Serbia Emerges as a New European Gateway for Nepali Workers
5,779 Nepali labour approvals went to Serbia in FY 2025/26 — ahead of Greece and Bulgaria. Why the non-EU Balkan state is pulling Nepali workers.
By Nepalese Events Australia Editorial
Published: 2026-10-01T12:06:06.000000Z
Category: Community
Serbia isn't in the EU or Schengen — yet it took 5,779 Nepali labour approvals in fiscal year 2025/26, per Department of Foreign Employment data, placing it among Europe's top Nepali worker destinations ahead of Greece and Bulgaria.
Why a non-EU country is pulling workers
Serbia's construction boom — fuelled by infrastructure projects, foreign investment and Expo 2027 preparation in Belgrade — has created sustained demand for exactly the workforce Nepal supplies. Serbian employers recruit for construction, manufacturing, agriculture and hospitality, and labour shortages have pushed wages and conditions well above Gulf benchmarks for comparable roles. For many workers, Serbia also functions as a Balkans : geographically adjacent to EU member states and part of the broader European labour circuit that Nepali workers now navigate.
The caution that applies everywhere
As with the rest of the Europe corridor, most Serbia-bound workers travel on individually arranged visas rather than through institutional recruitment — the channel labour experts flag for fraud and inflated fees. There is no Nepal–Serbia bilateral labour agreement. The guidance is the same as for the Malta corridor: verify the employer through the Department of Foreign Employment before paying fees, get contract terms in writing, and be suspicious of offers routed through third countries.
A community in formation
Belgrade's Nepali presence is younger than Lisbon's or Cyprus's — mostly single workers in worker housing rather than settled families — but the numbers guarantee the community infrastructure will follow: groceries, remittance services, festival gatherings. The pattern we've ed across Croatia and Romania repeats: labour arrives first, community builds after.
Practical links
• Nepal time vs Belgrade
• EUR to NPR rate for remittances (Serbia's dinar trades through the Euro corridor)
• Aus Nepali Patro for festival dates workers celebrate abroad
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