Visa requirements for Serbian citizens

Recent period

Serbia and Russia signed visa-free travel agreement in 2009.^[7] Serbia signed a visa-free agreement with Israel in 2009.^[8] The European Union Schengen area countries lifted visas for Serbian citizens in 2009.^[9] Serbia and Turkey mutually abolished visa regime in 2010.^[10] Serbia signed an agreement on the abolishment of visas with Kazakhstan in 2010.^[11] Serbia and Ukraine mutually abolished visas in 2011.^[12] Japan abolished visas for Serbian citizens in 2011.^[13] Serbia and Albania mutually abolished visas in 2011.^[14] In 2013, agreement on visa-free travel with Brazil came into force.^[15] In 2014, agreement on visa-free travel with Mongolia came into force.^[16] In 2015, agreement on visa-free travel with Moldova came into force.^[17] In 2016, Indonesia abolished visas for Serbian citizens for a maximum stay of 30 days.^[18] In 2017, agreement on mutual visa free travel between China and Serbia entered into force.^[19] In 2017 Iran abolished visas for Serbian citizens but reversed its decision in 2018.^[20][21] Colombia abolished visas for Serbian citizens in February 2018.^[22] Serbia and Kyrgyzstan mutually abolished visas in 2018.^[23] Uzbekistan abolished visas for Serbian citizens in 2019. United Arab Emirates abolished visas for Serbian citizens in 2019.^[24] Barbados abolished visas for Serbian citizens in 2019. Suriname abolished visas for holders of Serbian passport in 2019. Armenia lifted visa requirements for Serbian citizens in 2020.^[25]

Holders of Serbian passports issued by the Coordination Directorate for Kosovo and Metohija have been exempt from visa requirements for the Schengen Area since 2024.^[26]

Since 2009, Serbia has been working towards expanding visa-free travel for its citizens. Serbia proposed inclusion in the United States Visa Waiver Program in 2009, but as of 2024, the adjusted visa refusal rate remains above the required 3% threshold.^[27] The United Kingdom initially discussed visa abolition in 2011, but in 2013, the UK Home Office stated it had no plans to remove visa requirements for Serbian citizens.^[28] Talks with Australia on facilitating visa issuance were held in 2012,^[29] while New Zealand introduced a facilitated visa regime for Serbian citizens in 2014.^[30] Discussions on visa liberalization with Canada began in 2016.^[31]

Serbian authorities have also held talks with several countries on concluding visa abolition agreements in the future including with Bahrain, Guatemala, Iran, Jamaica, Kuwait, Oman, Panama, Paraguay, South Africa, Tajikistan and Vietnam but have not yet concluded them.^{[32][33][34][35][36][37]}

Territories and disputed areas

Visa requirements for Serbian citizens for visits to various territories, disputed areas, partially recognised countries and restricted zones:

More information Visitor to, Notes (excluding departure fees) ...

Visitor to	Visa requirement	Notes (excluding departure fees)
Europe
Abkhazia	Visa required[330]	Tourists from all countries (except Georgia) can visit Abkhazia for a period not exceeding 24 hours as part of an organized tourist group.
Mount Athos	Special permit required	Special permit required (4 days: 25 euro for Orthodox visitors, 35 euro for non-Orthodox visitors, 18 euro for students). There is a visitors' quota: maximum 100 Orthodox and 10 non-Orthodox per day and women are not allowed.[331][332]
Crimea	Visa not required	Territory accessed under Russian visa policy.[333]
UN Buffer Zone in Cyprus	Access Permit required[334]	Access Permit is required for travelling inside the zone, except Civil Use Areas.
Faroe Islands	Visa not required[335]	90 days
Gibraltar	Visa required[336]
Guernsey	Visa required[337]
Isle of Man	Visa required[338]
Kosovo	Visa not required	90 days; ID card valid. A registration at the nearest Police station is required within 72h of entry into the republic of Kosovo.
Jan Mayen	Permit required	Permit issued by the local police required for staying for less than 24 hours.[339] and permit issued by the Norwegian police for staying for more than 24 hours.[340]
Jersey	Visa required[341]
Russia	Special authorization required	Several closed cities and regions in Russia require special authorization.[342]
South Ossetia	Visa required	To enter South Ossetia, visitors must have a multiple-entry visa for Russia and register their stay with the Migration Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs within 3 days.[343][344]
Transnistria	Visa not required	Registration required after 24h.[345][346]
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus	Visa not required	90 days[347]
Africa
Ascension Island	eVisa[348][349]	3 months within any year period.
British Indian Ocean Territory	Special permit required	Special permit required.[350]
Eritrea outside Asmara	Travel permit required	To travel in the rest of the country, a Travel Permit for Foreigners is required (20 Eritrean nakfa).[351]
Mayotte	Visa not required[352]	90 days
Réunion	Visa not required[353]	90 days
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic	Visa regime undefined	Undefined visa regime in the Western Sahara controlled territory.
Saint Helena	eVisa[354]
Somaliland	Visa required[355]
Sudan	Travel permit required	All foreigners traveling more than 25 kilometers outside of Khartoum must obtain a travel permit.
Darfur	Travel permit required	Separate travel permit is required.[356]
Tristan da Cunha	Permission required	Permission to land required for 15/30 pounds sterling (yacht/ship passenger) for Tristan da Cunha Island or 20 pounds sterling for Gough Island, Inaccessible Island or Nightingale Islands.[357]
Asia
Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province	OIVR permit required	OIVR permit required (15+5 Tajikistani Somoni) and another special permit (free of charge) is required for Lake Sarez.[358][359][360]
Hong Kong	Visa not required[361]	14 days; Only the passport with biometric cover.
India PAP/RAP	PAP/RAP required	Protected Area Permit (PAP) required for whole states of Nagaland and Sikkim and parts of states Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh. Restricted Area Permit (RAP) required for all of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and parts of Sikkim. Some of these requirements are occasionally lifted for a year.[362][363][364][365][366][367]
Kazakhstan	Special permission required	Special permission required for the town of Baikonur and surrounding areas in Kyzylorda Oblast, and the town of Gvardeyskiy near Almaty.[368]
Kish Island	Visa not required	14 days; Visitors to Kish Island do not require a visa.[369]
Iraqi Kurdistan	Visa required[370]	If the guarantor applies and pays, the visitors may apply for an e-Visa.[371] e-Visa for 30 days is available at Erbil and Sulaymaniyah airports.
Macao	Visa not required[372]	90 days
Maldives	Permission required	With the exception of the capital Malé, tourists are generally prohibited from visiting non-resort islands without the express permission of the Government of Maldives.[373]
North Korea outside Pyongyang	Special permit required	People are not allowed to leave the capital city, tourists can only leave the capital with a governmental tourist guide (no independent moving)
Palestine	Visa not required[374]	Arrival by sea to Gaza Strip not allowed.[375]
Taiwan	Visa required[376]
Tibet Autonomous Region	TTP required	Tibet Travel Permit required (10 USD).[377][378][379]
Turkmenistan	Special permit required	A special permit, issued prior to arrival by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is required if visiting the following places: Atamurat, Cheleken, Dashoguz, Serakhs and Serhetabat.[380]
Korean Demilitarized Zone	Restricted zone.
UNDOF Zone and Ghajar	Restricted zone.
Phú Quốc	Visa not required	30 days[381]
Yemen	Special permission required	Special permission needed for travel outside Sanaa or Aden.[382]
Americas
Anguilla	eVisa[383]
Aruba	Visa not required[384]	30 days
Bermuda	Visa required[385]
Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba	Visa not required[386]	90 days
British Virgin Islands	Visa required[387]
Cayman Islands	Visa required[388]	Transit visa required.
Curaçao	Visa not required[389]	90 days
French Guiana	Visa not required[390]	90 days
French West Indies	Visa not required	90 days; includes overseas departments of Guadeloupe and Martinique and overseas collectivities of Saint Martin and Saint Barthélemy
Greenland	Visa not required[391]	90 days
Montserrat	eVisa[392][393]
Puerto Rico	Visa required[394]
Saint Pierre and Miquelon	Visa not required	90 days
Sint Maarten	Visa not required[395]	90 days
Turks and Caicos Islands	Visa required[396]
U.S. Virgin Islands	Visa required[397]
Oceania
American Samoa	Visa required[398]
Ashmore and Cartier Islands	Special authorisation required	Special authorisation required.[399]
Clipperton Island	Special permit required	Special permit required.[400]
Cook Islands	Visa not required	31 days[401]
Lau Province	Special permission required	Special permission required.[402]
French Polynesia	Visa not required[403]	90 days
Guam	Visa required[404]
New Caledonia	Visa not required[405]	90 days
Niue	Visa not required	30 days[406]
Northern Mariana Islands	Visa required[407]
Pitcairn Islands	Visa not required	14 days visa-free and landing fee USD 35 or tax of USD 5 if not going ashore.[408][409][410]
Tokelau	Entry permit required
United States Minor Outlying Islands	Special permits required	Special permits required for Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, Palmyra Atoll and Wake Island.[411][412][413][414][415][416][417]
Wallis and Futuna	Visa not required	90 days
South America
Galápagos	Pre-registration required	60 days; Visitors must pre-register to receive a 20 USD Transit Control Card (TCT).[418]
South Atlantic and Antarctica
Falkland Islands	Visa required[419]
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands	Permit required	Pre-arrival permit from the Commissioner required (72 hours/1 month for 110/160 pounds sterling).[420][421]
Antarctica	Special Permits Required	Special permits required for British Antarctic Territory, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Argentine Antarctica, Australian Antarctic Territory, Chilean Antarctic Territory, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Peter I Island, Queen Maud Land, Ross Dependency.[422][423][424][425][426][427][428][429][430][431][432][433]

Close

Blank passport pages

Many countries require a minimum number of blank pages to be available in the passport being presented, typically one or two pages.^[465] Endorsement pages, which often appear after the visa pages, are not counted as being valid or available.

Vaccination

The African countries of Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone and Togo, South Sudan and Uganda, along with French Guiana in South America, require all incoming passengers older than nine months to one year,^[466] to have a current International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis.^[467]

Some other countries require vaccination only if the passenger is coming from an infected area or has visited one recently or has transited for 12 hours in those countries: Algeria, Botswana, Cabo Verde, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Lesotho, Libya, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.^[468][469]

Passport validity length

Very few countries, such as Paraguay, just require a valid passport on arrival.

However many countries and groupings now require only an identity card – especially from their neighbours. Other countries may have special bilateral arrangements that depart from the generality of their passport validity length policies to shorten the period of passport validity required for each other's citizens^[470][471] or even accept passports that have already expired (but not been cancelled).^[472]

Some countries, such as Japan,^[473] Ireland and the United Kingdom,^[474] require a passport valid throughout the period of the intended stay.

In the absence of specific bilateral agreements, countries requiring passports to be valid for at least 6 more months on arrival include Afghanistan, Algeria, Anguilla, Bahrain,^[475] Bhutan, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Curaçao, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel,^[476] Jordan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Laos, Madagascar, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Peru,^[477] Philippines,^[478] Qatar, Rwanda, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tokelau, Tonga, Turkey, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Vanuatu, Venezuela, and Vietnam.^[479]

Countries requiring passports valid for at least 4 months on arrival include Micronesia and Zambia.

Countries requiring passports with a validity of at least 3 months beyond the date of intended departure include Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Honduras, Montenegro, Nauru, Moldova and New Zealand. Similarly, the EEA countries of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, all European Union countries (except Ireland) together with Switzerland also require 3 months validity beyond the date of the bearer's intended departure unless the bearer is an EEA or Swiss national.

Countries requiring passports valid for at least 3 months on arrival include Albania, North Macedonia, Panama, and Senegal.

Bermuda requires passports to be valid for at least 45 days upon entry.

Countries that require a passport validity of at least one month beyond the date of intended departure include Eritrea, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Macau, the Maldives^[480] and South Africa.

Criminal record

Some countries, including Australia, Canada, Fiji, New Zealand and the United States,^[482] routinely deny entry to non-citizens who have a criminal record, while others impose restrictions depending on the type of conviction and the length of the sentence.

Persona non grata

The government of a country can declare a diplomat persona non grata, banning them from entering the country or expelling them if they have already entered. In non-diplomatic use, the authorities of a country may also declare a foreigner persona non grata permanently or temporarily, usually because of unlawful activity.^[483]

Israeli stamps

Kuwait,^[484] Lebanon,^[485] Libya,^[486] and Yemen^[487] do not allow entry to people with passport stamps from Israel or whose passports have either a used or an unused Israeli visa, or where there is evidence of previous travel to Israel such as entry or exit stamps from neighbouring border posts in transit countries such as Jordan and Egypt.

To circumvent this Arab League boycott of Israel, the Israeli immigration services have now mostly ceased to stamp foreign nationals' passports on either entry to or exit from Israel (unless the entry is for some work-related purposes). Since 15 January 2013, Israel no longer stamps foreign passports at Ben Gurion Airport. Passports are still (as of 22 June 2017^[update]) stamped at Erez when passing into and out of Gaza.^{[citation needed]}

Iran refuses admission to holders of passports containing an Israeli visa or stamp that is less than 12 months old.

Biometrics

Several countries mandate that all travellers, or all foreign travellers, be fingerprinted on arrival and will refuse admission to or even arrest travellers who refuse to comply. In some countries, such as the United States, this may apply even to transit passengers who merely wish to change planes rather than go landside.^[488]

Fingerprinting countries/regions include Afghanistan,^[489][490] Argentina,^[491] Brunei, Cambodia,^[492] China,^[493] Ethiopia,^[494] Ghana, Guinea,^[495] India, Japan,^[496][497] Kenya (both fingerprints and a photo are taken),^[498] Malaysia upon entry and departure,^[499] Mongolia, Saudi Arabia,^[500] the Schengen Area,^[501] Singapore, South Korea,^[502] Taiwan, Thailand,^[503] Uganda,^[504] the United Arab Emirates and the United States.

Many countries also require a photo be taken of people entering the country. The United States, which does not fully implement exit control formalities at its land frontiers (although long mandated by its own legislation),^{[505][506][507]} intends to implement facial recognition for passengers departing from international airports to identify people who overstay their visa.^[508]

Together with fingerprint and face recognition, iris scanning is one of three biometric identification technologies internationally standardised since 2006 by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for use in e-passports^[509] and the United Arab Emirates conducts iris scanning on visitors who need to apply for a visa.^[510][511] The United States Department of Homeland Security has announced plans to greatly increase the biometric data it collects at US borders.^[512] In 2018, Singapore began trials of iris scanning at three land and maritime immigration checkpoints.^[513][514]