After nearly two decades, Serbia now has a redesigned passport. The new travel document has a different appearance, more advanced security features, and a range of technical upgrades designed to make counterfeiting significantly more difficult.
However, for most citizens, the most important news is that they will not need to get a new passport immediately. What exactly is changing, how much will a new passport cost, and what do the new security features actually mean in practice?
The first day of July marked the beginning of a new era for Serbian passports – the issuance of the newly designed passports commenced on that day. This represents the first major change to the document’s appearance since biometric passports were introduced in 2008, and it stands as one of the most technologically advanced state documents Serbia will possess.
As the Director of Police, Dragan Vasiljević, previously explained to Blic, the goal was not merely for the new passport to look more modern, but to align with the highest international security standards and be substantially more resilient to abuse.
At the same time, its greatest value lies not in its aesthetics but in its strength – allowing visa-free travel to 133 countries, the Serbian passport ranks 30th on the traditional Henley Passport Index.
What citizens will notice first
The most visible change relates to the exterior. The previous burgundy colour has been replaced with a more precisely defined deep burgundy red, while the design of the state coat of arms has been aligned with the official Lesser Coat of Arms of the Republic of Serbia.
While the name “Republic of Serbia” is written in three languages on the current passport (Serbian Cyrillic, English, and French), the text on the new passport is written only in Serbian (Cyrillic) and English, with the French translation removed from the very top of the cover.
The biometric passport symbol (the small rectangle with a circle) at the bottom of the cover has also been altered, placed with slightly more spacing relative to the text to follow the symmetry of the new design.
Furthermore, the entire colour scheme of the inner pages is completely new. Instead of the previous combination of red, blue, and yellow tones, the new passport utilises a palette of brownish-red, blue-grey, ochre, and olive-grey shades. Additionally, each of the 32 pages features a unique graphic motif created using specialised security software.
The design was not changed solely for aesthetics. In fact, each new graphic element acts as an additional layer of security, as it is far more difficult to faithfully reproduce a document that contains a large number of unique illustrations, micro-lines, and protective details.
The new passport is significantly more secure
As experts explain, the biggest change brought by Serbia’s new passport is not actually what is visible, but what is embedded within the document. The new passport features a whole host of security elements used in the world’s most modern travel documents. These include:
- A multi-tone watermark featuring the motif of the White Angel fresco from the Mileševa Monastery
- A security thread featuring a stylised Serbian cross and four firesteels (ocila)
- UV and IR protection that becomes visible under special lighting
- Microtext and minitext written in both Cyrillic and Latin scripts
- Holographic and optically variable elements
- Latent images
- Intaglio (relief) printing
- Laser perforation
- A more advanced data personalisation method
- Special page protection against chemical and mechanical tampering with data
For the average citizen, most of these terms sound rather abstract, but experts explain that each one represents a hurdle for counterfeiters.
“For example, microtext is so small that it practically cannot be faithfully reproduced by a standard printer. UV protection only becomes visible under ultraviolet light, while latent images change appearance depending on the angle from which the document is viewed,” Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) experts previously explained.
Laser personalisation is particularly important, as the data is effectively “etched” into the material of the document, making it virtually impossible to remove or alter without causing visible damage.
Do citizens need to change their passports immediately?
This is the question causing the most confusion at the moment, but the response from the Ministry of Internal Affairs is perfectly clear – existing passports remain valid until their expiry date.
This means that citizens who hold a valid biometric passport can travel without any issues whatsoever until their travel document expires, or until another legal reason arises for a new one to be issued.
In other words, there is no deadline by which all citizens must replace their old passports, nor will there be any differentiation at borders between the old and new formats, as long as both travel documents are valid.
What will the application procedure look like?
In this regard, as well, the Ministry of Internal Affairs explains that practically nothing changes for Serbian citizens. Applications will be submitted in the same manner as before, at the competent administrative units of the MUP or via the appointment booking system.
The fact that the passport is issued as a biometric document with an electronic chip remains unchanged, and no new administrative requirements are being introduced for citizens.
Regarding the cost, the fees for issuing a travel document were updated back in March this year, so the new passport does not cost the same as before. The fee for a standard category passport is 4,500 dinars, while for certain passports with a longer validity period, the total fee amounts to 5,100 dinars.
(Blic, 03.07.2026)