The nationals of the Republic of Serbia living abroad wishing to vote in the Referendum of the Republic of Serbia for the confirmation of the Act on the Amendments of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia scheduled for January 16, 2022, can exercise their voting right by casting their vote in a diplomatic-consular mission under whose jurisdiction they reside abroad.
 
All nationals of the Republic of Serbia, 18 years or older, with legal residence in the Republic of Serbia, have a right to vote in the elections.
 
The voters cast their vote exclusively in person in the Consulate General of the Republic of Serbia. As a proof of identity, the voters need to present either a valid passport or a valid identity card of the Republic of Serbia.
 
Even if you previously voted in the Consulate of the Republic of Serbia in New York you are still obliged to register to vote abroad in the Referendum.
 
Before submitting a registration, please visit the Electoral Commission web site and, by entering your unique citizenship number (JMBG), check whether your name has been entered into the Unified List of Voters.
 
1. If your name is listed in the Unified List of Voters, you shall register for voting abroad by filling out Request for registration of the fact that a voter will be voting abroad. Your request and a copy of your valid passport or a printout of your valid identity card of the Republic of Serbia should be submitted to the Consulate General of the Republic of Serbia in New York.
 
2. If your name is not listed in the Unified List of Voters, along with the Request for registration of the fact that a voter will be voting abroad and a copy of your valid passport or a printout of your valid identity card of the Republic of Serbia, you need to fill out and submit a Request for entering a voter into Unified List of Voters.
 
Your request to vote can be submitted either:
 
- by sending an e-mail to: izbori.njujork2020@mfa.rs (all documents submitted need to be scanned as a single file)
 - by mail to the following address: Consulate General of the Republic of Serbia,  62 W 45th Street, 7th Floor New York, NY 10036
 - by fax at: +1 (212) 596 4363, or
 - in person, in the Consulate General of the Republic of Serbia in New York.
 

DEADLINE FOR REGISTRATION FOR VOTING ABROAD IS DECEMBER 25, 2021 AT 4 PM.

Citizens of the Republic of Serbia and foreign nationals with approved temporary or permanent residence in the Republic of Serbia arriving from any country in the world with an unfavourable epidemiological situation, who do not hold a negative result of the RT-PCR test for the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, issued by the reference laboratory of the country from which they are coming and/or entering the Republic of Serbia, or persons arriving from the United States of America who do not hold a negative Antigen FIA Rapid test result issued within the previous 48 hours, will be issued a written notice during passport control ― a health warning of their obligation to adhere to the 10-day home-quarantine measure, as of the date of crossing the state border, and will be warned of the obligation to register with the competent COVID-19 infirmary or the territorially competent institute for public health, through this portal: www.e-zdravlje.gov.rs, within 24 hours of crossing the state border.

The above entry conditions do not apply to:

1) Citizens of the Republic of Serbia and foreign nationals with approved temporary or permanent residence in the Republic of Serbia arriving from: Republic of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Bulgaria, the Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Hungary;

2) Accredited staff members of foreign diplomatic-consular representative offices and international organisation offices, as well as members of their families carrying special ID cards and/or identification papers issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the General Secretariat of the Government;

3) Citizens of neighbouring countries from the border area who conduct agricultural work and/or own agricultural land on the border territory of the Republic of Serbia or neighbouring country. When crossing the state border to conduct agricultural works on the land, they must present evidence of ownership of the agricultural land or a statement by the owner of the agricultural land that they are conducting agricultural works on that land, under the condition of reciprocity;

4) Citizens of neighbouring countries who reside in the border area and are employed on the territory of the Republic of Serbia or neighbouring country, for whom their employer has issued an employment document, under the condition of reciprocity;

5) Flight and air cabin crew flying to the Republic of Serbia as their final destination;

6) Foreign nationals conducting international transport services, for the purpose of loading or unloading goods, or transporting passengers to or through the Republic of Serbia, i.e., members of the following crews:

Freight motor vehicles when conducting international road transport. Transit is limited to 12 hours from the moment of entry into the territory of the Republic of Serbia,

Freight ships transporting goods to one of the national ports. Transit navigation on an international waterway within the territory of the Republic of Serbia is limited to 90 hours for ship compositions or 60 hours for self-propelled vessels from the moment of entry into the territory of the Republic of Serbia in case of upstream navigation, or 72 hours for ship compositions or 54 hours for self-propelled vessels from the moment of entry into the territory of the Republic of Serbia in case of downstream navigation,

Buses in scheduled or international passenger transport, whether the Republic of Serbia is a transit country on their route, or their final destination or starting point,

Railway vehicles and train staff.

Humanitarian convoys agreed upon by diplomatic means;

7) Minors up to 12 years of age;

8) Persons who stayed outside the territory of the Republic of Serbia for less than 48 hours and hold a negative result of the RT-PCR test for the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, issued within the previous 48 hours, by a reference laboratory in the Republic of Serbia. If a traveller’s journey has been delayed up to the moment of entry into the Republic of Serbia which cannot be ascribed to the traveller, i.e. the delay was caused by an external event which could not be foreseen, avoided or eliminated (flight or bus/train departure delay/postponement, etc.), the date of issuance of the negative test result may be no older than 72 hours at the time of entry into the Republic of Serbia;

9) Citizens of the Republic of Serbia and foreign nationals with approved temporary or permanent residence in the Republic of Serbia who are fully vaccinated (vaccinated with two doses, or a single dose if vaccinated using the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine) and holding a certificate of vaccination issued by а healthcare institution, e.i. competent authority of the country where the person has been vaccinated.

ENTRY REGIME FOR FOREIGN NATIONALS

To protect against the transmission of contagious diseases to the territory of the Republic of Serbia, travellers arriving to the Republic of Serbia from any country in the world with an unfavourable epidemiological situation, will be allowed entry into the Republic of Serbia provided that they hold a negative result of the RT-PCR test for the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, issued within the previous 48 hours by a reference laboratory in the country from which they are coming and/or entering the Republic of Serbia.

If a traveller’s journey has been delayed up to the moment of entry into the Republic of Serbia which cannot be ascribed to the traveller, i.e., the delay was caused by an external event which could not be foreseen, avoided or eliminated (flight or bus/train departure delay/postponement, etc.), the date of issuance of the negative test result may be no older than 72 hours at the time of entry into the Republic of Serbia.

Persons arriving from the United States of America may present a negative Antigen FIA Rapid test result in lieu of a negative RT-PCR test, under the same conditions.

The stated does not apply to the citizens of the Republic of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Bulgaria, the Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Hungary, when entering the Republic of Serbia directly from the country which citizenship they possess.

Persons, who are not citizens of the above-mentioned countries, but have an approved temporary or permanent residence in those countries, and are arriving to the Republic of Serbia directly from those countries, will be allowed to enter provided that, within 48 hours of crossing the state border, they submit to the territorially competent institute for public health a negative result of the RT-PCR test for the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus or antigen test for the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, issued by a reference laboratory in the Republic of Serbia.

The above entry conditions do not apply to:

1) Foreign nationals transiting through the Republic of Serbia. Transit time for foreign nationals is limited to 12 hours from the moment of entry into the territory of the Republic of Serbia;

2) Flight and air cabin crew flying to the Republic of Serbia as their final destination;

3) Crew, staff, and passengers transiting and/or transferring through the international airports in the Republic of Serbia;

4) Accredited staff members of foreign diplomatic-consular representative offices and international organisation offices, as well as members of their families carrying special ID cards and/or identification papers issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the General Secretariat of the Government;

5) Minors up to 12 years of age, if their parent, guardian or the person accompanying them, has a negative test result, if required;

6) Foreign nationals with approved temporary or permanent residence in the Republic of Serbia;

7) Members of foreign military, police or other security services transiting through the territory of the Republic of Serbia or arriving to the Republic of Serbia to perform official duties with prior notice;

8) Persons who have been vaccinated in the Republic of Serbia and hold a valid certificate of vaccination and citizens of countries with which the Republic of Serbia has concluded an agreement on the mutual recognition of immunization certificates, who have been vaccinated in said country and hold a valid certificate issued by the competent state authority – Covid vaccine legitimation (states: Hungary, Turkey, UAE). In both cases person must be fully vaccinated (vaccinated with two doses, or a single dose if vaccinated using the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine);

9) Citizens of Croatia who are full-time or part-time students at a higher education institutions in the Republic of Serbia, and can prove their status with a public document issued by higher education institutions of the Republic of Serbia - student booklet (index).

Other exceptions

I) The above entry conditions do not apply to foreign nationals conducting international transport services, for the purpose of loading or unloading goods, or transporting passengers to or through the Republic of Serbia, i.e., members of the following crews:

a) Freight motor vehicles when conducting international road transport. Transit is limited to 12 hours from the moment of entry into the territory of the Republic of Serbia,

b) Freight ships transporting goods to one of the national ports. Transit navigation on an international waterway within the territory of the Republic of Serbia is limited to 90 hours for ship compositions or 60 hours for self-propelled vessels from the moment of entry into the territory of the Republic of Serbia in case of upstream navigation, or 72 hours for ship compositions or 54 hours for self-propelled vessels from the moment of entry into the territory of the Republic of Serbia in case of downstream navigation,

c) Buses in scheduled or international passenger transport, whether the Republic of Serbia is a transit country on their route, or their final destination or starting point,

d) Railway vehicles and train staff,

e) Humanitarian convoys agreed upon by diplomatic means.

II) The above entry conditions do not apply to citizens of neighbouring countries from the border area who conduct agricultural work and/or own agricultural land on the border territory of the Republic of Serbia or neighbouring country. When crossing the state border to conduct agricultural works on the land, they must present evidence of ownership of the agricultural land or a statement by the owner of the agricultural land that they are conducting agricultural works on that land, under the condition of reciprocity.

III) The above entry conditions do not apply to citizens of neighbouring countries who reside in the border area and are employed on the territory of the Republic of Serbia or neighbouring country, for whom their employer has issued an employment document, under the condition of reciprocity.

REQUIREMENTS FOR ENTERING USA BY SERBIAN CITIZENS DURING COVID19 PANDEMIC

Citizens of the Republic of Serbia, from November 8, will be able to travel to the USA only if they have been vaccinated against Covid – 19 (this does not apply to American citizens, holders of a Green card and immigrant visas, as well as diplomatic visas). It is necessary to present a proof of full vaccination and a negative Covid19 test (not older than 3 days).
A person is considered fully vaccinated:
- 2 weeks (14 days) after an accepted single-dose COVID-19 vaccine
- 2 weeks (14 days) after second dose of an accepted 2-dose series
- 2 weeks (14 days) after receiving the full series of an active (not placebo) COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S.-based AstraZeneca or Novavax COVID-19 vaccine trials
- 2 weeks (14 days) after receiving 2 doses of any “mix-and-match” combination of accepted COVID-19 vaccines administered at least 17 days apart
Accepted COVID-19 Vaccines in USA are: Janssen/J&J, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Covishield, BIBP/Sinopharm and Sinovac.

ENTERING SERBIA FOR BUSINESS PURPOSES

Serbian and foreign nationals entering the Republic of Serbia for business purposes, with prior notice to the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, may enter the Republic of Serbia under the condition that, within 24 hours of crossing the state border, they submit to the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry a negative result of the RT-PCR test or antigen test for the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, issued by a reference laboratory in the Republic of Serbia.

The Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry will forward the notice of crossing the state border without delay to the Ministry of the Interior ― Border Police Administration, but no later than 24 hours prior to the expected crossing of the state border.

If a person fails to submit a negative result of the RT-PCR test or antigen test for the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus within 24 hours of crossing the state border, or if the test result is positive for the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry will inform the territorially competent institute for public health about this without delay. 

At the end of his visit to Chicago, where he spent the Christmas holidays with members of the Serbian diaspora, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Nikola Selakovic stated today that Serbia would deal more intensively with the needs of Serbs living outside the homeland.

"We came here not to ask anything from the members of the diaspora, but to hear from them what they expect from the motherland and what Serbia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office for Cooperation with the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region can do for them", Selakovic said.

According to him, one of the most numerous Serbian communities in the world lived in Chicago and its surroundings, which is connected by a very strong patriotic feeling and the Serbian Orthodox Church, which had been active in that area for more than a century.

“I was able to see that our people here have an extremely high potential. And that is what we have to work on much more in the future, on establishing even greater national unity, even stronger ties with the motherland - the Republic of Serbia, and to work much more on promoting what Serbia is today”, the Serbian Foreign Minister said.

On the second day of Christmas, Selakovic visited the oldest Serb organization in this part of the USA - the Serbian National Defense, talked to members of various associations of the Serbian people and participated in the celebration of the patron saint day of the Republic of Srpska.

Minister Selakovic pointed out that the visit to Chicago was also an invaluable opportunity to meet with representatives of the business community in this part of the United States, who have the desire and need to invest and increase their capital in different parts of the world.

Selakovic underlined that this was an opportunity to promote Serbia as one of the fastest growing economies in Europe and a country that is the absolute regional leader in attracting foreign investments.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikola Selaković told the Serbs in Chicago that the compatriots in the diaspora and the region are one of the absolute priorities for the state of Serbia and for him personally.

Minister Selakovic, who is spending the Christmas holidays with Serbs living in Chicago, spoke with representatives of associations, organizations and prominent individuals from the Serbian diaspora at the headquarters of the Serbian National Defense Council (SND).

In the conversation, he stated that Serbia's attitude towards the largest Serbian community outside the homeland, in the United States, went through different phases - from the persecution of people who had different views and different ideals through complete negligence to the time periods when some state officials visited the diaspora only to seek for help for themselves or for the people.

He also pointed out that Serbia has not had a Consul General in Chicago for eight years, whose duty is to meet with citizens, talk to them and to listen to them as there is a huge potential in the Serbian community in that city.

Saying that there will not be many of us if we divide, quarrel and do not understand each other, the Minister stated that last year he had about 400 meetings with foreign officials who were interested in how Serbia grew from a country with no perspective into what it is today, which, he said, it had succeeded through work and the creation of unity.

"After we managed to consolidate the situation at home, we can now turn to other things and our diaspora and expatriates take an important place in this context," Selaković said.

He also conveyed to the those gathered that President Aleksandar Vučić said that last year Serbia attracted more than four billion dollars of direct foreign investments, which is a record that surpassed the best 2019 so far. 

Minister Selaković said that he came to Chicago on Christmas, a holiday that is spent with the family and not visiting, because he was among his own people.

"I feel that way from the very first moment. I came to hear what you have to say, to hear what your troubles are, problems, how you see Serbia today and in what context and in which way it needs to pay more attention to you," the Minister said.

Welcoming the guests, the President of the SND in the USA, Dragan Vujosevic, said that this was a historic event since for the first time official representatives of the motherland met Serbs at the headquarters of this oldest Serbian association in the USA, which was founded by Mihajlo Pupin at the beginning of the last century.

The Consul General of Serbia in Chicago Damnjan Jovic said that the goal was to save Serbian organizations from extinction, to restore the old splendor and importance of SND and other associations.

The Director of the Directorate for Cooperation with the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region Arnaud Gouillon pointed out that for him Christmas was a holiday when the family gathers and that since 2015, when he decided to be converted to Orthodox religion together with his daughter Milena, Christmas has been the Orthodox and spiritual holiday for him that he likes to celebrate where he feels more spiritual.

That is why, he said, he often celebrated Christmas in Kosovo and Metohija, in the Gracanica or Visoki Decani monasteries.

"When we celebrated Christmas, this time in the Holy Resurrection Cathedral in Chicago, the feeling was the same as in Kosovo and Metohija, the feeling that we were all in a great sanctuary, even though this one was not in Serbia, but it was spiritually connected with the Serbian people" he underlined.

He also mentioned the famous scientist Mihajlo Pupin, the founder of the SND, saying that today the people who speak, think and dream in Serbian and live in the USA are his successors.

"Many other communities have blended into, but you are proof that the Serbian community, although well integrated, has not forgotten its roots. That's because Serbs, in addition to preserving their language, also have their Orthodox faith, Saintsavahood, the Kosovo Myth and associations that have been functioning and bringing together all people on this continent for decades," Gouillon said.

Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikola Selaković attended the premiere of the documentary "The Last Hero of Halyard" in Chicago on Christmas, which tells the story of the fate of George Vujnovich, the only American war hero of Serbian origin who rests in the country of his ancestors.

The screening of the film and the reception, organized by the Consulate General of Serbia and the Halyard Mission Foundation at the Pritzker Military Museum and Library in downtown Chicago, were attended by numerous Americans, representatives of the Serbian diaspora and the diplomatic corps.

On that occasion, Minister Selaković stated that the film spoke about the primordial closeness between Serbian people and their allies in the Second World War, and that it aroused a sense of pride and sadness because the heroic operation to rescue American pilots in Serbia has not been known for decades.

"In this way, we revive the memory of those people and show the genuine humanness of the Serbian people while celebrating a kind of our historical alliance and friendship with the United States," Selaković said.

As he pointed out, today we are witnessing what will one day be history, and President Aleksandar Vučić and the Government of Serbia are making efforts to further develop cooperation with the United States, to build a new partnership in the times to come.

"I am convinced that many forgotten pages of our common history will come to the fore only in the time ahead. This was a special moment for our Serbian community in the United States, and especially here in Chicago, and a unique way to celebrate Christmas and our alliance and friendship. "Selaković said.

Minister Selaković celebrated Christmas in Chicago with Serbian diaspora, attending the Christmas liturgy officiated by Bishop Longin of New Gracanica and Midwestern America and the clergy in the Holy Resurrection Serbian Orthodox Cathedral.