Экономическое гражданство за инвестиции (ЗАКРЫТО)

ME-HIS-01 is Montenegro's now-closed citizenship-by-investment (CBI) route — the 'special investment program' (poseban program ulaganja) that allowed a foreign investor and his family to acquire Montenegrin citizenship by admission (prijemom) in exchange for a defined package of state-fund and development-project contributions. It is documented as a HISTORICAL route: operative_today is FALSE. The program was not a free-standing statutory pathway; it was an OPERATIONALIZATION of the extraordinary state-interest grant in Article 12 of the Law on Montenegrin Citizenship, channelled through a dedicated Government Decision (Odluka o kriterijumima, načinu i postupku izbora lica koje može steći crnogorsko državljanstvo prijemom radi realizacije posebnog programa ulaganja od posebnog značaja za privredni i ekonomski interes Crne Gore, Službeni list CG br. 79/2018), adopted at the Government session of 22 November 2018. Who qualified: a person (the 'aplikant') who, through a licensed intermediary agent, applied for himself and his family members (spouse; dependent children of 18+ whom he supported; children under 18 who could acquire on majority — Art 13 of the Decision), paid the prescribed procedure costs and state-development deposit, invested in an approved tourism/agriculture/processing development project, and obtained a positive opinion from a licensed international due-diligence agent including proof of the source of funds. Its place in the ME framework is distinctive: Montenegro's ordinary naturalization (Art 8) requires 10 years of legal continuous residence and release from prior citizenship, whereas the Art 12 route on which CBI rode 'exceptionally' waives all Art 8 conditions — so the program functioned as a discretionary, money-for-passport carve-out that bypassed both the decade-long residence and the renunciation requirement. The program launched on 1 January 2019 and CLOSED on 31 December 2022 by the Decision's own sunset clause (not a separate repeal decree), after the original 31 December 2021 expiry was extended by amendments 12/2020, 143/2021 and 68/2022. As of the most recent MIA (Montenegrin Investment Agency) data — November 2023, roughly one year after closure — the programme had approved 484 of approximately 1,100 applications received between January 2019 and December 2022, with 413 still pending; the majority of applicants were Russian and Chinese nationals (secondary T2, MIA-stated; no primary government statistical release was published).

The governing chain is two-tiered. The PRIMARY statutory anchor is Article 12 of the Law on Montenegrin Citizenship (consolidated through 77/2024). The native operative text reads: 'Lice čiji prijem u crnogorsko državljanstvo je od posebnog značaja za državni, naučni, privredni, kulturni, ekonomski, sportski i drugi interes Crne Gore može, izuzetno, steći crnogorsko državljanstvo prijemom i ako ne ispunjava uslove iz člana 8 ovog zakona' — i.e. a person whose admission is of special importance for the state, scientific, economic, cultural, sporting or other interest of Montenegro may, EXCEPTIONALLY, acquire citizenship by admission even if he does not meet the Article 8 conditions. Article 12(2) assigns the decision to the Ministry of the Interior (organ državne uprave nadležan za unutrašnje poslove) acting on the proposal of the President of Montenegro, the Speaker of Parliament or the Prime Minister. The SECONDARY (implementing) instrument is the 2018 Government Decision (Sl. list CG 79/2018), itself adopted 'na osnovu člana 3a stav 2 Odluke o kriterijumima za utvrđivanje naučnog, privrednog, ekonomskog, kulturnog i sportskog interesa Crne Gore za sticanje crnogorskog državljanstva prijemom' (br. 34/10, 40/16, 62/18) — so the formal pedigree runs: Citizenship Law Art 12 → Odluka o kriterijumima (criteria decision) Art 3a(2) → the 79/2018 special-program Decision. Amendment history of the Decision: original duration Art 18 set it to apply from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2021; that window was extended by Sl. list CG 12/2020, 143/2021 and 68/2022 to a hard stop of 31 December 2022. The Citizenship-Law amendment cascade in force across the program's life is 13/2008 · 40/2010 · 28/2011 · 46/2011 · 20/2014 (Constitutional Court annulment) · 54/2016 · 73/2019 · 77/2024 (Art 12 unchanged in substance throughout). Pins: ME-PRIMARY-04:Art 1 (subject), ME-PRIMARY-04:Art 18 (duration), ME-PRIMARY-01b:Art 12 / ME-PRIMARY-01:Art 12 (statutory anchor, native+EN).