The Montenegro economic citizenship came into force on Jan 1, 2019 according to a government decision and will run until Dec 31, 2018 and the special CBI program will be limited to only 2000 applications. The economic citizenship model is designed in house by the government of montenegro institutions and will follow Grant + Investment model. Montenegro expects some €1 billion euro investment through the citizenship scheme in three years.
The new montenegro citizenship scheme requires a minimum of EUR 250,000 or EUR 450,000 investment in development projects plus EUR 100,000 grant to government. The Application phase expected to open in Q2 2019 after March.
During a recent interview, PM Markovic said, the Economic citizenship (EC) program aimed at securing private capital for the development and valorization of resources, strengthening our economy and improving standards.
“You see that the state allocates a significant part of the money for development, but that is not enough and it’s not right that only the state provides development with its money. We should provide this development with private capital, and for that reason we promoted the program of economic citizenship for investment purposes. Therefore, anyone who is, according to the rules we have defined, ready to invest in a project approved by the Government in the country, will receive that citizenship, and projects will be developed, new jobs will open, wages will increase, we will reduce unemployment and of course live better. That is the goal of this program.”, said PM Markovic
The Prime Minister said he will suspend the program if the scheme does not create jobs, reduce unemployment and create high quality life for its citizens.
I am personally interested in the program being implemented in such a way and with that effect. If at some point we estimate that there is no such effect, we will suspend the program. The goal is development, new jobs and higher quality of life of citizens, said PM Markovic.
The Prime Minister also said the economic citizenship program is also open for diaspora people who make investment in Montenegro.
Anyone who is interested, even our people in the diaspora who do not have our citizenship, if they are ready to invest in a project in the country, will have the opportunity like everyone else, “said Prime Minister Duško Marković.
