Residence, Work Permits and Immigration

In practice, the most common grounds are employment, running a business through one's own company, property ownership, family reunification and education. Each ground has its own set of documents and its own procedure, and the choice of ground significantly affects the obligations that follow after approval, including tax and contribution obligations.

Under the employment ground, residence and the right to work are in practice handled together, so the approval also covers the right to work for a specific employer. This means the employment contract, employee registration and contribution payments must be consistent with the submitted documentation — a mismatch between them is a common reason for requests for additional documents.

Duration depends on the ground, the completeness of the documentation and the workload of the competent authority, so timelines cannot be guaranteed in advance. Gathering documents from the home country, along with the necessary translations and certifications, usually takes the most time. We therefore recommend starting preparation before arrival or the planned deadline.

Business activity through a Montenegrin company is one of the common grounds, but registering the company alone is not sufficient — genuine activity and a properly organised status within the company are required, along with appropriate documentation. That is why we plan company formation, accounting and the residence application as a single process.

Yes. We track renewal deadlines for clients to whom we provide ongoing support and prepare documentation in advance, since a missed deadline generally means starting a new procedure from scratch.