The citizenship by admission for the purpose of special investment program of special importance for economic interest for Montenegro from 01.01.2019. to 14.05.2022 year, was submitted to this ministry by a total of 279 proposals for acquisition.
Montenegrin citizenship by admission, which requested for 279 applicants and 655 members of their families, which makes a total of 934 people according to the records kept in the Ministry of Interior.
Decisions were made to a total of 409 Montenegrin passports were issued to main applicants and family members)
Total Investment
A total of €33,900,000.00 was invested in development projects by the applicants.
CIP Statistics
In the mentioned period, 409 applications received for acquiring Montenegrin were adopted citizenship by admission, (126 for applicants and 283 for their family members), 3 requests were suspended (1 applicant and 2 family members), while 522 requests were made findings in the procedure (152 applicants and 370 family members).
- In 2019, no applications were submitted for acquiring Montenegrin citizenship basis of a special program.
- In 2020 by the Prime Minister of Montenegro to this Ministry 52 proposals were submitted (for 52 applicants and 115 members of their families). 109 decisions on acquiring Montenegrin citizenship by admission were adopted (37 for applicants and 72 for members of their families).
- In 2021 by the Prime Minister of Montenegro to this Ministry
190 proposals were submitted (for 190 applicants and 458 members of their families). 260 decisions on acquiring Montenegrin citizenship by admission were adopted (77 for applicants and 183 for members of their families). 3 requests were suspended.
From 01.01.2022. to 14.05.2022. year, 37 proposals were submitted to this ministry (for 37 applicants and 82 members of their family). 40 decisions on acquiring Montenegrin citizenship were adopted by admission (12 for applicants and 28 for their family members)
Pursuant to Article 4 of the Decision, the applicant submits a request for the implementation of a special program through a mediation agent, and the applicant is verified by an evaluation agent international eligibility, licensed in accordance with this Decision. When the applicant meets the criteria from Articles 10 and 13 of the Decision, ie when the Agency as the competent authority issues a certificate of administrative compliance of the documentation within applications, the Agency forwards all documentation to the agent for verification assessment of the applicant’s international suitability (DD agent).
Security Checks
As defined in the Agreement on the Provision of International Assessment Agent Services eligibility for the implementation of a special investment program of special importance for economic and economic interest of Montenegro, DD agent determines the fulfilment of the following
criteria:
- That the applicant and related persons do not have a criminal record in the country of origin or any to which other state in which he acquired citizenship or has a residence, which is determined on the basis of certificates issued by the appropriate authority of that State;
- That the applicant has not committed a criminal offense in the territory of Montenegro, which is determined on the basis certificates of the state administration body responsible for justice;
- That the applicant has not been indicted before the International Criminal Court, whether or not, found guilty or not;
- That the applicant is not a person on the INTERPOL and / or EUROPOL list or arrest warrant;
- That the companies in which the applicant is a founder / co-founder or governing body is not convicted of economic offenses, nor was a measure of prohibition to perform activities in the last five years;
- That the applicant respects the state of Montenegro and the legal order of Montenegro as well as not poses a threat to Montenegro’s independence and national security as well as its reputation of Montenegro;
- That the applicant is not an accused person for acts of terrorism, terrorist financing, crimes against humanity;
- That there is proof of the origin of the money intended for payment and investment in accordance with legislation
Decision and Applicable Law of Montenegro, in particular the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and terrorist financing;
- That the applicant has a good reputation;
- That the application for the acquisition of Montenegrin citizenship is accompanied by documentation required by the Decision, translated by a court interpreter for the Montenegrin language and with
apostille; - That the applicant has fulfilled the obligations defined by the Decision.
DD Agents
In addition to the above, the agent is obliged to check the submitted documentation in in accordance with the Decision and to confirm compliance with the above with its Due Diligence Report
of the stated conditions, as well as the authenticity of the attached documentation. An agent is required to check the political exposure of the applicant and members of his family by taking
required data from the applicant.
Taking into account the above, DD agent for each applicant as well as for its members families for which an international eligibility assessment has been submitted, submits a written report to the Agency – Due diligence, with positive or negative grade. If the agent subsequently determines that the applicants and members of their families are on the sanctions list or are recognized as entities whose the funds come from illegal sources, so that the relevant ministry would suspend them procedure for granting Montenegrin citizenship. One of the obligations of a DD agent is to re-check all persons who have passed procedures for checking international suitability, to determine whether they are located on one of the lists of sanctions, as well as that after the submitted positive opinion intensively monitors all applicants and their commercial interests for a period of two years after the originally submitted report, in order to be sure that the applicant who acquired Montenegrin citizenship through this program is not illegal. If it is subsequently determined that the person who acquired it is Montenegrin citizenship by admission in accordance with this Decision, provided false information or intentionally concealed facts or circumstances related to the criteria referred to in Article 10 and Article 13 paragraph 3 of this Decisions The Agency, as the competent body, shall inform the state administration body thereof in charge of internal affairs, in order to make a decision on the loss of the Montenegrin citizenship
Pursuant to the obligation given by Article 14 of the Decision, when the competent authority determines that the applicant meets the criteria from Article 10 of this Decision (among which is the positive opinion of DD agent), and members of his family criteria from Article 13 paragraph 3 of this Decision and that it is the applicant has submitted the evidence referred to in Article 13 paragraph 5 of this Decision, he shall submit a report thereon to the Prime Minister of Montenegro.
When the state administration body responsible for internal affairs, pursuant to Article 15 of the Decision, inform the competent authority that, acting on the proposal of the Prime Minister, it has determined that the conditions for making a decision for the admission of the applicant and its members are met families in Montenegrin citizenship, the competent authority shall inform the applicant.
Closing of Special program
The special program started to be applied on January 1, 2019. years, and lasts until 12/31/2021 year, which was extended until 31.12.2022 ( amendment of the Decision and approval of the Ministry of the Interior). During the duration of the special program, decisions on admission to Montenegrin citizenship on the basis of a special program on the occasion of a maximum of 2000 requirements
