MILITARY SERVICE
Compulsory military service in the Army of Serbia has been cancelled with the launching of the last formation of recruits in 2010. This applies to those recruits who, instead of serving the military service, served civil service, due to their conscientious objection.
As of January 1st, the recruits can serve in the Army of Serbia only on the voluntary basis, which is in accordance with Military Work and Material Obligation Law.
The above said Law also stipulates that all the Serbian citizens, irrespective of the place of their residence (i.e. either in Serbia or abroad) are obliged to register into the Military Evidence Book (MEB) that is regularly kept by all diplomatic missions and consluar post of the Republic of Serbia all over the world.
Obligations of the recruits who reside abroad
1. If a Serbia citizen who is subject to military service resides abroad for more than 1 year, they are obliged to register into the Diplomatic-Consular Post (DCP) of the Republic of Serbia that covers thier place of residence within 30 dazs upon their leaving the borders of Serbia. In other words, once they reach their destination abroad, they should contact the DCP where they would be given all necessary information how to do the registration.
- Those Serbian citizens who already live abroad (were born abroad or live for many years abroad) are obliged to register into the MEB during the calendar year when they turn 18 years of age.
After having been registered into the MEB in the DCP of Serbia, the Serbian citizen that is subject to military service is considered to have regulated their military service and all other obligations related to it. However, they are still obliged to contact the DCP of the Rpeiblic of Serbia to register themselves anew whenever they change the residence address, the place of living, move to other city/town/country, etc.
Documents needed for the registration in the MEB:
- Birth certificate
- Citizenship certificate
- Proof of the last (actual) residence address in Serbia (ID card, police report, etc.)
- Proof of the place of residence abroad (passport, permanent residence certificate, citizenship certificate, valid canadian visa in the Serbian
passport, etc.)
