Author
Serbia has the following procedures:
- Regular Procedure
- Admissibility Procedure
- Accelerated Procedure
- Border Procedure
- National protection statuses and return procedure
The regular procedure still represents the most commonly applied procedure and is conducted in relation to applicants accommodated in the Asylum Centre (AC) Obrenovac and AC Sjenica – the only remaining operational facilities designated for genuine asylum seekers. The asylum procedure is also conducted in an unhindered manner in relation to applicants who can afford to live in private accommodation in Belgrade or in other places such as social care institutions for unaccompanied and separated children (UaSC) or safe houses for survivors of trafficking in human beings. AC Krnjača, as the AC in which most of asylum interviews had been taking place in the past 10 years was permanently closed in mid-2025.
Due to the decreased number of arrivals, as well lower number of asylum applications, but also more regular presence of officers at the Asylum Office in AC Sjenica, asylum seekers in this facility waited significantly less for their asylum interview in 2025. Still, the current situation in terms of the number of applicants and low occupancy of AC Obrenovac simply fails to provide reasonable justification for asylum seekers being referred to AC Sjenica when recently refurbished AC Obrenovac can accommodate everyone. The unreasonable referral system of asylum seekers, which is mostly controlled by the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration (CRM) and whose stance is that all single male asylum seekers should be referred to AC Sjenica and not to AC Obrenovac remained the same in 2025. Thus, the ineffectiveness and extensive length of the asylum procedure should also be attributed to the CRM (for further information on this practice and its consequences on asylum seekers’ access to the asylum procedure, see Registration – Concerns in practice).
As for the accelerated procedure, it is still rarely used and only in instances of manifestly unfounded applications. It has also been conducted mostly in relation to applicants accommodated in Belgrade. In 2023, 2024 and 2025 the accelerated procedure was not applied.[1]
Since the introduction in the Asylum Act in 2018, the border procedure has not been conducted. Thus, the border procedure has yet to be applied in practice. The two operational immigration detention facilities in the border areas with Romania and Bulgaria – Detention Centre (DC) in Plandište and DC in Dimitrovgrad – were not used for such purpose, nor was the border procedure facilitated in the airport transit zones.
The Ministry of Interior (MoI) had previously explained that a border/transit zone procedure at the airport would be conducted after the reconstruction and extension of the Terminal facility at the airport Nikola Tesla. The project envisaged the construction of detention premises for persons refused entry, but also persons who might apply for asylum and who could then be subjected to the airport/border procedure. Said reconstruction was finalised during 2022, and the newly established premises are operational but still not considered suitable for longer stays due to their size and carceral structure.[2]
Thus, the airport transit zone procedure is yet to be applied in practice and it is reasonable to assume that such procedure will not be conducted at the airport in the near future due to infrastructural deficiencies. For that reason, all foreigners who express their intention to lodge an asylum application at the airport are issued with the certificate on the intention to lodge asylum application (registration certificate) and are referred to one of the Asylum or Reception Centres.
[1] Conclusion based on the basis of the analysis of all first instance decisions delivered by the Asylum Office, which were shared with the author for the purpose of drafting this Report.
[2] Outlined by the representatives of the Asylum Office at the round table with Border Police that took place in Vrdnik on 28 December 2023.