Author
Under the new Asylum Act, the Republic of Serbia shall ensure conditions for naturalisation of refugees, commensurate to its capacity.[1] The conditions, the procedure and other issues relevant to their naturalisation shall be defined by the Government on a proposal by CRM.[2] Until 2023, the Citizenship Act[3] and Foreigners Act were not harmonised with the Asylum Act. For that reason, the issue of naturalisation was one the questions put forward by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2019.[4] Thus, none of these two acts recognised foreigners granted asylum as persons who are entitled to acquire Serbian citizenship. The relevant amendments of the Foreigners Act were adopted in 2023 changing the situation.
The amended Foreigners Act introduced the new provision which allows persons granted asylum to apply for permanent residency which is the final step before the possibility for obtaining citizenship. Namely, the Article 68a of the Foreigners Act prescribes that permanent residence will be granted to a foreigner who has resided in Serbia continuously for more than three years on the basis of the approved right to asylum. The conditions for applying for permanent residency are simple and they are basically related to the expiry of the three year period. General requirements from the Article 70 of the Foreigners Act are not imposed on persons granted asylum. First decisions on permanent residency have been granted in the first quarter of 2024.[5] In the history of Serbian asylum system, not a single person granted asylum has ever obtained citizenship.
At the end of 2025, there were 45 people with permanent residence in Serbia: Libya (19), Iran (6), Burundi (5), Syria (3), Ukraine (3), Cuba (3) and one citizen each from Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Iraq, South Sudan, Kazakhstan and Pakistan.[6]
If we take into account the fact that since 2008, only 250 people have been granted asylum, and that on December 31, 2025, only 45 of those people had permanent residence, it is clear that the vast majority of people who have been recognized as in need of international protection have left Serbia. Taking into account that permanent residence can be acquired after 3 years from the recognition of the right to asylum, this means that persons granted asylum from 1 January 2023 until 31 December 2025 can potentially still be in Serbia – 23 persons. Out of these 23 persons, at least 7 of them left Serbia.[7] This means that 61 out 250 persons remained in Serbia. If we add to that some of the applicants for temporary residency were rejected, that some of them have failed to apply or that for some of them application is still pending, the maximum number of people who are still in Serbia as beneficiaries of international protection cannot be higher than 80. Thus, around 30% of beneficiaries of international protection have remained in Serbia, which perfectly depicts the failure of the integration system which is governed by CRM.
[1] Article 71(1) Asylum Act.
[2] Article 71(2) Asylum Act.
[3] Official Gazette no. 135/04, 90/7 and 24/18.
[4] CESCR, List of Issues in relation to the third periodic report of Serbia*, 12 November 2019, E/C.12/SRB/Q/3, para. 12.
[5] Practice-informed observation by IDEAS.
[6] Ministry of Interior – Border Police Department’s Response to the request for the information of public importance no. 07-25/26-2, 10 March 2026 (received on 23 March 2026).
[7] Practice-informed observation by IDEAS.