Citizenship By Investment in Montenegro

Nationality law of Montenegro was ratified by Parliament in 2008 and published by the Official Journal of Montenegro. It is mainly based on jus sanguinis. However, Article 12 also allows immediate citizenship for foreign investors who invest EUR 500,000 into the country (Real estate or business in Montenegro). The mentioned amount of investment allows a fast-track second citizenship and second passport that is approved by the Government of Montenegro. Article 8 of Montenegrin Citizenship Act establishes the following requirements for normal naturalization procedure:

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Article 8

A petitioner may be admitted through the naturalization to the Montenegrin citizenship, in accordance to the interests of Montenegro if fulfils the following conditions:

1. Has reached 18 years of age;
2. Has a release from foreign citizenship;
3. Has been legally and without interruption staying in Montenegro for the period of 10 years, prior to the petition for admission into Montenegrin citizenship;
4. Has a guaranteed residence and guaranteed permanent source of income in Montenegro of an amount that enables material and social welfare;
5. Has not been irrevocably sentenced in Montenegro  or a foreign state to a prison term longer than one year and for a criminal offence prosecuted “ex officio” or legal consequences of such sentence are ceased;
6. Posses active command of the Montenegrin language to the level which allows basic communication;
7. Poses no threat to the security and defense of Montenegro;
8. Discharged his/her tax obligations.

The condition from Paragraph 1 item 2 of this Article, does not regard a petitioner if the person has no citizenship at all or if the person can submit the evidence, that his/her own citizenship shall be cancelled by the law of his own State, through admission into Montenegrin citizenship. If criminal proceedings have been initiated for a criminal offence under Paragraph 1 item 5 of this paragraph, the procedure shall be suspend until a legally binding decree has been taken in the criminal proceedings. The Government of Montenegro (hereinafter: Government) shall appoint the Competent Organization for establishing of criteria and testing of language knowledge from paragraph 1 item 6 of this Article.

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As we can see from the text above the requirements for normal (standard) naturalization procedure imply that foreigner must prove Montenegrin language proficiency as well as have 10 years of legal residence in Montenegro. Moreover, the applicant must renounce his previous citizenship to felicitate oneself with Montenegrin passport. Article 12 of the same Law gives a possibility to waive all these requirements:

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Article 12

Notwithstanding the conditions under Article 8 of the present Act a person over 18 years of age may exceptionally obtain Montenegrin citizenship through naturalization if this is to the benefit of the state for scientific, economic, cultural, economic, sports national or similar reasons. On admission into Montenegrin citizenship under paragraph 1 of this Article, shall decide the Government on proposal of the competent State Administration Authority, with the opinion of the State Administration Authority competent for the affairs of citizenship.

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Advantages of Becoming Citizen of Montenegro

When you acquire second citizenship, you and your members of your family enjoy full citizenship for life, which can be passed on to future generations by descent. You and you family can reside in Montenegro all the year around and enjoy low tax jurisdiction (both in corporate and personal aspects). In November 2009 EU canceled visas for citizens of Serbia, Macedonia, and Montenegro, and on December 19, 2009 the decision came into force. So, passport of Montenegro allows visa-free travel to all of the Schengen countries in Europe. Moreover, it allows visa-free travel to Russia. Montenegro has applied for EU membership and in the future (until 2013) it will become a full member state of the EU, and consequently citizenship of Montenegro will become EU-citizenship. As we know, citizen of any EU-country can reside, work, and do business in any other EU-country, including the UK, Austria, Germany, and France.

Questions related to obtaining of citizenship-by-investment in Montenegro:
Question: I have some questions regarding help with acquiring second citizenship. I am a Swedish citizen, my wife is Ukrainian, and we live in Malta. I have seen that you offer services helping to get Montenegrin citizenship which we are interested in. Please contact me with further information as to what form of documentation is needed, time from application to granting of citizenship, as well as costs etc. Furthermore, my wife is pregnant and will give birth in May. I saw on your website that you say that Montenegro practice Jus Soli – in other words that our future child would get Montenegrin citizenship if born there. Is this really the case?
Answer: This is not correct; birth on the territory of Montenegro does not automatically lead to citizenship. Foreigner is expected to invest 500,000 EUR per one adult person in order to be eligible to apply for citizenship-by-investment.
Question: Thanks for your reply. Ok, I understand the requirements regarding the Montenegro citizenship. With regards to the investment, will any type of real estate investment do? Say for instance a family house? I have had some info that the Montenegro citizenship program is now closed. Is this correct?
Answer: No, it is not closed. According to our sources it is being reformed. In the meantime all the applications are considered on case-by-case basis, individually. The expected changes are the following. There will be two options of getting citizenship-by-investment: the first one is an investment of 1,500,000 EUR; and the second option is an investment of 300,000 EUR + donation of 200,000 EUR to Treasury of Montenegro. In both option investment (or investment + donation) will cover the whole family (not a single applicant as it was in the first version of the law.

If you are interested in buying property in Montenegro or in acquiring second citizenship in this country do not postpone it for future time. Contact us today