July 27 (SeeNews) - Montenegro's government plans to launch a citizenship-by-investment programme in October, it said.
The government reviewed and adopted a decision to launch a citizenship-by-investment programme and instructed the competent institutions to make all the necessary steps to launch it as of October 1, the government said in a statement on Thursday.
The programme will be limited to 2,000 applicants during a period of three years with a minimum investment of 250,000 euro ($290,700), global citizenship and residence consultancy firm Henley & Partners said in a separate statement on Friday.
The Montenegrin government will charge a fee of 100,000 euro per application which will be directed to a special fund for the country's underdeveloped areas.
"These programmes have the potential to create a series of genuinely significant liquidity injections into an economy, both in and of themselves, and as pathfinders for more strategic investments that can help modernize and diversify the economy of often smaller nations, creating a better life for their citizens," the COO of Henley & Partners, Juerg Steffen, said.
Henley & Partners has been advising the Montenegrin government for more than eight years on the possible introduction of an investment migration programme, the company said.
Montenegro is ranked 42nd on the Henley Passport Index, offering citizens access to 123 destinations, including Hong Kong, Singapore, the UAE, and all the countries in Europe’s Schengen Area.
($ = 0.859922 euro)