Foreign citizens in the first year of their stay in the Republic of Serbia are considered non-residents from the perspective of the Law on Foreign Exchange Operations (“Official Gazette of the RS”, Nos. 62/2006, 31/2011, 119/2012, 139/2014 and 30/2018), while foreign citizens who, on the basis of a residence permit or work visa, stay in the Republic of Serbia for more than one year, acquire the status of residents.

The opening of foreign currency and dinar accounts of non-residents with banks in the Republic of Serbia is regulated by the Decision on the conditions of opening and manner of maintaining foreign exchange accounts of residents and dinar and foreign exchange accounts of non-residents (“Official Gazette of the RS”, Nos. 51/2015, 82/2017, 69/ 2018 and 96/2018).

The bank can open a dinar and foreign currency account to a non-resident natural person on the basis of the following:

• Request to open an account that can be submitted on paper or another permanent data carrier in terms of the law regulating payment services;
• Documentation that a non-resident natural person submits to the bank with a request to open an account;
• Concluded contract in written form on paper or other permanent data carrier.

The request for opening a non-resident account of a natural person contains the following data: first and last name of the natural person, the address of their temporary or permanent residence, the number of the corresponding identification number of the natural person.

If the request is submitted to the bank electronically, the bank, in accordance with its general business conditions, is not obliged to require the natural person to sign the request.

Along with the request for opening an account, a non-resident natural person submits to the bank for inspection a personal document determining their identity (passport or other valid document with a photo) and a document that can be used to determine their place of temporary or permanent residence during the last year.

The bank can open a non-resident natural person the following:

• Current account (on the basis of the concluded framework agreement on payment services) which is used for the execution of payment transactions and for other purposes related to the services provided by banks to users of payment services;
• Deposit account (based on a deposit agreement) which can be demand or term, with or without a notice period, with or without a special purpose;
• Other account (on the basis of the contract regulating the conditions for opening, maintaining and closing another account and which also contains information about the purpose of opening that account).

A non-resident natural person can authorize another person to conclude a framework agreement, i.e. a deposit agreement, on their behalf, as well as dispose of the funds in their account.

The bank opens a foreign currency account for a non-resident natural person in accordance with its business policy only in the types of currencies that are traded on the foreign exchange market in foreign currencies, in accordance with the Decision determining the types of foreign exchange and foreign cash purchased and sold in the foreign exchange market.

After one year of stay in the Republic of Serbia, foreign citizens acquire resident status and are obliged to notify the bank of the said change, in order for the bank to close the account they opened in their previous status and open a resident account.

When opening, maintaining and closing accounts, banks in the Republic of Serbia are obliged to undertake the actions and measures established by the law regulating the prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing - Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing (“Official Gazette of the RS” Nos. 113/2017, 91/2019, 153/2020 and 92/2023). This law prescribes the actions and measures that obligors (including the bank that needs to open an account for a non-resident) take, and those actions and measures also refer to the establishment of a business relationship with a non-resident client. In accordance with Article 17 of this law, the bank determines and verifies the identity of a non-resident - natural person, by obtaining the following data: first and last name, date and place of birth, place of temporary or permanent residence, as well as the type and number of the personal document, name of the issuer, date and place of issue.

It is important to note that according to the Law on Banks (“Official Gazette of the RS”, Nos. 10772005, 91/2010 and 14/2015), the bank freely decides on the choice of clients (Article 41, paragraph 3). The above-mentioned law does not make a difference in terms of access to banking services in relation to the type or certain characteristics of clients, but banks, in accordance with their business policy and their internal acts, by which, among other things, they are obliged to include risk management measures to which they are exposed or may be exposed in their business operations, independently decide whether to establish a business relationship with a certain client. However, banks cannot use reasons that can be labelled as discriminatory when establishing a business relationship (e.g. citizenship, gender or religion), and they are obliged to state the reasons for refusing to establish a business relationship in writing at the client's request. In accordance with Article 73.n of the Law on Payment Services (“Official Gazette of the RS”, Nos. 139/2014 and 44/2018), the bank is obliged to enable a client who has legal residence in the Republic of Serbia and does not have an open payment account to open and use a payment account with basic services at their request.