The economic citizenship program has enabled over two thousand individuals from 73 countries to acquire Montenegrin citizenship through an investment of 250 million euros and the payment of 74 million euros in fees. A total of 238 applications were denied, while 15 additional applications are currently under review.

This information reflects the status of the project as of December 31st of the previous year, as reported by the Government.

On November 22, 2018, Minister of Foreign Affairs Duško Marković announced that new criteria, procedures, and guidelines were established for selecting individuals eligible to obtain Montenegrin citizenship through the Special Investment Program, aimed at enhancing the economic interests of Montenegro.

Acquisition of a passport alongside property

Under this directive, foreigners interested in acquiring Montenegrin citizenship through the special program are required to deposit at least 450,000 euros into an escrow account for investment in development projects located in the capital Podgorica or along the Montenegrin coast. Alternatively, an investment of at least 250,000 euros is required for projects in the northern or central regions of Montenegro.

Following this decision, the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism issued a Public Call for Expressions of Interest on February 26, 2019, seeking projects to be included in the development projects list for tourism. Most of these projects consist of ‘condo hotels,’ which offer apartments and suites that operate as hotels, allowing foreigners who purchase apartments to simultaneously obtain Montenegrin citizenship.

Approved projects include the construction of 12 hotels: seven in Kolašin (“Breza,” “Bjelasica 1450,” “K16,” “D” with annex “E,” “Montis hotel & resort,” “Magnum,” and “B”), one hotel in Žabljak (“Durmitor Hotel and Villas”), one in Tivat (“Boka Place”), one in Budva (“Cruiser”), and two in Bar (“Amma Resort” and “Liko Soho”).

There was also mention of a single project related to agriculture and the processing industry—a half-million-euro apple plantation in Pljevlja—but it was ultimately not executed.

EU Criticism of the Program Since 2019

The application period for this program ended on December 31, 2022, following the European Union’s request for its termination. After further demands from the EU citing security concerns, the Government restricted new applications in December 2021 until the end of 2022.

By February 2022, the EU delegation to Montenegro reiterated the call to abolish the economic citizenship scheme and expressed concern over the extension of the program for one more year.

In 2019, the European Commission identified citizenship-by-investment schemes as security risks, highlighting potential organized crime infiltration, money laundering, tax evasion, and corruption. The report stressed that such schemes could facilitate evasion of standard EU entry procedures for non-EU countries with visa-free arrangements like Montenegro.

The EU delegation’s letter from February 2022 warned that without strict residency requirements, the risks to EU public policy and security substantially increase, potentially jeopardizing the visa waiver program—similar to proposals made for Vanuatu. The delegation also emphasized the need for stringent oversight for those obtaining citizenship through these pathways.

The European Commission reiterated these concerns in its November 2023 enlargement report.

“The contentious economic citizenship program, while boosting public revenues, conflicted with the country’s obligations to the EU and was allowed to expire at the end of 2022. Nevertheless, numerous applications remained pending even in 2023,” stated the report.

Profits for Ćoćo, Statis, Bemax, and Others

Despite its challenges with the EU, the project faced additional scrutiny due to involvement from controversial entrepreneurs linked to the prior regime. Notable investments in Kolašin include three projects (“K16,” “D” with annex “E,” and hotel “B”), associated with Zoran Ćoća Bećirović, with property sales managed by the “Kolašin Valleys” company, owned by his son Luka Bećirović, as well as the sons of former high-ranking officials Blazo Djukanovic and Marko Gvozdenović. The project “Durmitor Hotel and Villas” belongs to Petros Statis, while the “Cruiser” project was initiated by Bemax.

Total investments in all 12 hotels amount to approximately 350.7 million euros, with an anticipated count of 2,333 accommodation units (apartments, suites, and rooms).

According to audit findings, 247.6 million euros had been invested in these projects by the end of December, with an additional 6.15 million euros remaining in escrow accounts belonging to applicants whose applications are still in review.

Data from the Central Account of the State Treasury noted that the overall administrative fees collected since the program’s inception until December 30 of the prior year were 43.5 million euros, with another 30.8 million euros allocated to the Innovation Fund.

Since the program began, the fee for economic citizenship has been set at 100,000 euros per application, with an additional 100,000 euros fee for the Innovation Fund introduced in 2021.

From the program’s commencement until the close of 2022, a total of 1,113 applications were submitted for citizenship for investors and their family members (spouses and children). Of these, the Ministry of Interior approved 860 applications, rejected 238, and 15 applications remain in various stages of consideration.

Russians Top the List of Recipients, Followed by Chinese Nationals

As reported by the Center for Civic Education (CCE) in September last year, Montenegro granted 2,074 economic citizenships from the program’s start until June 10.

Notably, over half (1,055) of these were granted to Russian nationals.

The top ten countries of origin for applicants included not just Russia, but also China (190), the USA (107), Ukraine (59), Vietnam (49), Lebanon (45), Belarus (43), South Africa (40), Turkey (39), and Egypt (38). Additionally, there were 363 applicants from a mix of 63 other countries, predominantly from Asia and Africa; however, data on 63 newly naturalized citizens remains unrecorded by the CCE.

As previously reported, citizenship through the Economic Citizenship Program has only been denied to applicants from South America and Antarctica.

Investigation Underway for One Project

The “Magnum” project in Kolašin was later excluded from the list, and an investigation was initiated by the Special State Prosecutor’s Office.

In early December, the government stated it would provide SDT with documentation concerning the construction of the Magnum hotel in Kolašin, after it became apparent that the company had submitted a fraudulent guarantee for the project. The guarantee was valued at 2.5 million euros and was issued by Italian bank Credit Agricole.

Earlier, the government had begun the claims process to collect the guarantee after the company failed to meet the construction deadline. The company was obligated to complete the project by October 30, 2024, which it did not fulfill.

The firm “Magnum Development,” owned by Veselin Bečanović, did not provide the necessary documentation, but informed the government that they had initiated discussions with commercial banks in Montenegro to secure a new bank guarantee to extend the project’s deadline. The company reported late last year that it had accomplished 90 percent of the rough construction and anticipated full project completion by December 2025. Magnum Development claims the bank confirmed the validity of the guarantees on December 23, 2021.

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