Take action, the diaspora is returning to its homeland!

England, airport, Photo: AP / Victoria Jones / PA

One of the meetings where, among other things, the problems of young people living abroad can be heard is the annual conference “Talents together”, which was held for the third time in a row last week under the name “Online Talents 3.0” .

It was conducted in an online format and brought together 700 participants from the diaspora and Serbia. The aim of these meetings is to exchange ideas, knowledge and talent issues with the aim of adopting initiatives for the adoption of measures that encourage young people from the diaspora to return to Serbia.

New measures by Serbia for the return of talent

Ivan Brkljac, at the head of the “Point of Return” platform, who is one of the organizers of this conference, as one of the initiatives that originated in the diaspora itself, and which was adopted last year, points out the increase in the threshold of personal property taxed upon return to Serbia.

Previously, regardless of the period of stay abroad, the tax threshold was 5,000 euros, so if someone spent a decade or more outside of Serbia, they probably accumulated much greater wealth, and this threshold was too low:

“That threshold, which used to be 5,000 euros, has been raised to 20,000 euros if they have spent between two and ten years abroad, and if the returnee has spent more than 10 years abroad, that threshold no longer exists, and it can enter your personal property indefinitely. ” That meant a lot to a lot of people, and it’s something that came directly as a proposal from the diaspora, and we listened to it. “

Another measure adopted in the previous period is incentive measures for returnees and highly qualified foreigners, given the shortage of highly qualified and highly educated people in the national labor market.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t resonate as much as it should, because in March, when the government passed, a pandemic broke out, which was the absolute focus of all of us, so somehow it was not communicated clearly enough to our people.” What are the measures, they are very competitive for our citizens, so if someone returns from abroad after two or more years, and the employer in Serbia receives a salary three times higher than the average salary in Serbia, that employer is exempt from payment. taxes and contributions in the amount of 70 percent, which makes our returnees very competitive, “says Brkljač.

It adds that it is even easier for young people, so if someone is up to 40 years old and has done a year of vocational training, masters or some study abroad, and the employer gives them double the average salary, the same applies. same. terms.
Jobs and careers are a key prerequisite for return

Asked about how this measure is an invitation to young people to return to Serbia when it sounds exclusively as an incentive for employers, our interlocutor replied that it only works like that, but that it fundamentally gives returnees a better bargaining position to negotiate a higher salary. high and be competitive in the market. job.

According to the contacts the “Point of Return” had, business and professional opportunities are a key precondition for diaspora youth to consider returning to Serbia:

“Certainly there are other reasons that prevent them from thinking about going back, maybe they don’t want that, maybe there are examples that there are simply no jobs in our labor market that they were educated for. It is not so easy to do some jobs in Serbia, for example, you cannot be an astronaut or prove your worth in science in all fields, because it does not exist in our country. So for some people, return is not an option because it does not exist for their career paths. But the vast majority of people we spoke with said that if the right business or career opportunity arose, they would consider going back. “

Half of the young people return to Serbia after their studies

When it comes to the number of young people who return to Serbia on the basis of the facilities and the work of this and other similar organizations, Brkljac does not have an exact figure, because it does not exist for the number of people who left the country. As he claims, it is very difficult to establish the number of Serbs who emigrated because we are not in the habit of giving up our residency, so someone can live in Germany for five years and have their residence in Serbia on their ID card.

“We have an estimate that between 45 and 50 thousand people leave the country and around 15 thousand return every year. We spoke with people from Ino Education, an organization in Serbia that helps our people go abroad to study, and we asked them based on their data from the last ten years, how much they do in this business, how many people return and that is approximately half ”, our interlocutor testified.

New measures during the next year

As for measures to be considered in the future, Brkljac claims that his organization launched an investigation called “Great Diaspora Mapping” in August, sending questionnaires to several thousand addresses abroad, if our people are thinking of returning, what are specific obstacles and the like. Based on the results of this research, “Point of Return” will give specific recommendations.

“We noticed in the preliminary review of these results that people commented that it would be very helpful for them to be able to obtain non-resident home loans more easily. That they can, on the basis of their income abroad, which are mostly higher than in our country, with perhaps a higher participation, have access to home loans according to some easier procedures. It is not even a question of giving some relief, but simply of facilitating the process, perhaps even greater participation, just so that they can buy some property in Serbia to take a step towards the return, “says Brkljac.

He concludes that this initiative, which comes from the diaspora, will undoubtedly be one of those on which the “Point of Return” will work next year.

The conference “Talents Online 3.0” was also attended by Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, who said that in the first meeting of 2018 there was a great desire to change something to give a signal to young people to return to the country, as well as It seems. that much has been done in the next period.

Like some of the measures taken by the Government in the previous period, the Prime Minister mentioned tax incentives for the employment of diaspora people and our people who were educated abroad, diaspora vouchers launched in cooperation with the Science Fund , electronic certification of diplomas, incentive taxes for the foundation of startups and innovative companies.