Montenegro CBI Closing December 2021

After much speculation about whether Montenegro’s Citizenship by Investment Programme will be extended or expire, we now have official confirmation that the programme will close as originally planned at the end of December 2021.

During the 15th cabinet session, held on 18th March, the Government of Montenegro announced their decision to close the programme based on two main factors. Firstly the uptake of the programme has been much lower than expected with only 131 applications submitted so far. Secondly with Montenegro’s accession to the European Union on the horizon, offering a direct citizenship programme would likely jeopardise their EU application. It is public knowledge that the European Commissioner is not in favour of such programmes and has applied downward pressure on several other countries to close or amend their programmes in recent years, resulting in a programme closure in Cyprus and a total reform in Malta.

It is worth noting that, at the time of this publication, the Montenegro programme will still be available for another eight months, allowing enough time for any interested investors to proceed with an application before the closure. If you would like to obtain further details or a full quotation, please get in touch with our team.

**UPDATE October 2021**
There is still time to apply, but time is running out. Interested parties will need to initiate the application in the coming weeks in order to hit the pending December deadline. Please consider that it can take an average of 4-6 weeks to prepare your file and documentation and finalise an investment.