Confused about mandatory registration?

If you are staying in a hotel, hostel, or Airbnb during your visit to Serbia, you don’t have to go to the police station in person. Your accommodation provider shall complete the registration on your behalf.

If you’re staying in a private residence, your host should register your stay at his/her house within 24h of your arrival, with or without your presence, or you can do it by yourself.

The only case when you have to register yourself is when you are not using accommodation services or staying in a private residence, as well as when you are changing your address in Serbia. If you are completing the registration by yourself, we advise you to be accompanied by a local person, because most police officers are still working on their English.

The registration process is completely free of charge and it might take approximately an hour of your time.

All you have to do is to fill in the residence application form and submit it to the nearest police station. If you know the date of your departure from Serbia, you should include this in the form in order to avoid a second visit to the same police department for deregistration.

At the police station they will fill in a “Bela Karta” (a white card form made of two parts). Once it is processed and stamped, you will receive a copy that you should always carry with you during your stay in Serbia, along with your passport.

When you leave Serbia, this white card will be collected by the immigration officer at customs.

Only in case that registration was your obligationand you did not register in the nearest police station in a timely manner, you could get a fine the next time you present any official paperwork.