Montenegro: Our New European Residency

We have been considering Montenegrin residency for a long time. Montenegro is a beautiful country, outside of the EU (for now), but right next door. You can look out at picturesque landscapes, swim in crystal-clear water, and drive a short distance if you want to explore Croatia, or other countries in the Schengen zone. The taxes in Montenegro are quite low by European standards (13-15%), and if you play your cards right and spend less than 181 days / year, you shouldn’t be a tax resident. With the low cost of living (especially by European standards) and the high quality of life, becoming residents was a no-brainer.

We are based in Tivat — home to the luxurious Porto Montenegro. At the marina, we have access to high-end hotels, designer boutiques, and fine-dining restaurants that you would find in places like Monte Carlo and Dubai. However, if you are on a budget, rent, groceries, and the city center venues are quite affordable. A beer in a restaurant can be had for under €2.00. The people are very polite, and the majority of them speak impressive English. We speak only 2 words of Montenegrin and get along just fine (but you should still try to learn the language!).

Since arriving in Montenegro, we have been impressed with how safe and family-friendly it is. It appears that no-one locks their doors, and parents feel comfortable letting their children play unsupervised. We have yet to see any evidence of crime. The only homeless creatures around are the occasional stray cats. Our neighborhood sometimes looks like a 1950s sitcom: families buying fresh bread from the bakery, drivers stopping for pedestrians, and kids playing on swings instead of iPads. 

The only downsides we have experienced so far are that the place can be a little boring (especially in terms of nightlife) and there are no fast food chains. That being said, if we miss parties or junk food, we can simply head to the nearby Tivat airport and fly to a more exciting destination. We have found cheap flights to numerous European cities, including Paris, Amsterdam, Rome, Vienna, London, and Berlin. Montenegro’s Tivat and Podgorica airports are not the only options. You can easily drive to neighboring international airports such as Dubrovnik (Croatia) and Tirana (Albania). Recently, we were lucky enough to find a roundtrip flight from Tirana to Dubai for less than $200!

With the real estate option out, we had to do some serious digging to find other paths to Montenegrin residency. At long last, we found the perfect solution! You can become a temporary resident by starting a company in Montenegro. 

You incorporate a company, and then hire yourself as an employee. You gain temporary residency and a work permit with very few hoops to jump through. The incorporation costs are reasonable, the immigration process is fairly fast, and best of all there is no minimum stay requirement. As an “international CEO” you are expected to travel frequently for business. 

To maintain your residency, you must: keep the company running, pay yourself a salary, pay corporate taxes (around €200 / month), have accommodation in the country (12-month rental contract), and renew your resident permit annually. As a resident, you will have access to the Montenegrin healthcare system. 

If you plan to live in Montenegro for the long term, you should know that after five years, it is possible to apply for permanent residency. You will need to prove that you have lived in Montenegro for years, have a clean criminal record, and have a good command of the local language. To apply for citizenship, you must have lived in the country continuously for ten years or been a permanent resident for at least five years. 

Step One: Make sure you qualify.

To qualify for residency in Montenegro, you need a valid passport, a college degree, and a clean criminal background in your home country. You are permitted to bring your spouse and/or children, but you must complete the entire process before sponsoring dependents. 

In our case, I applied for the residency permit first, because I have a university degree. Once I received my temporary resident permit, I sponsored my spouse.

Step Two: Create a company. 

In my case, the incorporation costs were approximately €400, and it took about three weeks to create and register the company.

You can complete the incorporation process once you are in Montenegro, or do so remotely. I was able to get a jumpstart on the immigration by sending my lawyer an apostled power of attorney, giving him permission to form the company in advance of my arrival. 

Step Three: Start the immigration process.

I arrived in Tivat as a tourist. Please note, all tourists are required to register their names and accommodation details at the local tourist office. 

At the first meeting with my lawyer, I looked over the already complete corporate documents. In addition, we gave him my personal documents (passport, university degree with apostille, criminal background check with apostille), as well as the receipt/slip I received from the tourist office. He sent all of the documents out to be translated and then approved by the appropriate government authority. For example, my college degree was sent to Montenegro’s education department for approval. 

Step Four: Go to the immigration office. 

A mere two days later, I went to the immigration office downtown Tivat (accompanied by a member of my legal team). Be sure to pick the right line, because the office has multiple functions. Immigration applications are done alongside driver’s license renewals, car registrations, and various other procedures. 

After waiting in line for about 45 minutes, a clerk reviewed my documents and passport. He asked me for some basic information such as my home address and my parents’ full names. I signed, and he stamped, the official application document. I brought the stamped document to an adjoining room where a different clerk took my fingerprints (both index fingers), a digital signature, and a photo. 

Even with the waiting time, I spent less than an hour in the immigration office!

Step Five: Register your Montenegrin address

Once my residency application was in the system, I needed a long-term address in Montenegro to replace the Airbnb accommodation I registered at the tourist office. You must have a local address in order to maintain your Montenegrin residency. 

If you plan on spending a lot of time in the country, it makes sense to get a long-term lease or buy real estate here. However, with our nomadic lifestyle, we elected to rent an apartment on a short term basis (3 months) while we completed the residency process. 

To satisfy the government’s registered address requirement, I signed a year-long lease that my lawyer provided. For only €100 / year he supplies the “address” of a vacant property and prepares a lease. Even if we decide to buy a place here in the future, we will likely keep paying for this lease option in the interest of privacy.

To register the lease, I (and a member of my legal term) went to the local notary’s office. A translator explained the terms of the lease to me in English before I signed it. The notary then took copies of the lease and my passport, and I signed my name in the notary’s guestbook. As far as fees that day, I paid €23.59 to the notary and €15 to the translator (who needs to be there to make the document legal). The process only took 20 minutes. I assume the notary then registered the address in the government system for immigration purposes.  

Step Six: Pick up your temporary resident’s card.

Two weeks after my initial appointment at the immigration office, my residency was approved. I collected my card from my lawyer’s office, and, easy as that, I am finally a European resident! 

I am amazed at how little I spent to obtain residency in Montenegro. I spent ~€940.00 (€100 lease, €400 for company, €400 for residency permit and the rest in misc notary costs).

Step Seven: Sponsor your dependent(s)

On the day I received my card, my husband gave his documents (background check, passport) and our marriage certificate to the lawyer to send off for translation/approval.

A couple of days later, we went to the immigration office together. I signed a document stating that my company was hiring my husband. He then completed the same process that I did — signing, fingerprinting, etc.

His application was taking a long time to process. After a month, I asked my lawyer to follow up with the immigration staff and it turns out they wanted an additional requirement. I had to deposit 10 euros/day into my personal bank account (3,650 euros total) to prove I could support my dependent spouse. After I provided a bank letter confirming the funds to the immigration office, we continued to wait for the residency card. To date, it has been two months and my husband has yet to receive his card.

Since my residency is linked to my company, I needed to open a corporate bank account, and a personal bank account to pay my salary into. I (and a member of my legal team) went to a reputable bank known for its fast turnaround times. We met with the bank manager and spoke for approximately 5 minutes.

He asked me to provide the following:

• Profession 
• Home address
• Local phone number 
• Father’s full name
• Email
• Annual turnover for the company (and said I should overestimate it)

He asked if I wanted a domestic or international account. I opted for domestic, as I don’t plan on doing any international transactions from this account. The account is simply to pay corporate taxes and my own salary. We have found much better international banking services in countries such as Georgia and Gibraltar. If you want banking tips, read our articles Why To Consider Offshore Banking, How To Open An Offshore Bank Account, and The Best Banks for Crypto Enthusiasts.

The bank required the following in cash to open the accounts:

• $50 for personal
• $100 for company
• $50 deposit

They said the account would be ready in 3-5 business days and the debit cards would take 25 days to create.

Two days later, I got a call that my account was ready. I returned to the bank to sign bank contracts (for both the corporate and personal accounts). They gave me a laminated card with my account number, my name, my signature, and my passport number. Finally, I deposited €5.00 for online banking access. 

After I left the bank, I texted my account information to my lawyer / accountant for them to register it with the government.

A new law coming into effect in Montenegro requires all business owners to register with the beneficial ownership system before August 28, 2024. It is similar to anti-money laundering legislation in other countries (and is not a surprising requirement given that Montenegro is trying to join the EU).

To comply with this new law, I went back to the Notary’s office. With the help of a translator, I signed the declaration. I paid the notary €20.57 and the translator €15.00. I then had to go to the bank and pay the €80 charge. My lawyer indicated that my declaration would be registered within 15 business days.

We hope this detailed account of our Montenegrin immigration experience encourages you to pursue a secondary residency. With a country like Montenegro, the process really can be simple and affordable. For more details about residency and citizenship, please visit the Government of Montenegro website. If you think becoming a temporary resident of Montenegro is the right fit for you, please reach out, and we can put you in touch with trustworthy professionals in the region.

If you are looking to move to a different country, we have lots of articles about residency programs. A couple include Quick Guide to Luxembourg Residency and Residency in Argentina: A Helpful Guide.