Visa Overstay Fines - Updates?

[shuti]

Zdravo!

I'm in Serbia with a student visa, and my gf (Japanese) came to stay with me.
She entered in Serbia for the first time in late July, and immediately went out for a couple of weeks.
When back we rented an apartment and registered at the police, in late August.
After that we went out again, in early November, and we could re-enter a few days later without apparent probems.

So.... if we go out of Serbia so that she does not spend more than 90 days consecutively in the country, is she breaking the Immigration Law? If yes, what is the sanction she might be faced with?

Thank you for the reply!   

[Dragance]

Zdravo 

Well, I'm not quite sure about allowed stay for Japanese, but, if the situation is similar like for us if we want to go to Europe, I think that she can stay maximally 90 days in any period of 180 days. That means that you should calculate all the days she stayed here in last 6 months. 
If she breaks the law, I think she will be deported from the country, but I'm not sure if she will be prohibited to enter Serbia again for some period. The best thing you can do, guys, is to go to the embassy of Japan and discuss about everything.
Wish you a luck!

[chaba]

I'm guessing that you have a temporary residence permit because you study in Serbia? If so, your girlfriend can also get a temporary residence permit if you find 2 witnesses that can testify that you are living in de-facto marriage. Then she can come and go whenever she likes, as long as your visa is valid.

Just a thought... 

[slobo665]

In our Law on Foreigners is written next:

"Entry into and stay in the Republic of Serbia without a visa
Article 12
An international treaty or a Government decision may establish that citizens of particular countries may enter the Republic of Serbia without a visa, provided that obstacles referred to in Article 11 hereof do not exist.
The Government shall be competent to decide that citizens of particular countries may also enter the Republic of Serbia using a valid personal identity card, and/or other document which can confirm their identity and citizenship, on condition that obstacles referred to in Article 11, paragraph 1, Items 2) to of the Law do not exist.
A foreigner who does not need a visa or a travel document to enter the Republic of Serbia may stay in the country for a maximum period of 90 days, within a timeframe of six months starting from the day of the first entry.
"

Entire law you can find on next link: http://www.mup.gov.rs/cms_eng/home.nsf/inf-for-foreigners.h

But in fact I still didn't hear any story that someone had any problem, mostly people just exit once in 3 months and enter again in our country or even stay as much as they want.
Fine for violation of Law (article 83-86 in Law) is between 30eur and 500eur, in your case probably it will be around 50eur, but I still don't know anybody who had that problem.


My advice will be to visit police office (I hope that you are in some big city Belgrade, Novi Sad or Nis because in smaller cities you can have problem in communication with administration in police) and get all information that you need for temporary residence. (our Law on Foreigners article 24 - 33 are allowing that you need just two witness for non marriage society). I already have experience with this procedure and if you want I can help you.

[loudmavlon]

But in fact I still didn't hear any story that someone had any problem, mostly people just exit once in 3 months and enter again in our country or even stay as much as they want.
Fine for violation of Law (article 83-86 in Law) is between 30eur and 500eur, in your case probably it will be around 50eur, but I still don't know anybody who had that problem.

How do they work your stay out? Is it done at registration at the Police station or when they scan you at passport control? Certainly not done by exit and entry stamps as they don't always stamp your passport (or they haven't with mine which makes it a sod to calculate )

[Lazar]

   That's a very good question. Registration at the police station is obligatory on paper, but in reality most foreigners never do it. If there's no stamp in the passport, I can't think of a way for them to keep track of your days in Serbia. Unless they use some kind of a database? I'm also curious to hear the answer.

[slobo665]

But in fact I still didn't hear any story that someone had any problem, mostly people just exit once in 3 months and enter again in our country or even stay as much as they want.
Fine for violation of Law (article 83-86 in Law) is between 30eur and 500eur, in your case probably it will be around 50eur, but I still don't know anybody who had that problem.

How do they work your stay out? Is it done at registration at the Police station or when they scan you at passport control? Certainly not done by exit and entry stamps as they don't always stamp your passport (or they haven't with mine which makes it a sod to calculate )

They can determinate your length of stay by looking in computer scan of passport on enter point in Serbia, but I think that can't be determinate by police officer who works on border for that is incharge some department of immigration police in Belgrade. I know this information just from talking with one guy who apply to work in this department, this is not official information.

Anyway I still don't know anybody who had this problem but I know many people who braking this rules.

[Billy Idol]

afaik, there shouldn't be any database of entry and exit, even schengen zone shouldn't use such a thing, because i suppose it could be a big privacy issue...

but i'm also curious about the precise answer.

[chaba]

They have some weird rules that are changing all the time. For example, if you go from Serbia to Croatia with a bus, they scan your passport. If you go with a train, they never scan it, and sometimes don't even give you a stamp. So what is the point of scanning the passports then?

When I came to Serbia this December (I'm a Serbian citizen), the Serbian border guy asked me where is my exit stamp. When he couldn't find it he "checked me" through his voki-toki. What does he care about my exit stamp when according to law he can't prevent me from entering my own country even if I don't have a passport with me?

But in 80% of cases they never ask me anything, they sometimes don't even stamp my passport. So I don't see much logic in how they work...