on the mere fact of having been born in the territory of Serbia. Therefore, this Article is
certainly applicable to the described situations in which the mother is a person without
documents and the child is without recognised paternity. Unfortunately, for some reason
registrars avoid to register citizenship on that basis and for all these years Praxis has never
encountered such a case. The procedures of determining citizenship before the Ministry of
Interior on the basis of Article 13 were not conducted without difficulties either. It seems that
this problem could be easily solved by the competent Ministry’s opinion, issued to the
registrars, about the implementation of Article 13 of the Law on Citizenship, which would
emphasise that the children born in Serbia acquire citizenship by birth in the territory of the
Republic Serbia, if they do not meet the requirements for acquiring citizenship by descent,
and that in such case it is necessary to register the fact of citizenship in birth registry books.
Unfortunately, the opportunity has been missed to regulate this issue in the aforementioned
Instruction for conducting administrative procedures according to the “one-stop” system.
RIGHT TO REGISTRATION OF PERMANENT RESIDENCE
REGISTRATION OF PERMANENT RESIDENCE FOR NEWBORN CHILDREN: At
the beginning of 2016, the Rulebook on the procedure of registration and de-registration of
the permanent and temporary residence of citizens, registration of temporary stay abroad and
return from abroad, suspension of permanent and temporary residence, forms and manner of
record keeping (Rulebook)26 was supplemented with the provisions simplifying the procedure
for registration of permanent residence of newborn children. At the same time, the
amendments to the Law on Republic Administrative Fees prescribed the exemption from the
payment of fees for the registration of permanent residence of newborn children, as well as
the exemption from the payment of fees for the issuance of certificates of permanent
residence registration of newborn children.
According to the adopted amendments to the Rulebook, determination of citizen’s unique
personal number (JMBG) for the newborn child, whose both parents are citizens of the
Republic of Serbia and have registered permanent residence at the same address, is considered
the child’s registration of permanent residence at the address of his or her parents. The
registration of permanent residence of a newborn child whose parents have different addresses
of permanent residence can be performed by the parents in a health care institution, by filling
in the form of permanent residence registration. After the child’s registration into birth
registry books, the completed registration form is forwarded electronically to the
organisational unit of the Ministry of Interior in the place of registration, which, if the legal
requirements are met, shall register the child’s permanent residence.
Therefore, the parents do not have to go any more to the police station to register permanent
residence of a newborn child and do not have to pay fees. These are important changes that
will result in a higher number of children with registered permanent residence immediately
after birth, which is a precondition for exercising other guaranteed rights.
SUBMISSION OF REQUEST FOR REGISTRATION OF PERMANENT
RESIDENCE: As already said, as regards the procedures for acquiring citizenship, fewer
problems have been identified this year and the conduct of police officers has improved.
26
Article 6 of the Rulebook, Official Gazette of RS, nos. 68/2013,106/2013 and 3/2016
19
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