MPs file draft Law on Citizenship to replace 2004 statute

A new Draft Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Serbia, dated 30 April 2026, was formally received by the National Assembly on 5 May 2026. It was submitted by MPs Bojan Torbica and Đorđe Komlenski, rather than by the Government, with a request that it be considered under the urgent procedure provided for in Article 167 of the Rules of Procedure. The bill remains listed by the National Assembly among bills in procedure.

If adopted, the new law would replace the current Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Serbia (Official Gazette RS 135/04, 90/07 and 24/18). Under Article 54, the existing statute would cease to have effect on the date the new law begins to apply.

The draft retains the established grounds of acquisition by origin, birth on Serbian territory, naturalisation (prijem) and international treaty, but restructures belonging to the Serbian nation as a separate statutory ground for acquiring citizenship. Although several of the persons covered by this ground are already eligible for facilitated naturalisation under the current law, the draft would move them into a distinct legal regime.

Articles 9 to 13 cover, among others, emigrants and their descendants who can establish their belonging to the Serbian nation, ethnic Serbs without residence in Serbia, certain persons born in other former SFRY republics and their descendants, and Serbian refugees, expelled or displaced persons living either in Serbia or abroad. Belonging to the Serbian nation must be demonstrated through public documents or information contained in official state records showing that the applicant has declared or been recorded as belonging to the Serbian nation.

The procedural treatment of this ground is particularly significant. For a complete application, the Ministry of the Interior would be required to issue an act determining that the statutory conditions are met within 30 days and forward it without delay for registration. If the Ministry fails to act within the statutory period, the conditions for registration are deemed to have been satisfied. This is not the same as automatic acquisition of citizenship after 30 days: under Article 12, citizenship is acquired on the date of entry in the citizenship records.

For foreign nationals generally, Article 15 largely carries forward the existing naturalisation framework. The applicant must have been granted permanent residence in Serbia, be at least 18 and legally capable, satisfy the requirement concerning release from previous citizenship or an applicable exception, have had a continuously registered place of residence in Serbia for at least three years before filing, and submit a written statement recognising Serbia as their own state. The draft also retains facilitated routes for a foreign spouse of a Serbian citizen who has been married for at least three years and has permanent residence in Serbia (Article 17), and for a person born in Serbia who has continuously resided in the country for at least two years before applying (Article 19).

The explanatory memorandum states more generally that most existing statutory solutions are being retained in substance and that the naturalisation provisions largely preserve the existing framework, subject to clarification and systematisation.

Article 39 preserves the Ministry's general power to refuse an application for naturalisation or termination of citizenship even where the statutory conditions are met, where reasons connected with the interests of the Republic of Serbia justify refusal. Importantly, the draft expressly excludes acquisition on the basis of belonging to the Serbian nation from that discretionary refusal power.

The draft also carries forward the existing mechanism allowing the Ministry to annul an acquisition, loss or registration of citizenship obtained contrary to the applicable citizenship rules, including through false or falsified documents, false statements, incorrect facts or other abuses or irregularities, provided that annulment would not leave the person stateless. This appears in Article 43 of the draft and corresponds substantially to Article 45 of the current law.

Under Article 55, the law would enter into force on the eighth day following publication in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia and would begin to apply 60 days after its entry into force.

STATT assessment

The proposal should not presently be treated as enacted or imminent law. It is an MP-sponsored bill rather than a Government bill, and a request for urgent procedure does not itself mean that Parliament will schedule, debate or adopt it. As of 8 September 2026, the National Assembly continues to list the proposal among bills in procedure.

The most significant feature is not simply that the draft introduces an “ethnicity route”, since related categories already exist under the current law. Rather, it would recast belonging to the Serbian nation as an autonomous, substantially rule-based ground of acquisition, supported by documentary proof, a statutory decision period, a deemed-satisfaction mechanism where the Ministry fails to act, and an express exemption from the Ministry's general state-interest refusal power.

If enacted in this form, that could make qualifying cases materially more predictable and potentially faster than ordinary naturalisation. It would not, however, guarantee Serbian citizenship within 30 days, because citizenship under the draft arises only upon registration in the citizenship records.