More and more Australians are immigrating to Serbia

1. How would you explain the great interest of Australian citizens in life in Serbia?

Having in mind the current situation and the things that are happening worldwide, we expected a situation like this. Few decades ago, there was a different trend and Australia was considered a promised land. Many people left our country and went to Australia in pursuit of a better life; most of them successfully started their lives in a new country, they started their families and made careers. In the last few years, mostly due to the pandemic, Australia has imposed different restrictions affecting all spheres of life. Although the majority of our people claim that they have always known that they will return at some point, nobody believed that these would be the reasons for the accelerated re-migration. Many of them are Australian citizens, who have brought their children, spouses and friends to Serbia.

2. Who are your most frequent clients from Australia?

A large number of Australian citizens who have decided to live in Serbia are married to our citizens. They have already been to Serbia and they know a lot about the country, but they never thought that they would actually live here. Many families with children, which want to uproot their life and move to Serbia, have reached to us. We communicate with them every day, helping them to move to Serbia in the smoothest way possible. Moving can be very stressful, especially for children. We understand that and we are trying to make it easier for them as much as possible. When we take over the entire administrative, legal and organizational part of the work, our clients have more time to enjoy and get to know the country.

We also have many young clients. Some of them have parents who were born in Serbia, while others are not connected to Serbia in any way, but they say that they were attracted by everything they read and heard while searching for a new place to live. Apart from this, the number of retirees who choose Serbia as a new place to live, mostly by buying real estate in a natural setting, not far from cities is also important.

3. In your opinion, what attracts people to Serbia?

We think that several important factors have coincided in Serbia and aroused such high interest. First, Serbia has always maintained friendly relationships with most world countries and we have very good relations with Australia. When people are making a decision about the place where they want to move, it is very important how a foreign country will accept them and how they will feel in it.

The second important factor is the accelerated economic growth of Serbia over the last few years. A stable business environment, the presence of European banks, a large number of international agreements are some of the factors attracting businessmen not only from Australia but many other countries.

Work has always been a factor that tied people down to specific countries and cities, and limited them when choosing a place to live. Many people left Serbia and went abroad looking for a job. Today, the things are different. Along with domestic companies, there are many foreign companies in Serbia, while the modern work style has introduced new flexibility and gave people in many spheres the freedom to choose where they will work from.

Another factor that our clients have been pointing out lately is the high quality of life with relatively low costs and greater personal freedom compared to Australia and other European countries.

4. What are the most common problems people face when they decide to move to Serbia?

Primarily, it is paperwork, whether we are talking about a company registration or real estate purchase. Apart from that, there is Serbian banking system, which is slightly more complicated when it comes to foreign nationals. Furthermore, when they move to a different country, people often do not understand how the taxation works, which is something we can also help about because we have people with many years of experience in accounting and tax consulting in our team. When it comes to a family with children, there is also the issue related to the children’s enrolment in a proper school, so that they would continue their education where they left off in their country.

The process of applying for a temporary residence permit is complicated for someone who was not born in Serbia and it is very important to enclose proper and complete documentation, as well as to meet all the conditions required to obtain the temporary residence permit to prevent rejection, which often happens when people try to do it on their own, without legal and administrative assistance.

5. What would you like to say to those considering the option to move to Serbia?

We would like to say that we will be glad to see them here, regardless of their Serbian roots, and that they should not let the complications related to legal and administrative procedures stop them. Instead, they should leave it to our team and enjoy getting to know Serbia, its culture and tradition.