The Government of Montenegro has announced new rules and procedures for acquiring special citizenship through investments in Agriculture, Fisheries and wood processing.

These new rules for economic citizenship was recently published in the Official Gazette MNE, No. 79/18.

Montenegro has set €2m for agriculture investments, €3.5m for fisheries and €3.5m wood processing with creation of jobs, to acquire citizenship under fast track program. No loans or receiving incentives allowed.  This also means the investments required for agriculture, wood processing, fishers will be cheaper,  than that of tourism hotel projects.

The Montenegro citizenship by investment program (MCBIP) will only run for 3 years and capped to only 2000 applications from investors. The Government announced previously, scheme expected to fully open for applications by end of 2019 and will rollout fully by 2020

Montenegro previously announced a decision to expand citizenship investments besides real estate and tourism to agriculture, wood processing and fisheries.

The new rulebook published in gazette sets out the conditions that development projects in the area must meet agriculture and timber processing, for the selection of persons who apply for the citizenship by investment of economic interest of Montenegro, by the basis for obtaining Montenegrin citizenship by admission.

Agriculture

Development projects in the field of agriculture, fisheries and wood processing, on which it can be acquired Montenegrin citizenship upon admission must meet the following conditions:

• The investment in primary agricultural production is at least EUR 2,000,000 in processing of agricultural and fishery products in the amount of at least EUR 3,500,000 and in wood processing in the amount of at least EUR 4,000,000;
• The development project will employ at least ten people in primary production agricultural and fishery products, at least 20 in the processing of agricultural and fishery products,
  or at least 20 in wood processing;
•  Not to exercise the right to incentive funds through the agrarian policy measures established
  a regulation regulating the conditions, manner and dynamics of implementation of agrarian policy measures;
•  Not to exercise the right to the incentive funds from the pre-accession funds of the European Union and from projects financed in whole or in part by international donations or loans financial  institutions or from the resources of other countries through projects of interstate cooperation and help.

Applications must also meet the following conditions:

– a business plan describing the investment and the return on investment;
– proof of ownership of the real estate (title deed or title deed) or proof of lease of land and / or buildings or the right to use land and / or buildings in the period from at least ten years (contract certified by a notary or court);
– acquired urban-technical conditions issued by the local authority or of the competent state administration body in case the project concerns the construction or reconstruction of the building;
– the main audited project in accordance with the law governing spatial planning and construction of structures when the project relates to the construction or reconstruction of a building;

Tourism projects

The Government also made recent amendments to tourism development projects for expression of interest such as

• Hotels must meet minimum accommodation units 60 (coastal or in Podgorica) and 35 (rural areas)
• The list of development projects in the field of tourism is established by the Government, at the proposal of the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism.
• The project will qualify for the list of development projects in the field of tourism, shall be determined by the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, on the basis of submitted documentation proving their fulfillment.
• Investors in the development project are obliged, with the prior consent of the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, after the announcement on the List of development projects in the field of tourism, to hire an independent controller who will monitor the implementation of the development project in accordance with the Business Plan and to report to the Ministry or the Government of Montenegro at the semi-annual level Above on the status of realization of the same.

Hotels and tourism projects must meet the following investment conditions:

• Five stars in the coastal region or the capital Podgorica or at least four stars in the northern or central region, except the capital Podgorica;
• Minimum investment of € 15,000,000 in the coastal region or the capital Podgorica or a minimum investment of € 5,000,000 in the northern or central region, except the capital Podgorica;
• Employing at least 80 employees in the coastal region or the Capital city of Podgorica, or at least 25 employees in the northern or central region, except the capital Podgorica;
• Have at least 60 accommodation units in the coastal region or the Capital city of Podgorica or at least 35 accommodation units in the northern or central region, except the capital Podgorica.

Montenegro Government has already announced

• List of Agents and Due diligence providers
• List of development projects
• CIP will follow GRANT + Investment model. Under  the model Applicants have to pay €100K donation fee to development fund.
• Candidate country status with plans to join EU and Schengen area by 2025