Starting 1 November, Montenegro will introduce a visa regime for citizens of Russia, Belarus, China, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. The country’s government adopted the decision as part of aligning its visa policy with EU rules.
As the Montenegrin government reported, amendments to the decree on the visa regime were approved on 23 July.
This step enabled the country to fully bring its visa policy into line with EU requirements, which is one of the conditions in the negotiation process for accession to the European Union.
The Montenegrin government adds that fulfilling this commitment also opens the way to receiving around €4 million in funding under the EU Growth Plan for the Western Balkans.
At the same time, Montenegro’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs assured that it is working to ensure the new rules do not create excessive difficulties for applicants. To that end, the country is expanding its network of visa application centers in cooperation with the international company VFS Global.
In the near future, it will be possible to apply for a Montenegrin visa through VFS visa centers in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, India, Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan, and Azerbaijan. The network is to be expanded later to a number of other countries, including China, Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Nepal, and the Philippines.
In addition, Montenegro is creating a new modern Visa Information System compatible with the European Union’s information systems and the security standards of the Schengen Area. In the longer term, this will make it possible to introduce electronic visas (e-Visa), allowing applications to be submitted online.
The Montenegrin government emphasises that aligning visa policy with the EU is an important step toward EU membership and will also help strengthen national security, digitize public services, and develop the country as a tourism and investment destination.
- Montenegro has closed two more negotiation chapters with the European Union on competition policy and the customs union. Montenegro has now provisionally closed 18 of the 33 negotiating chapters. In this way, the country remains the leader in the EU enlargement process.