Yesterday, the government adopted amendments to the Visa Regime Regulation, which removes Kuwait from the list of countries that do not require a visa to enter Montenegro, and adds Nauru.
The Government announced that this is an additional step towards harmonization with the EU visa policy and the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the list of third countries whose nationals must be in possession of a visa when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement, on the basis of which citizens of these countries can stay in the territory of the Union without a visa for up to 90 days.
The European Commission has repeatedly warned Montenegro, as a candidate for EU membership, that it must fully harmonize its visa policy with the rules of that community.
The government also amended the decisions on temporary exemption from obtaining visas for citizens of Armenia, Uzbekistan and Egypt, meaning that these decisions will cease to be valid on October 29, instead of November 1.
The Government reminds that, in accordance with the commitments undertaken in the Reform Agenda 2024-2027 and the final benchmarks of accession chapter 24, it is necessary to fully harmonize Montenegro's visa policy with the European one by the end of next year.
The European Commission, in its June non-paper on Montenegro's progress in chapters 23 (judiciary and fundamental rights) and 24 (justice, freedom, security), stated that the country had regressed in meeting the final benchmarks in visa policy with the decisions taken in December and February. They recalled that in December 2024, Montenegro amended its visa-free regime by adding Bahrain and Saudi Arabia (previously seasonally visa-free) to the list of countries with permanent visa exemption.
In February this year, Montenegro adopted its annual decision on seasonal visa exemption, extending the exemption period from March 1 to November 1 (instead of October 1). It also re-included Uzbekistan on the seasonal visa exemption list, after the country was previously removed from it in 2024.
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