Montenegro digital nomad visa and residence permit

Article 60a of the Law on Foreigners defines the applicant as a foreigner who performs work electronically for a foreign company, or for their own company that is not registered in Montenegro. Employees with a remote contract and founders of companies registered abroad both qualify; freelancers need to show that they invoice through a business registered in another country. You must have entered Montenegro lawfully.

The permit is part of the Government's programme to attract digital nomads, run through the digitalnomads.gov.me portal. It does not allow you to take a job with a Montenegrin employer or to sell services through a Montenegrin company.

You prove the general residence conditions and the remote-work basis: an employment contract or other document showing that you work electronically for a foreign company or your own non-Montenegrin company, plus proof that the company is registered in its home country (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asks for a certified copy for the visa D). The other documents are proof of means of subsistence, accommodation in Montenegro, health insurance, a passport valid at least three months beyond the permit and proof of no unconditional prison sentence longer than six months in your country of origin.

The official pages do not fix a minimum income; the Ministry assesses whether your documented means are sufficient. Foreign documents should be translated into Montenegrin by an authorised court translator; lists of translators and notaries are linked from the digital nomad portal.

Visa-free nationals enter Montenegro and apply within their permitted stay. Visa-required nationals can apply abroad for a visa D for digital nomad status, issued against proof of electronic work for a foreign or own non-Montenegrin company and health insurance; it allows a stay of more than 90 and up to 180 days in a year while the permit is prepared.

The application is lodged in person at the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the municipality where you live, on the bilingual Montenegrin and English form, which the officer fills in. Photo, two fingerprints and a digital signature are taken. A complete application filed before your 90 days of stay run out lets you remain until the decision, which is due within 40 days.

Visa D holders must register their stay with the police within 24 hours of arriving at their accommodation, unless a hotel does it. Once you hold the permit, you register again only when staying more than three days in another town. The permit lapses if you spend more than 30 days outside Montenegro during its validity, so plan long trips with this rule in mind.

Apply for extension in person no earlier than 60 and no later than 30 days before the permit expires, with a valid passport, proof of accommodation and continued remote work. The permit can be extended for a maximum of two more years. After that, a new digital nomad permit can be granted only once six months have passed since the previous one expired. The extension fee is EUR 20.

Close family members can join a digital nomad through family reunification: the spouse, their minor children born in or out of wedlock, and children of one spouse or adopted children up to 18. Each family member files their own temporary residence application.

If the Ministry refuses the permit, you can appeal to the Ministry within eight days of receiving the decision.