Registering foreign guests in BiH: 12-hour deadline, guest book and eStranac

This article concerns anyone in Bosnia and Herzegovina who accommodates foreign nationals: private rooms and farm stays, guesthouses, restaurants with rooms and hotels. The duty to report lies with the host, not the guest.

In short

• A foreign guest's stay must be reported no later than 12 hours after accommodation is provided.
• Reports go to the Foreigners' Service (Služba za poslove sa strancima, SPS) or the police. If the police receive it, they must pass a copy to the Service within 24 hours.
• The host keeps a foreigners' book (knjiga stranaca), on paper or electronically in the eStranac system, and has it certified by the Service for a 50 KM fee.
• Fine for an individual host who fails to report a guest or to keep the book properly: 200 to 800 KM; for a legal entity 500 to 2,500 KM.

Who it applies to

• All legal entities and individuals providing accommodation to foreigners: catering establishments, lodgings, hostels, guesthouses, mountain huts and private rooms. The law does not make this duty depend on whether the provider is registered for accommodation activity.
• Someone who does not provide accommodation services but hosts a foreigner as a visitor falls under a different rule: the stay is reported within 48 hours of the foreigner's entry into BiH, but only if the foreigner will stay more than three days. The same applies to a foreigner who uses no accommodation at all. The foreigner or the person hosting them submits that report.

What to do

1. Obtain a foreigners' book and have it certified at the competent SPS field centre for your business seat or residence. The application needs proof of registration for accommodation activity and proof of payment of the 50 KM fee. Certification is done at the start of the calendar year. A paper book is A3 format, hardbound, at most 200 pages, and is closed at the end of the year. If the book fills up before year end, a new certification with a new fee is required (Rulebook).
2. For an electronic book, access to eStranac (estranac.ba) is issued at SPS field centres. The book is activated through the system and must be reactivated after 1,600 entries. An electronic book cannot be used in a new calendar year, except to enter check-outs for the previous year (Rulebook).
3. At check-in, take the data from the travel document (name, date of birth, nationality, document number and validity, visa if any, date and place of entry into BiH) and enter it in the book together with the fiscal receipt number. Submit the report within 12 hours. The law does not prescribe a form or a method of submission (in person, through eStranac), so confirm it with the field centre before your first guest.
4. At check-out, record the departure.
5. Keep the book for at least three years after it is closed and show it on request to an authorised official of the Service, the Border Police or the police.

Deadlines and amounts

• Reporting a guest: no later than 12 hours after accommodation starts.
• Guest without accommodation or visiting privately: 48 hours from entry into BiH, if staying more than three days.
• Fee for certifying the foreign guest book: 50 KM (SPS fee schedule).
• Fines: individual accommodation provider 200 to 800 KM; legal entity 500 to 2,500 KM, plus 200 to 800 KM for the responsible person; an individual hosting a foreigner for over three days who fails to report them, 100 to 500 KM.

Where to go

• For East Herzegovina: SPS Field Centre Trebinje, Sokolska 2a, Trebinje, tel. 059 245 051, tctrebinje@sps.gov.ba. It covers Berkovići, Bileća, Gacko, Istočni Mostar, Ljubinje, Nevesinje and Trebinje.
• Online reporting: eStranac.

Before your first certification, confirm the current fee and how access to the system is issued with the field centre.

Laws and sources

• Law on Foreigners, unofficial consolidated text (Službeni glasnik BiH Nos. 88/15, 34/21 and 63/23), Art. 101(3), Art. 103 and Art. 134
• Rulebook on Entry and Stay of Foreigners (Službeni glasnik BiH Nos. 25/16, 83/22 and 57/24), Arts. 93 to 95 as amended in No. 57/24
• eStranac: Law on Foreigners (page shows the original 2015 wording)
• SPS: Stay of foreigners in BiH
• SPS: administrative fee amounts