Serbia’s “Citizenship by Investment” That Isn’t One.

By Hyong-jin Kwon

Why Serbia keeps it discretionary: Brussels is watching

There is a hard-nosed strategic reason Serbia may prefer an exception clause over a glossy “Citizenship by Investment” brand: Europe’s patience with passport-for-cash schemes has snapped.

photo : Malta passport

In a landmark judgment on 29 April 2025, the EU’s top court ruled that Malta’s investor-citizenship model—naturalisation in exchange for pre-determined payments—ran contrary to EU law, framing it as an unacceptable “commercial transaction” for Union citizenship.

The case began when the European Commission escalated its infringement action and referred Malta to the Court in September 2022, arguing that EU citizenship cannot be treated like a product on a shelf.

Serbia is not an EU member. But it is an EU candidate country, and candidates learn quickly which issues trigger alarms in Brussels. The Commission’s 2025 Enlargement Policy communication is unusually blunt: practices of granting citizenship by investment—especially involving nationals of countries that are visa-required for the EU—create security and irregular migration risks and “should therefore discontinue as a matter of priority.”

Serbia’s own 2025 country report reflects the same sensitivity, warning that the acquisition of EU visa-free travel rights by Russian nationals via Serbian citizenship poses potential security risks for the Union. 

Seen in that light, Serbia’s discretion-heavy model starts to look less like bureaucratic improvisation and more like political risk management. A formal CBI program—with published pricing, quotas, and marketing—would be an easy target for EU criticism during accession talks.

A discretionary “special interest” pathway is harder to label as a commercial scheme, easier to defend as case-by-case statecraft, and—at least in theory—more compatible with the EU’s insistence on stronger safeguards around investor routes and their inherent corruption and security risks.

Serbia’s “Citizenship by Investment” That Isn’t One

How a single discretionary clause—Article 19—became a quiet gateway for high-impact investors, donors and dealmakers.

In the global market for second passports, the script is usually predictable: a government publishes a price list, agents sell certainty, and the state sells speed. Serbia is doing something stranger—and, depending on your taste for ambiguity, either more selective or more opaque.

There is no formal “Citizenship by Investment” (CBI) program

written into Serbian law. 

Instead, the country relies on a powerful discretionary valve: Article 19 of the Serbian Law on Citizenship, which allows the government to admit a foreign national to citizenship when that admission would be “in the interest of the Republic of Serbia.” 

That phrase—short, elastic, and politically useful—matters because Article 19 explicitly operates independently of key standard naturalization conditions (like certain residency and documentation requirements), and the Government of Serbia decides on such admissions upon the proposal of the competent ministry. 

In other words: Serbia is not selling passports by statute. It is reserving the right to grant them by discretion.

The clause that changes everything

To understand why Article 19 is so consequential, it helps to know what “normal” looks like.

Serbia’s standard admission route typically runs through permanent residence and a checklist—age, legal capacity, and other requirements that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summarizes for applicants. Министарство спољних послова In that conventional lane, a passport is the end of a process.

Article 19 flips the logic. It makes citizenship the tool—used when the state believes the person’s admission serves Serbia’s interest. The law also extends this pathway to a spouse under similarly relaxed conditions. 

The result is a system with no official price tag, no published quota, and no guaranteed outcome—but with a very clear incentive: if you can credibly demonstrate “interest to Serbia,” the state can move.

What counts as “special interest”?

Serbia’s law does not define a menu of investments or donations inside Article 19. That vacuum is exactly what gives the government flexibility—allowing it to prioritize outcomes rather than receipts.

In practice, applicants tend to frame “interest” in terms the state can measure: capital, jobs, strategic sectors, or institution-building funding. The contribution can be economic, reputational, scientific, cultural—anything Serbia deems valuable enough to justify exceptional treatment. 

But when intermediaries talk about “Serbian CBI,” two practical pathways show up again and again: a strategic donation and an enterprise investment. These are not statutory categories. They’re market shorthand for how applicants try to prove “interest.”

The two pathways for a qualifying investment

A quick chart of how they differ

Pathway 

Strategic Donation 

A non-refundable payment directed toward a state-aligned fund or priority project

Immediate funding, low operational complexity“

Fast, clean, impactful—no operational footprint needed.”No asset, and outcomes depend heavily on discretion

Enterprise Investment

Capital injected into a Serbian company or project that creates real activityJobs, tax base, exports, ecosystem spillovers“We will build something here—people, payroll, long-term value.”Operational execution + scrutiny of business reality

Important legal reality: Article 19 gives the authority; it does not set amounts. Any euro thresholds you hear are unofficial market norms, not legal requirements. 

1) The Strategic Donation: the cleanest story money can tell

This is the simplest narrative to present: a large, direct contribution to a state-preferred purpose—innovation funding, regional development, institutional support, or another priority channel.

Why it appeals: it removes the messy variables. No hiring plan. No Serbian payroll to manage. No multi-year execution risk.

Why it’s politically useful: a government can argue it selected a person whose admission produced immediate public benefit—while keeping discretion intact.

The catch: a donation is the opposite of an asset. If the state says no, or if the political winds shift midstream, there may be nothing left to show except a paper trail.

2) The Enterprise Investment: harder, slower, more “real”

This route asks for something

Serbia can point to: a functioning business, a credible plan, and ideally good local jobs. While Serbia has standard residency pathways tied to business activity, Article 19 is different: it’s not “residency first, passport later.” It’s “passport because the state wants the outcome.” ​

​What tends to strengthen an enterprise case:

• A project that clearly expands Serbia’s economy (exports, productivity, supply chains)

• Job creation that’s more than symbolic

• Strategic sector alignment (technology, advanced manufacturing, energy, agribusiness—often favored in national development narratives)​

• 
  

Common misconception: Buying an expensive private residence may show wealth, but it usually doesn’t show national interest. A villa is shelter. Serbia is looking for spillovers.

So who is an ideal candidate?

Not someone “shopping for a passport.” Article 19 is structured for people Serbia can plausibly describe as a net gain.

The strongest candidates typically look like this:

They can pass serious scrutiny.Clean criminal record, clean reputation, clean source of funds. Discretionary programs are allergic to scandal because the government “owns” the decision.

They bring something Serbia can defend publicly.

Jobs, investment, institutional funding, strategic expertise, or high-profile achievement. Article 19 is broad enough to include non-economic contributions, but the case still needs a concrete national-interest story. 

They tolerate uncertainty.This is not a right; it’s an exception. Serbia’s government decides, and the same law that enables speed also enables refusal. pa

They value Serbia for more than the passport.The applicants most likely to succeed are those who can plausibly be framed as long-term partners: investors building operations, donors funding durable programs, or figures whose presence meaningfully benefits Serbia.

The fine print that matters more than the marketing

Because Article 19 is discretionary, the “program” behaves less like a checklist and more like a political-administrative assessment.

That has consequences:

• No official price list (so “minimums” are rumor, not law) 

• No guaranteed timeline (because decision-making is centralized and discretionary) 

• High reputational sensitivity (because exceptions are easy to criticize if they look like sales)

Serbia’s approach can be read two ways: as a refusal to commodify citizenship—or as a way to keep the power to say yes (or no) without explaining much.

2. Requirements for the Serbian Residence Permit

To apply for residence through investment, applicants must be at least 18 years old and select one of the two available investment options:

1. Company formation

   • Includes establishing a new company, branch, representative office, or registering as a sole trader

   • Documents can be submitted online

   • Annual operating costs start at EUR 3,900 (includes office rental, accounting, VAT, and tax filings)

   • Residents must rent or own a flat or house in Serbia for the duration of the residence permit (rental from EUR 500, depending on location and property type)

2. Real estate purchase

   • No minimum investment requirement and property can be purchased anywhere in Serbia

   • Real estate prices typically start at EUR 50,000 outside main cities, or EUR 80,000 in Belgrade and other large cities

   • Applicants must be a citizen of a country with a bilateral property agreement with Serbia (over 75 countries qualify)

Procedures 

A Serbian residence permit is valid for up to three years and, while it does not grant visa-free access to Europe’s Schengen Area, it does provide a streamlined path to permanent residence after three years of continuous stay in the country.

Citizenship through naturalization is also available to individuals who have been granted permanent residence and have continuously resided in Serbia for at least three years prior to applying for citizenship. Serbian citizens enjoy visa-free access to over 130 destinations worldwide.