Moved East

adam562 · Joined: 18 Oct 2007 Posts: 17 Location: Belgrade, Serbia

I shall definitely be free this Saturday! You've had my Tetley tea too long Mark! Smile

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adam562 · Joined: 18 Oct 2007 Posts: 17 Location: Belgrade, Serbia

Are any of the other forumase (forum users) up for meeting on Saturday?

So far it's myself, Laura and Mark (correct me if I'm wrong you two).

Let's cross the border from the virtual world in to the real world and have a few teas, coffees, beers, rakijas, vodkas or juice! Very Happy

Hajde!

Adam Very Happy

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markowe · Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:32 am Post subject:

Yep! I'm up for it!

Just to mention, I will be in BG on Saturday early afternoon rather than evening or anything. Hope that's OK. Not sure exactly what time yet.

Yes, everyone else welcome, of course! Let's put some faces to names Smile

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Laura9654 · Joined: 08 Dec 2007 Posts: 23

Did someone mention wine? oooh. Yes, I'm still up for it! Can't wait! I learnt this week that if I want red wine, I have to ask for black wine. I shall experiment with this tomorrow.

Tomorrow is International Women's Day, and I have to do some networking first, I should be free from about 4, 5pm. But you know how unpredictable networking is, and it's really important as I have to make contacts with feminists all over Serbia for my research, and tomorrow is my chance to do so. Text me, and let me know what's happening/where, and I'll let you know where I am and how long I'll be.

See you guys tomorrow!

Barb · Joined: 16 Mar 2008 Posts: 1

I just discovered this forum, and was catching up on my "reading"..... So? How did the meeting go?

markowe · Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 8:54 am Post subject:

Hi Barb, welcome to the forum! Hope you can find a moment to introduce yourself in the General Chat section! http://forums.movedeast.com/general-chat-f24.html

You (and everyone else) can see a brief report on the meet-up here:

http://forums.movedeast.com/secret-belgrade-teabag-rendezvous-t43.html

...including some revealing photographic material.
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jamie · Joined: 01 Sep 2008 Posts: 2

Hi Mark,

I have visited the Balkans many times, but have felt most comfortable in Serbia and have made some good friends there. I am really thinking of relocating and would like to know the initial difficulties and hoops you need jump through. Basically, what are the initial requirements???

Regards,

Jamie

markowe · Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 6:45 am Post subject:

Hi Jamie, welcome to the forum. Glad to hear you are thinking of moving to Serbia - I am sure some of the other guys on the forum will agree with me, "go for it!"

Initial requirements - you know what, there's not that much to it really! You could just come over on a 3-month tourist visa, find a place and then think about exactly where to take things.

In order to stay here long-term you basically need some kind of reason, and the valid reasons boil down to marriage and a job. A job can also be self-employed status (as I have been investigating over here).

Once you have that valid reason, it is not too much trouble these days to get a 6-month to a year's residency permit. The only thing is you technically need to apply for this immediately upon entry into the country, so if you came in on the 3-month tourist visa and were finding your feet for a month or two you would then need to exit the country and re-enter (no big deal, quick visit to Szeged in Hungary, or to Croatia), this time visiting the Interior Ministry straight away upon entry.

Hope that's at least a start - maybe someone can add something to this. Let me know if you need any other info, and all the best!

Mark
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adam562 · Joined: 18 Oct 2007 Posts: 17 Location: Belgrade, Serbia

Hey Jamie,

Welcome to the forum. Smile

What sort of work would you be looking to do here?

As Mark already said, if you can't find anything before you come, it is indeed quite simple to arrive as a tourist and go about finding your feet. That's what I did, although I didn't realise that once you do have a job, you need to leave the country and come back, going straight to the police for the visa (quite a hefty fine was levied - so watch out for that!).

I moved to Serbia over a year ago, and I haven't regretted it one bit (well, apart from the fine!).

Best of luck!

Adam
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jamie · Joined: 01 Sep 2008 Posts: 2

Hi Guys,

Thank you so much for the quick replies. I'm well chuffed. I am aqualified personal trainer, but got bored and have worked well in sales this past year. I'm not that fussy what I do in the beginning, but I will have to save up some cash before I go. I'm thinking of doing it sometime in the new year. What sort of salary would enable me to live a decent standard? I am not money mad, I am tired of London and the rat race. How are you guys finding it? Is there much work for english speakers? My serb is basic, but I know I will improve rapidly whan there.

Jay

markowe · Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 7:06 am Post subject:

Sounds like you have an attitude we can identify with round here. Those of us living long-term in Serbia aren't be doing so for the money, I can assure you! I passed up a good sales job in London about 8 years ago in order to stay, and I've never looked back!

Course, it depends on the kind of lifestyle you want, but you can get a perfectly reasonable flat in Belgrade starting from 400 or so Euros/month (furnished, 2 rooms + kitchen, fairly central) - or you can go lower if you are not fussy.

Now, if you had a 1000 Euro monthly income, that would be adequate for a lifestyle with all the reasonable mod cons - though that's highly subjective of course. Some of us here don't earn that much, or pay that much for a flat but are still perfectly happy! It's very relaxing not to have to fret every month as to whether you are going to pay all the bills - it's simpler here, you just don't spend so much money, because there's still not so much to spend it on, and services especially are still quite cheap.

As for the rat-race, it hasn't even really started in Serbia - that's why we love it. Very relaxing way of life, plenty of opportunities for jobs where you don't have to be sitting in an office all day. Indeed, if you knew anything about internet marketing and all that you could sit with a laptop in a cafe in Belgrade and "work", as I do some of the time!

The obvious choice for native English speakers would be some work at one or more of the huge number of English schools that have sprung up - I am pretty sure they are always looking for people, though there are some provisos with that...

Well, hope that's some help - I am sure Adam can chip in on this too.

Let us know if you need any other info,

Mark
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Stella09 · Joined: 19 Sep 2008 Posts: 2

Hi everyone!
Me and my partner wants to move to serbia very soon.Im originaly from macedonia and I speak serbian.My partner is english.We will like to know whats the deal about buying property there.Can we do it or no?Also if we move there and buy a property do we still need to obtain visa every 90 days or no.What papers do you need to live there permenatly?Any advise and help would be much appreciated.Cheers

markowe · Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 12:18 pm Post subject:

Hi, welcome!

Britain has a reciprocal agreement with Serbia, as do most other European countries and Australia, Canada, Australi, Russia. This agreement means that, for your case British citizens CAN buy and own property in Serbia (I am not sure about Macedonia).

When I bought my apartment, as a British citizen, the procedure was exactly the same as if a Serbian citizen was buying - same paperwork, same tax etc.

As for staying in Serbia, owning property may not in itself be enough to qualify you for residence here, unless you were earning money from renting it or something. The authorities usually want to see that you have some form of legitimate activity here (job, company, association, sports, anything really) and also that you have some form of income to support yourselves.

If you are able to show this (and they are NOT very strict) then you should have no problem - you could even get permanent residency (something I still haven't done in my 12 years here!) and get citizenship in a few years. If you wanted, of course!

Does that help? Let me know if you have any other questions - I might know, and I might not!
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Stella09 · Joined: 19 Sep 2008 Posts: 2

Thanks very much for the helpfull information:)