Most Chinese, however, work without permits and are exposed to frequent police raids. In the smoke-filled mall, Chinese vendors sip tea, talk on mobile phones and do their best to convince Belgrade residents to buy their merchandise. Belgrade police have registered 4,000, but estimates go as high as 40,000. Visas are easily obtained in China. The main glitch, however, comes once a prospective tradesman arrives and aspires, for example, to own a shop, a notch above a street peddler.
Serbian law bars foreign nationals from real estate or commercial ownership.
Therefore, the newcomer must strike a partnership with a local resident, including a sizable down payment. Once that is established, families and relatives follow. Unlike Ce, other Chinese don't seem to object to Serbia's traditional pastry, baker Vica Sreckovic said. I was asleep on the job before they came. Business in his bakery, squeezed between two high-rises next to the Chinese market, has never been better.