6.

MONTENEGRO

Last Updated: Friday, 09 September 2022, 16:23 GMT

 English
 
 | Español
 
 | Русский


 UNHCR 
 Laws 
 Case Law
 Country Information 
 Browse by 
 Resources 

   My Profile 

 Email this document

 Printable version

Montenegrin Citizenship Law

Publisher National Legislative Bodies / National Authorities

Author Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Publication Date 9 November 1999

Cite as Montenegrin Citizenship Law  [],  9 November 1999, available at:

https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b5780.html [accessed 10 September 2022

Comments This law is no longer valid, and from the time when Montenegro was in the sta
 union with Serbia. This was an unofficial translation. Published in Official Gaz
on 9 November 1999. This Law is no longer in force, since the coming into bei
of the 2008 "Law on Montenegrin Citizenship".

Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it
necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the au
or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nation
its Member States.

I - BASIC PROVISION

Article 1
Citizens of the Republic of Montenegro are Montenegrin nationals. Montenegrin citizenship is acquired and
terminated under conditions set forth in this law.

II ACQUISITION OF MONTENEGRIN CITIZENSHIP

Article 2
Montenegrin citizenship is acquired on the grounds of:
1)   origin,
2)   birth on the territory of  Montenegro,
3)   admittance and
4)   according to international agreements.

1. Acquisition of Montenegrin citizenship by origin

Article 3
Montenegrin citizenship is acquired by origin:
1)   a child whose both parents are Montenegrin citizens at the moment of his birth,
2)   a child  whose one of parents is a Montenegrin citizen at the moment of child's birth and the child was born
on the territory of  the Republic of  Montenegro;
3)   a child whose one of parents is a Montenegrin citizen at the moment of the child's birth and the child was
born on the territory of another federal member, or other state, if parents agree that the child be Montenegrin
citizen;
4)   a child whose one of parents at the moment of its birth is a Montenegrin citizen and the other parent is
unknown, or of unknown citizenship, or is without citizenship, if the child was born on the territory of
Montenegro, or if it was born on the territory of another federal member, or other country, but has not acquired
citizenship of that federal member;
5)   a child, whose one of parents is a Montenegrin citizen at the moment of its birth and the other parent is
unknown, or of unknown citizenship, or is without citizenship and the child was born abroad.

Article 4.
A child born abroad, whose one of parents at the moment of the child's birth is a Montenegrin citizen and
another one is a citizen of another federal member, or other state, acquires Montenegrin citizenship by origin if
that is agreed by parents.
If the agreement from paragraph 1. of this article is not reached, the child acquires Montenegrin citizenship if it
is registered in the book of born persons run within the territory of the Republic of Montenegro, or if one
parent, who has Montenegrin citizenship, registers the child as Yugoslav citizen with the responsible
diplomatic, or consular office of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and requests registration of the child in
the Book of the Yugoslav citizens.

Article 5
Montenegrin citizenship may be acquired by origin , by a child born abroad, whose one of parents is a
Montenegrin citizen at the moment of the child's birth and another parent is a foreign citizen, if, before it turns
18, child be registered as a Yugoslav citizen at the relevant diplomatic or consular office of FRY and if s/he
files request for registration into the Book of Yugoslav Citizens and the Registry of Montenegrin Citizens.
If the child is older than 14, for acquisition of the Montenegrin citizenship in the spirit of paragraph 1. of this
article,  his consent is also required.

Article 6
Under condition from Article 5, paragraph 1 of this law, Montenegrin citizenship may be also required by a
person over 18 if before they turn 23, file request for registration into the Book of Yugoslav Citizens and the
Registry of Montenegrin Citizens.

Article 7
Under conditions from Articles 3. to 6 of this law, Montenegrin citizenship is acquired also by an adopted
child-foreigner in case of full adoption.

2. Acquisition of Montenegrin citizenship by birth on the territory of the

Republic of Montenegro

Article 8
Montenegrin citizenship is acquired by a child born or found on the territory of Montenegro if parents are
unknown, or are of unknown citizenship, or they are without citizenship.
The child from the first paragraph of this Article, Montenegrin citizenship may be terminated if before it turns
18, has been found out that its parents are citizens of another federal member, or another state.
The child from the paragraph 2 of this Article, Montenegrin citizenship is terminated upon request of his
parents, by the day of delivery of the final decision, with a provision that for child over 14, his/her consent is
required.

3. Acquisition of Montenegrin citizenship by admittance

Article 9
Into the Montenegrin citizenship may be admitted citizen of another federal member, or another state, who
turned 18 and has permanent  residence within the territory of  Montenegro for at least ten years before filing a
request for admittance into the citizenship.

Article 10
If both parents acquire Montenegrin citizenship by admittance, or one parent was admitted into Montenegrin
citizenship, or one of the parents acquire Montenegrin citizenship by admittance, while another one had the
citizenship from before, Montenegrin citizenship acquires their child younger than 18.
If one parent acquired Montenegrin citizenship by admittance and another one does not have this citizenship,
Montenegrin citizenship acquires also their child younger than 18, if it is so requested by the parent who was
admitted into Montenegrin citizenship and the other parent agrees on that.
If a child is older than 14, its consent is needed for acquisition of Montenegrin citizenship.

Article 11
In case of incomplete adoption, adopted child younger than 18, who has citizenship of another federal member,
or other state, may be admitted into the Montenegrin citizenship upon a request from adopter, who is a
Montenegrin citizen, if s/he lives permanently with adopted child in the Republic of Montenegro.
If an adopted child id older than 14, for admittance into the Montenegrin citizenship in the spirit of paragraph 1
of this article, his/her consent is needed.

4. Acquisition of the Montenegrin citizenship in accordance with international

agreements

Article 12
Montenegrin citizenship may be acquired when, upon ratified international agreement, Yugoslav citizenship is
acquired by the principle of equity.

III – TERMINATION OF THE MONTENEGRIN CITIZENSHIP

Article 13
Montenegrin citizenship may be terminated by:
1)   release,
2)   denouncing,
3)   acquiring citizenship of another federal member, or other state,
4)   in accordance with international agreement

1. Termination of the Montenegrin citizenship by release

Article 14
A person that fulfils conditions for release from the Yugoslav citizenship stipulated by the Federal law, will be
released from the Montenegrin citizenship.

2. Termination of the Montenegrin citizenship by denouncing

Article 15
Montenegrin citizen with permanent residence abroad, may denounce his Montenegrin citizenship, if s/he
fulfils conditions set forth by the Federal Law for denouncing of the Yugoslav citizenship.

3. Termination of the Montenegrin citizenship for acquiring another citizenship

Article 16
Montenegrin citizenship ceases to exist to a Montenegrin citizen if s/he acquires citizenship of another federal
member, or another state.

Article 17
If by Article 16 of this law, Montenegrin citizenship is terminated to both parents, or it is terminated to one
parent and the other one does not have this citizenship, Montenegrin citizenship is also terminated to their
child younger than 18.
If the Montenegrin citizenship is terminated to one of parents and another one has this citizenship,
Montenegrin citizenship is ceased also to their child under 18, if it is so requested by a parent whose this
citizenship is being terminated and another one is consent with that.
If a child is older than 18, for cessation of the Montenegrin citizenship in the spirit of paragraph 1. and 2. of
this article, his/her consent is needed.
4. Termination of the Montenegrin citizenship in accordance with international

standards

Article 18
Montenegrin citizen, who is terminated of the Yugoslav citizenship by international agreements, his
Montenegrin citizenship is simultaneously terminated.

IV – PROCEDURE FOR ACQUISITION AND TERMINATION OF THE

MONTENEGRIN CITIZENSHIP

Article 19
The Ministry of Interior is in charge of deciding upon request for acquisition and cessation of the Montenegrin
citizenship

Article 20
If the procedure for acquisition or cessation of the Montenegrin citizenship, initiated upon a request of a
requestor, cannot be continued or finalised without undertaking certain action by the requestor, it shall be
considered that the request is withdrawn if, despite warning from the MOI, the requestor does not perform the
action needed for continuation or finalisation of the procedure within the determined timeframe, or if due to
the non-undertaking of the action it may be concluded that the requestor is not interested in continuation of the
procedure.
For the reasons mentioned in paragraph 1 of this article, the procedure shall not be terminated  before
expiration of three months since the date of warning.

Article 21
Decision on acquisition of the Montenegrin citizenship and decision on release from the Montenegrin
citizenship it is delivered in accordance with the rules on the obligatory personal delivery.
As a day of acquisition of the Montenegrin citizenship by admittance and as a day of  release from the
Montenegrin citizenship shall be regarded the day when the decision was delivered to the requestor.
Extract from the decision on admittance into, or release from the Montenegrin citizenship shall be published in
the Official Gazette of the Republic of Montenegro.

TRANSITORY AND CONCLUDING PROVISIONS

Article 22
As a Montenegrin citizen, shall be regarded a person that had a citizenship of Montenegro at the day of
entering into force of this law.

Article 23
If persona that are not registered in the Book of the Montenegrin citizens run by the previous regulations, or as
citizens of Montenegro they were registered in the Books of citizens of the ex-republics of SFRJ and republics-
members of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, MOI will determine citizenship of these persons upon their
written request.
Registration of the citizenship from paragraph 1. of this article will be made into the previous Book of the
citizens.

Article 24
MOI and the Ministry in charge of administration will pass regulations on running the registration of
acquisition and cessation of the Montenegrin citizenship, on termination and storing of the citizenship
registration run by the previous regulations within 90 days since entering into force of this law.

Article 25
By entering into force of this law goes out of force the Law on the Citizenship of the Socialist Republic of
Montenegro (Official Gazette of SRM, no: 26/75).

Article 26
This law enters into force on the eighth day after publishing in the Official Gazette of the Republic of
Montenegro.

Search Refworld
by keyword 
and / or country All countries Afghanistan Albania Algeria American
Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antigua and
Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Bela
rus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil British Virgin
Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman
Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo,
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Cook Islands Costa Rica Côte
d'Ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican
Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Falkland
Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French
Polynesia Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam G
uatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras Hong Kong (Special
Administrative Region of China) Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic
of Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea, Democratic People's
Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People's Democratic
Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau (Special
Administrative Region of China) Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall
Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic
of Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat  Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherl
 ands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island North
Macedonia Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestine, State of Panama Papua New
Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russian
Federation Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra
Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Sudan Spain Sri
Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic
of Thailand Timor-Leste (East Timor) Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and
Tobago Tunisia Türkiye Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu U.S. Virgin
Islands Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland United
States of America Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Viet Nam Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara
Territory Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe 
Clear Search
Advanced Search | Search Tips
Countries
 Montenegro

Topics
 Citizenship / Nationality law

 © UNHCR 2022

 Partners

 Help

 Contact

 Site Map

 About
  

 Accessibility

 Disclaimer

 Privacy