Loss by release (otpust) — voluntary renunciation

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.

Adult release (Art 20(2)) requires THREE cumulative conditions, each anti-statelessness-oriented. (1) Age: the applicant must have reached 18 (navrsilo 18 godina zivota) — a minor cannot self-release; a child is released only derivatively under Art 22. (2) Existing or assured second nationality: the applicant must already HOLD another State's citizenship OR produce proof that he will be admitted to it (dokaz da ce biti primljeno u drzavljanstvo druge drzave). This is the core no-statelessness safeguard — Montenegro will not release a citizen into statelessness; mere intention to acquire a foreign nationality is insufficient, the applicant must show an existing nationality or a concrete admission assurance. (3) Actual residence abroad: the applicant must actually reside on the territory of another State (stvarno boravi na teritoriji druge drzave) — release is structured for emigrants who have genuinely relocated, not for residents seeking to shed Montenegrin nationality while remaining in Montenegro. Where the second nationality is only assured (not yet held), Art 21 lets the applicant obtain a garantni akt o otpustu that holds the procedure open for two years; if proof of the foreign citizenship is not filed within that window, the procedure is suspended (obustavlja se). Child release (Art 22) is tightly bounded: a child may be released ONLY on condition he does not become stateless, and only on the request of (1) a parent who is himself losing citizenship by release; (2) such a parent with the consent of the other Montenegrin-citizen parent; (3) such a parent where the other parent is a foreign/unknown/stateless national; (4) both adoptive parents (foreign nationals) in a full adoption; or (5) the parent losing citizenship to whom the child was entrusted for care by a final court decision on divorce/separation. Where the other parent withholds consent, is of unknown residence, or is deprived of legal capacity or parental rights, the request is granted only if the guardianship authority finds release to be in the child's interest. A child older than 14 must additionally give his own consent (potreban je i njegov pristanak). The post-release backstop (Art 23) is itself a condition of the route's integrity: if the foreign citizenship fails to materialise within one year of delivery of the release decision, the released person may demand annulment (poništenje) of the release within three months of that period's expiry, and may obtain annulment even later if he in fact remained stateless.

Competent authority: the state administration body for citizenship affairs — the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP / 'nadlezni organ', Arts 27, 29). Channel: under Art 28 the release request is filed with MUP in person or via an authorized representative (punomocnik) on the prescribed form; critically for this route, because Art 20(2)(3) requires the applicant to actually reside abroad, Art 28(3) expressly allows the request to be lodged through a Montenegrin diplomatic or consular mission (diplomatsko ili konzularno predstavnistvo) where the applicant resides on the territory of another State — the normal filing posture for an otpust applicant. Forms are fixed by the MUP Pravilnik o obrascima. Documents: proof of the existing second nationality OR a documented admission assurance from the other State (for the Art 20(2)(2) condition), evidence of actual residence abroad (for Art 20(2)(3)), and, where the second nationality is only assured, an application for the Art 21 garantni akt. Decision and timeline: under Art 29(3) the competent authority must decide on acquisition or loss within ONE YEAR of initiating the procedure, by a written decision containing a statement of reasons and instruction on legal remedy. Where the applicant fails to take a required step despite warning, the request is deemed withdrawn after three months (six months if he resides abroad — Art 29(2)), a provision of direct relevance to the consular-filing otpust applicant. Effective date: per Art 31(1), 'Crnogorsko drzavljanstvo.. gubi otpustom danom dostavljanja rjesenja.. o otpustu' — citizenship is lost by release on the DAY the release decision is DELIVERED (danom dostavljanja rjesenja), not on the application date; the loss is constituted, not merely declared, by service of the release decision (contrast the declaratory ex-lege decision of Art 31(2)). Post-decision: the Art 23 revert mechanism runs from this delivery date — one year to acquire the foreign citizenship, then a three-month window to demand annulment. Appeal/review: against a refusal (or against a refused annulment) an administrative dispute (upravni spor) lies to the Administrative Court (Upravni sud Crne Gore) under Art 29(4), then a request to examine the judgment to the Supreme Court (Vrhovni sud), and finally a constitutional appeal (ustavna zalba) to the Constitutional Court (Ustavni sud). Realistic timeline: where the applicant already holds the second nationality and resides abroad, release is administratively straightforward within the one-year statutory ceiling; where the second nationality is only assured, the garantni-akt route (Art 21) extends the horizon by up to two years.