VisaSerbia single-permit applications need the employer’s labour-test number and digital notices
Current guidance separates entry permission, labour-market assessment and residence decisions. Employers must also ensure that the person submitting the application can access the legal entity’s decision inbox.
Official source date: 2026-11-01
Edited and checked by the VisaWand editorial team
Match the employment route to the worker’s entry status
Serbia’s official Welcome to Serbia portal allows a combined residence-and-work application through the single-permit procedure. This current guide concerns the employment file and subsequent notices, rather than announcing a new visa system in November. The portal’s Single Permit information page tells employers to establish the visa regime applying to the prospective worker’s nationality. A person requiring a visa normally needs an employment-based D visa; visa-free entry is a different starting situation.
The same guidance describes a decision period of fifteen days for a properly completed single-permit request, with permission potentially lasting up to three years depending on the basis and evidence. This is not a guarantee that travel planning, recruitment assessment and document preparation will all finish in fifteen days. The worker, employer or authorised representative may submit the application. Renewal must be requested while the existing permission is valid. Before setting a start date, establish whether the worker is relying on an employment D visa or awaiting a single-permit decision, and preserve evidence of the actual permission.
The labour-market test belongs in the employer’s preparation
The National Employment Service explains the PPZ Vacancy Registration Form used to initiate labour-market testing. The employer or an authorised person submits it. Where the employer applies for the single permit on the worker’s behalf, the relevant online request can combine the application with the test initiation. Alternatively, the employer can register the vacancy through eGovernment up to sixty days before the permit filing, or no later than the filing date.
The system generates an identification number for that test. A worker submitting independently should obtain the number from the employer and enter it in the application. If a valid test already exists, the service says the number can be reused rather than initiating another unnecessary test. Group requests must respect the number of workers and the job description covered by the test. An illustrative company recruiting several workers should therefore align the role, occupation and headcount before submitting multiple permit files. The National Employment Service page is the practical resource for that employer-side step; an applicant’s personal account does not supply missing recruitment evidence automatically.
Assign inbox access as well as permission to file
The portal’s Help guidance states that residence and single-permit notices are delivered to the electronic databox, or eSanduče. When an employer files, notices go to the legal entity’s databox. The guidance specifically warns that the role allowing work with foreign citizens does not itself provide inbox access: that access must be assigned separately. A business can therefore have someone able to submit a request but unable to see the resulting official message.
Check that arrangement before filing and continue monitoring the inbox. Supplement requests identify the missing documents; the portal must show the appropriate supplementation status before the response can be uploaded. The Help page currently lists an RSD 430 submission fee and RSD 22,770 for single-permit approval. It also lists particular nationality-based fee treatment, which should be checked against the actual application rather than assumed for every worker. Payment does not replace the missing documents or establish approval. Use the instruction attached to the case for the response deadline and retain the submission confirmation.
Job changes and travel documents need their own check
The electronic residence service’s separate Help resource explains that changes in the circumstances supporting residence must be reported to the authority. For a worker who obtained residence and work through the prescribed portal procedure, the worker or employer can request a change of employer, employment basis or employment with multiple employers. The existence of that request route should not be read as automatic permission to transfer to any new position without assessment.
The same resource states that the travel document must remain valid for at least three months beyond the approved residence period. Its rules also distinguish visa-free applicants able to file from abroad from people requiring a D visa and applying during its validity. An online application or notification concerning its outcome is not itself a guarantee of admission at the border. Keep nationality, passport, entry basis, proposed employment and the permit request consistent. Where the worker’s current permission is approaching expiry, obtain case-specific instructions before assuming that a new employer’s submission resolves every residence and travel question.
