Unfortunately, this cannot be said for the procedures of permanent residence registration. In
fact, all problems identified in the previous years have occurred again at the same scale in
2016. Thus, it often happened that the parties who tried to submit a request were verbally
refused. Most often it occurred to the persons who submitted a request for permanent
residence registration and issuance of ID card for the first time. In a large number of cases, the
officials instructed them to submit a request in their places of birth. These are very often the
persons born in Kosovo, who would have to travel several hundreds of kilometres to the
police administrations relocated from Kosovo in order to submit a request. However, a much
bigger problem lies in the fact that these persons do not possess a real estate in the place of
their birth where they could register permanent residence, and in the fact that they have lost
all links with the place of their birth a long time ago. Hence, not only can they not register
permanent residence in that place (because they do not have a legal basis for housing), but the
officials’ instruction to do so constitutes, in fact, the encouragement to violate the law by
registering permanent residence in the place that is not the place of their permanent residence.
In fact, the place of permanent residence is the place in which a citizen has settled with an
intention to live there permanently or the place that is the centre of his or her life activities,
professional, economic, social and other links that prove his or her permanent connection to
the place of settlement27. It is completely clear that the persons who left their place of birth
over 15 years ago and do not have any intention to return there, and who have settled,
established a family, got children and earn for living in some other cities - cannot have
permanent residence in the places of their birth. Unfortunately, some parties sometimes
complied with the officials’ instructions and travelled to the police administrations and
stations in the places of their birth, but did not succeed in registering their permanent
residence there, logically, and only wasted significant amounts of money. And these citizens
are usually very poor.
In a number of cases, the parties were instructed to address the police stations in the places of
their birth also if their citizen’s unique personal number was not determined. Such officials’
conduct also constitutes the violation of law, because it is prescribed that in the cases in which
the citizen’s JMBG (CUPN) has not been determined, it shall be determined by the competent
body at the time of issuing an ID or at the time of registration or de-registration of permanent
residence28. Besides, in some cases this year, although significantly fewer than before, the
parties were instructed to address the police stations in the places of their birth even if their
information was not recorded in the so-called police system, although it would be much
quicker and easier to enter data in the system ex officio.
Sporadically it still happened that the parties were instructed to address the police station
where they had registered permanent residence to de-register their “old“ permanent residence
to be able to register new one, although it is not even possible to de-register permanent
residence without registering new residence at the same time (except in the case of
emigration), which means that the registration of new permanent residence automatically
means that the previous permanent residence has been de-registered.29
REGISTRATION OF PERMANENT RESIDENCE FOR PERSONS WITHOUT
LEGAL BASIS OF HOUSING: The law has allowed the persons who do not have an
27
Article 3, paragraph 1, point 2 of the Law on Permanent and Temporary Residence of Citizens, Official
Gazette of RS, no. 87/2011
28
Article 9, paragraph 1 of the Law on Citizen’s Unique Personal Number, Official Gazette of SRS nos. 53/78,
5/83, 24/85 and 6/89 and Official Gazette of RS, nos. 53/93, 67/93, 48/94 and 101/2005
29
Article 9, paragraph 4 and Article 14 of the Law on Permanent and Temporary Residence of Citizens
20
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