employment, starting a business, launching a startup, or as a real estate owner. After three years of temporary residence, you might be eligible to apply for permanent residence in the country if you meet the physical presence requirements (maximum 10 months of absence in total, or six months continuously).

No, Serbia doesn’t offer citizenship by investment. It’s possible to be fast-tracked into Serbian citizenship through the citizenship by exception provisions, but the process is discretionary and requires performing a significant service for the country. The most predictable route for Serbian citizenship is by becoming a temporary resident, then a permanent resident, before applying for citizenship by naturalisation.

It takes at least six years to get Serbian citizenship the regular way. You need to be a temporary resident and reside in the country first to be eligible to apply for permanent residency. After three years of permanent residency, you can apply for citizenship by naturalisation. The citizenship-by-exception pathway doesn’t have precisely defined timelines.

To become a tax resident, you need to either reside in the country for at least 183 days in a year or have your residence and centre of vital and business interests in the country. As a tax resident, you’ll be liable for personal income tax on your worldwide income at a rate of 10% or 20%, depending on the type of income.