The citizenship by investment program officially started on the first of January 2019 and was to run until 31 December 2021, with the number of applicants being limited to only 2000 within this timeframe.

The government recently announced that there will be changes and that they will be introducing a special CBI scheme that is now likely to commence towards the end of 2019 and be fully functioning by 2020.

Prime Minister Markovik indicated that there would be a fund created for the development of infrastructure through the economic citizenship program. Further, the government agency stated that they are more likely to grant citizenship to those applicants who are willing to invest in the development of Montenegro, particularly to the north of the country. Final decisions of the applications will be from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Security Agency.

The scheme briefly introduced will follow the steps of Grant and Investment. Applicants will have to give a non-refundable grant/donation of €100,000 per application towards the government development funds. Further, they will then invest in real estate with the minimum being €250,000 in the central or northern region of Montenegro. For those that wish to invest in projects in the capital city of Pedgorica, the minimum required investment is €450,000. Another alternative option would be to invest approximately €5 million in a five-star hotel, with the creation of local jobs.

The government is adamant on being strict with the applicants that they process; therefore there will be strong due diligence and making sure that the applicants are not concealing any important information.

The programme is aiming to run for three years until 31 December 2022, with a cap of 2,000 applicants.