By amending the economic citizenship program, the government will enable highly qualified personnel, especially in the fields of science and technology, to obtain Montenegrin citizenship.
This is what the Minister of Economic Development, Jakov Milatović, told "Vijesti".
The three-year program for acquiring Montenegrin citizenship through investments, which was started by the Government of former Prime Minister Duško Marković, started on January 1, 2019, and up to 2.000 passports can be granted. The Montenegrin passport can be obtained by investing in some of the projects in the field of tourism, processing industry and agriculture, but until today there were no interested candidates to invest in the processing industry and agriculture, but exclusively in tourism.
The previous government included a total of 15 projects in the list of development projects in the field of tourism, for which a "golden passport" can be obtained. Investors can also be domestic companies, under certain conditions and for a minimum investment in the north, central part, Podgorica and the south of the country.
"Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić expressed the intention of this government to change the economic citizenship program to a citizenship program for highly qualified personnel. In this context, we will analyze the existing economic citizenship program and work on modifying the existing model in order to adequately valorize our resources and create the conditions for more sustainable development," said Milatović.
Detailed analysis
He explained that it will be necessary to carry out a detailed analysis of the effects of the application of current projects that are already being implemented in the field of tourism and their contribution to the creation of added value in the short and medium term.
"This will certainly contribute to the creation of an optimal model for the further implementation of the program and its reorientation from one model to another, which would include a model based on the attraction of knowledge and skills, that is, human capital that will produce new capital, or a model that will include their combination, with primacy of attracting highly qualified personnel and knowledge. Attracting successful and talented people, especially leaders in the field of science and technology, is the primary goal. I will remind you that when talking about the model of economic citizenship, we must take into account the fact that even at the level of the EU member states, which implemented the project of economic citizenship, that project has been suspended or is in the phase of being terminated, which additionally indicates that it is not fully in in accordance with the recommendations of the EC and that this issue will deserve detailed attention and further analysis", emphasized Milatović.
The EC previously said that Montenegro, as a candidate for joining the EU, will have to comply with strict European norms and criteria for preventing security risks when granting citizenship to foreign investors, and this will be assessed during the negotiation process.
In December of last year, the Investments Agency announced that seven million euros were generated on the basis of this project, while nine million were paid into the investors' accounts. According to the Agency, there have been a total of 86 applications so far.
The activities of the previous government of Prime Minister Duško Marković, which started this project, were accompanied by lack of transparency, because the names of those who received Montenegrin passports were not announced. Former Vice President of the Government for Economic Policy Milutin Simović and former Minister of Tourism and Sustainable Development Pavle Radulović promised, when the Government presented this program, that everything will be transparent and that the names of all those who receive a passport will be available to the public.
To citizenship by buying apartments in hotels
Buying an apartment in a condo hotel or a hotel with a mixed business model, which are on the list of development projects, is considered an investment for which a Montenegrin passport can be obtained based on the economic citizenship project.
The applicant can acquire citizenship if he has deposited 100.000 euros in the ESCROW account for the development of less developed municipalities, for the purpose referred to in Article 18 of the Law on Regional Development.
He can also acquire it if he has paid at least EUR 450.000 to the ESCROW account for investment in one of the development projects in Podgorica or the coastal region, or an amount of at least EUR 250.000 for investment in one of the development projects in the northern or central region of Montenegro, except Podgorica. The applicant must deposit 15.000 euros for himself, 10.000 for up to four family members and 50.000 for each subsequent family member.
One of the conditions is that a foreigner can apply for Montenegrin citizenship who has not been convicted in Montenegro or another country and for whom the international suitability assessment agent gave a positive opinion, including proof of the origin of the money intended for payment and investments in accordance with the Government's decision. If it is subsequently established that the person who received Montenegrin citizenship gave false information, the passport is confiscated.
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