The adoption of the Law on Permanent and Temporary Residence of Citizens as of November 2011 was announced as paving of the way to the solution of the problem of registration of permanent/temporary residence for persons without a legal basis of housing in the Republic of Serbia (property right over the apartment, apartment lease contract or other legal basis). Specifically, the possibility offered by the new law related to the registration of permanent residence at the address of the institution in which a person is permanently accommodated or at the address of the competent social welfare centre would largely simplify the administrative procedure necessary for the exercise of basic human rights of the vulnerable population group, primarily the homeless and persons living in informal settlements, but also others who due to the lack of a legal basis for registration of permanent/temporary residence suffer negative consequences in terms of the accessibility of guaranteed socioeconomic and other rights.

The adoption of the new law has set up the framework and deadlines for the adoption of appropriate bylaws, which would regulate the manner of the implementation of the law more thoroughly. Consequently, ambiguities in practice would be avoided and there would be no need for “ad hoc” steps in solving the problem of registration of permanent/temporary residence.

However, the responsible institutions  have failed in their work: not only were the legal deadlines for passing the suitable bylaws unobserved, but the significant segments of the concerned problem remained unsolved even after the adoption of the Rulebook on Form of Registration of Permanent Residence at the Address of Institution or Social Welfare Centre (adopted on 30 November 2012, thus greatly exceeding the legally stipulated deadline of 3 months for adoption).

Since the adoption of the Law on Permanent and Temporary Residence of Citizens, Praxis has been monitoring the application of norms, including the results of the long expected bylaws. The conclusion that can be drawn based on the experience from practice is that not much has changed. Praxis will continue monitoring the implementation of positive regulations in this field, by making efforts as to ensure that the implementation of the adopted norms is conducted at a practical level too, as adequately and appropriately as possible.
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See: Rulebook on Form of Registration for Permanent Residence at the Address of Institution or Social Welfare Centre