Yusuf Fırat Baran was toward the end of his construction job on two villas in Montenegro when a friend called him.
“We need you – come to Belgrade and we’ll work together,” Yusuf recalls.
He says his friend was working for Antares Construction, a Serbian company that had secured a job as one of the subcontractors on the EXPO project.
The government sees the World Expo as a development opportunity for Serbia. Billions of RSD are being invested, and the complex is being built rapidly.
Yusuf says he didn’t hesitate much – he believed his experience and knowledge would help him secure a better-paid construction job. He also speaks English, which is usually an advantage on large projects.
He quickly entered negotiations.
Yusuf agreed to receive a minimum wage through a company in Turkey where he would be formally employed, while the rest would be paid “in cash.” The company told him they would provide an invitation letter for entry into Serbia, as well as a work permit.
He agreed, not suspecting that things would not go as smoothly.
Documents obtained by CINS show that in just one month, the national Labor Inspectorate found 30 workers from Turkey and China at the EXPO construction site without work permits – including Yusuf. Their total number is likely higher because, according to construction workers interviewed by CINS, workers often hide when inspections arrive.
Due to suspicions of employing undeclared workers, the Inspectorate initiated court proceedings against Antares Construction and the Belgrade branch of PowerChina International Group Limited. These proceedings have been ongoing for nearly a year, CINS reports.
Marija Anđelković from the organization Astra, which among other things deals with labor rights protection, explains that workers without proper permits face various risks:
“Such a situation is fertile ground for various abuses, such as unpaid wages, unpaid overtime, confiscation of documents, and restrictions on freedom of movement.”
According to labor law attorney Ivana Cvetković, workers could sue employers for fraud, as they should not have started working before obtaining a work permit.
“Workers could hypothetically sue the employer for having mislead them.”
“Why would we run? We’re here legally.”
Upon arriving in Belgrade, Yusuf says he briefly handed over his passport to the company. The company was supposed to register his residential address, after which he would receive a so-called “white card” as confirmation. He says he was told the card would be sufficient proof that he was employed legally while awaiting a work permit.
“They told us Serbian bureaucracy is slow.”
Yusuf started working.
According to him, the company made him one of the supervisors on the construction site. His tasks included interpreting project plans for workers, checking for construction errors, and keeping records of working hours.
With his team, he worked on the construction of one of the 11 residential buildings within the EXPO complex.
The work, he says, was not smooth. Deadlines were tight, and precision was strictly required.
“They were extremely strict – no errors, not even half a centimeter.”
He had been working on the EXPO for about three months when, in early February 2025, a labor inspector unexpectedly arrived at the site.
“All the Egyptians, Peruvians, and Arabs who were working for other subcontractors panicked and ran away. We stayed,” Yusuf recalls.
Illustration: AI/Google Gemini
Yusuf didn’t understand what the inspector wanted. The workers called Emrullah Kaya, a translator who was also working for Antares Construction and was almost always present on site.
“The inspector asked me who was working there, who I was working for, and if we had permits,” Emrullah told CINS, adding that he answered all her questions.
In the official report obtained by CINS, the inspector noted that she found 26 Antares Construction workers without work permits on site that day– including Yusuf and the translator Emrullah.
About Antares Construction
After the inspector’s visit, tensions rose within the company.
Colleagues who were working with Yusuf that day asked why they hadn’t run when they saw the inspector arriving.
“Why would we run? We have the white card – we’re here legally,” Yusuf recalls his response.
He says that until that day, he had not been aware that he was actually working illegally.
“They told us the ‘white card’ we had was proof that we were there legally,” he explains.
Attorney Ivana Cvetković clarifies that the white card is merely a residence registration, one every foreigner entering Serbia – whether for work or tourism – must be issued.
“Employers say ‘here’s your white card, you have a work permit,’ but that’s not the same thing,” she explains.
Antares Construction did not respond to CINS’s request for comment on this case by the time of publication.
Misdemeanor charges and avoiding court
According to the inspection report, at the time of the inspection Antares Construction not only lacked work permits for Turkish workers on the site, but also had no proof that the workers were in the process of obtaining them.
The report states that Aleksandra Gligorin, the company’s owner, informed the inspector that the workers themselves were responsible for initiating the permit process.
Mario Reljanović, research associate at the Institute of Comparative Law, explained to CINS that either the employer or the employee can initiate the work permit procedure, but that a worker cannot legally work without it.
“They [employers] simply cannot hire a foreign worker without a permit.”
The Labor Inspectorate filed a misdemeanor charge against Antares Construction for employing undeclared workers.
After the inspection visit, workers began to doubt that the company would secure their work permits, according to Yusuf. In addition, wages were delayed and dissatisfaction started growing, Yusuf explains.
“After that, people gradually started leaving the job,” Yusuf says.
However, the misdemeanor proceedings stalled for nearly a year because Gligorin failed to respond to court summons. In early March 2026, she appeared in court and pleaded guilty.
She claimed in her statement that the accusations in the charge were true.
“The issue with the work permits for these individuals occurred due to an oversight, and I believe that, following the inspector’s order, we submitted the required documents after 15 days.”
When asked by the court whether she would be presenting any evidence, Gligorin said she would not. The Labor Inspectorate did not respond to whether the company later registered the workers.
Illustration: AI/Google Gemini
In court over workers and PowerChina
Over the past year and a half, the Labor Inspectorate has inspected EXPO and National Stadium construction sites at least seven times.
In February 2025, at the National Stadium construction site, inspectors recorded four Chinese workers without work permits. All were engaged by the Belgrade branch of PowerChina International Group Limited, part of the large Chinese corporation PowerChina.
The inspectorate filed misdemeanor charges against them.
During inspections, the Inspectorate also found that several Serbian workers were working without having been registered for mandatory social insurance and, in some cases, without even having signed employment contracts.
In its written defense before the court, the Belgrade branch stated that the procedure for obtaining work permits had been initiated but not completed at the time of the inspection.
They claim that the workers found on site without permits were there to familiarize themselves with already completed works, as well as future plans and timelines, emphasizing that this procedure was important due to tight and strict deadlines.
However, the branch argues that it does not have legal entity status and therefore is not subject to misdemeanor law.
Ivana Cvetković told CINS that a branch indeed lacks legal entity status and cannot be held liable for misdemeanors or criminal offenses.
“Only the legal entity on whose behalf the branch operates can be held responsible.”
The Labor Inspectorate did not respond to CINS’s questions about why it initiated misdemeanor proceedings against the branch or whether and how it would correct any potential oversight.
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