INVITATION LETTER - WHAT, HOW AND WHERE - IN THREE EASY STEPS

You want a family member or friend to visit you while you are in Serbia? First of all, you will need an invitation letter. Its nothing complicated, dont be afraid.

What should an invitation letter look like?

You dont have to write the invitation letter yourself. You can download it from the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, of course in Serbian. The link for the letter is HERE.

1. Filling in the form

You must fill in the invitation letter with all the necessary information - the name of the person inviting and the name of the person coming to visit with all the supporting information requested in the form itself.

2. CERTIFIED TRANSLATION OF THE TEXT INTO ENGLISH

The text in Serbian must be accurately and precisely translated into English by a court appointed interpreter. The easiest way is to contact the Court Interpreter for English in Novi Sad and bring that document or email it. The document is translated into English, and before printing and certification, I will send you an uncertified translation for you to review all the information so that all names are written correctly in English.

After the final check and confirmation, the translation is printed out and certified in two copies and stapled together with the original document.

3. Notary public

Take the filled in and translated form to a notary public where you will sign it before the notary public (do not sign it beforehand), and he/she will verify your signature with his/her notarial certification.

You pay the signature verification fee at a notary public office without going to the post office or bank (they accept cash or credit/debit cards).

The list with addresses and contacts of public notaries in the Republic of Serbia can be found HERE. The fee is 360.00 dinars* per copy and per signature. The complete Fee Schedule can be found HERE.

When going to a notary public office, do not forget to bring with you:

1) the original document (in your case, an invitation letter)

2) identification document - passport

_NOTE:

_{It should be noted that the practice in relation to the invitation letter at public notaries is not uniform:}

_{a) some public notaries ask for a translation of the invitation letter into English with the certification of a court interpreter (as explained above)}

_{b) some request that the invitation letter be in English and to be furnished with a certified translation into Serbian by a court interpreter (reverse procedure).}

_{c) while some request that a court interpreter be present during the certification of the invitation letter, if the person does not speak Serbian and in that case the interpreter translates the document orally before the notary public.}

Be sure to first ask somebody at the notary public office where you plan to certify the document so that they can provide you with clear instructions how to proceed.

All done. After that, you have a duly certified invitation letter and it is a valid, legal instrument on the basis of which you can submit a request to the relevant authorities for somebody to visit you while in the Republic of Serbia.

Court Interpreter for English in Novi Sad shall translate all documents in accordance with high translation standards. You can be sure that all documents will be carefully translated, and then thoroughly checked.

For more information on English translation, visit my web site or follow the Court Interpreter for English on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.