In spite of the abolishment of Montenegro’s Citizenship by Investment Program, the country has approved a total of 280 applications that were submitted before the termination of this program.
The decision to grant such visas, even though the scheme is closed, has raised concerns in this country and also has raised questions about the allocation of the funds related to this program, VisaGuide.World reports.
The Citizenship by Investment scheme, also known as the Golden Passport Program, allowed wealthy foreign nationals to acquire citizenship in Montenegro provided they invested in this country a specific amount of money and met the needed requirements.
The Golden Passport scheme of Montenegro was among the most favorite programs of this kind in Europe for internationals. Besides, an analytic tool called the Best Investment Migration Real Estate Index, brought by Henley and Partners, together with Deep Knowledge Analytics, revealed that Montenegro was among the top five European destinations when it comes to real estate investment. Montenegro occupied the third position in this index.
However, authorities in Podgorica decided to abolish this program on December 31, 2022, emphasizing that no further applications would be accepted starting from January 1, 2023, onwards.
According to a report from BNN Breaking, Montenegro granted more than 1,200 citizenship to internationals, 800 of which have been granted through the golden passport scheme.
A report from Radio Free Europe, published in November this year, noted that over 400 applications are still being processed through the citizenship by investment scheme in Montenegro in spite of its abolishment.
The same source noted that, based on the statistics from the Montenegrin Investment Agency (MIA), of the total of 1,100 passport requests submitted for a period between 2019 and the end of 2022, a total of 413 requests are still pending at different stages of processing.
Reports over its involvement in irregular affairs, such as money laundering and corruption, led authorities in this country to terminate the scheme in December last year. However, Montenegro’s Finance Minister, Aleksandar Damjanović, said that terminating the scheme would significantly damage the Balkan country.
Besides, he noted that a total of €70 million was expected from the scheme for this year alone.
From applications that are in procedure and those that have not even started to be solved, we expect up to 70 million euros – about 35 million of incomes is certain, but it’s estimated up to 70 million for the next year.
Currently, numerous countries provide such programs in spite of reports linking them to irregular activities.