Loss by release (otpust) — voluntary renunciation
Citizenship in Montenegro
- Eligibility
- Voluntary renunciation: citizen released from citizenship on request, incl. release of a child (no statelessness); guarantee act (garantni akt); reversal within 1 year if no foreign citizenship acquired (Arts 19(1),20-23).
- Renunciation
- Not required
Overview
ME-XRN-01 is voluntary renunciation of Montenegrin citizenship by RELEASE (otpust) — the applicant-initiated loss route, distinct from the ex-lege (po sili zakona) loss of ME-XDP-01 and from loss by treaty. It sits inside the umbrella loss architecture of Chapter III of the Law on Montenegrin Citizenship (Zakon o crnogorskom drzavljanstvu). Art 19 enumerates the three exhaustive modes by which Montenegrin citizenship is lost: (1) at the request of the citizen (po zahtjevu crnogorskog drzavljanina = release/otpust, Arts 20-23); (2) by operation of law (po sili zakona, Art 24); and (3) by international treaty or agreement (Art 25). ME-XRN-01 is the first of these — the only VOLUNTARY loss mode. Who qualifies: an adult Montenegrin citizen (18) who already holds, or is assured of acquiring, another State's citizenship and who actually resides on the territory of another State may, on his own application, be released from Montenegrin citizenship. The route is built around an anti-statelessness spine: release is granted only where the person will not be left stateless, and the Law backstops this twice — with a guarantee act (garantni akt o otpustu, Art 21) that holds the procedure open for two years while the applicant secures the foreign nationality, and with a one-year revert safeguard (Art 23) that annuls the release if the foreign citizenship does not in fact materialise. A parent's release can extend to a child only on strict conditions (Art 22). The route is operative today: Arts 19-23 are unchanged across the entire 13/2008 -> 77/2024 amendment cascade (77/2024 amended only Art 37, register data for statistics). It is non-signature because its mechanics are self-contained and do not require multi-tier interpretive synthesis — the conditions are concrete and the anti-statelessness safeguards are textually explicit.
Example scenarios
eligible — he meets all three release conditions and may be released from Montenegrin citizenship by otpust
Art 20(2): release may be granted to a person who (1) is 18+, (2) already holds another citizenship OR has proof he will be admitted to one, and (3) actually resides on the territory of another State (ME-ASSERT-081). He is an adult, already holds German citizenship, and genuinely resides in Germany — all three cumulative conditions are met, so there is no risk of statelessness. He files via the Montenegrin diplomatic/consular mission (Art 28(3)); loss takes effect on the day the release decision is delivered (Art 31(1), ME-ASSERT-086).
not eligible — release requires actual residence abroad, which she does not have
Art 20(2)(3) requires that the applicant actually reside on the territory of another State ('stvarno boravi na teritoriji druge države') (ME-ASSERT-081). Release (otpust) is structured for emigrants who have genuinely relocated, not for residents seeking to shed Montenegrin nationality while remaining in Montenegro. Because she resides in Herceg Novi, she fails condition (3) and cannot be released by otpust while domiciled domestically.
conditional — he can obtain a guarantee of release (garantni akt) that holds the procedure open for two years
Where the second nationality is only ASSURED (not yet held), Art 20(2)(2) is satisfied by proof he will be admitted to the other State's citizenship, and Art 21 lets him obtain a written guarantee of release (garantni akt o otpustu). The procedure is SUSPENDED if, within TWO years of the guarantee's issuance, he fails to submit proof he will acquire or has acquired the foreign citizenship (ME-ASSERT-082). This resolves the chicken-and-egg of a State that conditions naturalisation on prior release; conditional on his timely proof.
eligible (re-instatement) — she may have the release decision annulled under the one-year revert safeguard
Art 23 (one-year revert safeguard): if a released person does NOT acquire another State's citizenship within one year of delivery of the release decision, the authority shall ANNUL the release decision on her request (ME-ASSERT-084). The annulment request may be filed within three months of expiry of that one-year period (Art 23(2)), and annulment is available even later if she in fact remained stateless (Art 23(3)). Annulment restores her Montenegrin citizenship — this is the anti-statelessness backstop of the release route.
eligible — the child may be released derivatively under the Art 22 conditions
Art 22: a child may be released from Montenegrin citizenship only on condition he does NOT become stateless, on the request of a parent who is himself losing citizenship by release, WITH the consent of the other Montenegrin-citizen parent (ME-ASSERT-083). Both are satisfied — the father is being released, the mother consents, and Filip holds Canadian citizenship (no statelessness). Because Filip is under 14, his own consent is not required; a child older than 14 would additionally have to consent.
not eligible (to self-release) — he is a minor; only an adult can be released on his own application
Art 20(2)(1) requires the applicant to have reached 18 ('navršilo 18 godina života') (ME-ASSERT-081). A minor cannot self-release. A child is released only DERIVATIVELY under Art 22, on a qualifying parent's request and subject to the no-statelessness condition (and, for a child over 14, his own consent). So Lazar cannot file an independent otpust application; release would have to proceed through his parent under Art 22.
Informational summary compiled from primary legal sources — not legal advice. Citizenship law changes; verify with the competent authority before acting. Last verified 2026-06-27.
Track changes to this route
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