Citizenship of Montenegro is the citizenship of Montenegro. It is regulated by a citizenship law, ratified by Parliament in 2008 and published by the Official Journal of Montenegro (No. 13/2008). It is mainly based on jus sanguinis. There are also provisions for citizenship-by-investment, though the government has suspended the relevant guidelines in the face of European Union concern.
History
Origin
The concept of citizenship in Montenegrin law can be traced back to the laws promulgated in 1803 by Petar I Petrović-Njegoš, which articulated the principle of jus sanguinis in reference to Crnogorac (Montenegrins) and Brdjanin (Highlanders), and then to the legal code of 1855, which reiterated the earlier principles and also granted foreigners the right to reside in Montenegro. In 1905, Nicholas I of Montenegro's "Statute of Montenegro" promulgated further guidelines, for the first time using the term "Montenegrin citizens" instead of "Montenegrins" and "Highlanders", and also establishing the right of renunciation of citizenship after completion of military service. However the law did not spell out the guidelines for acquisition of citizenship.
Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
When Montenegro was a part of Yugoslavia, it had citizenship policies in common with the rest of the country. The Kingdom of Yugoslavia passed a formal citizenship act in 1928, establishing that citizenship would be acquired by patrilineal descent. The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) for its part passed a citizenship act in 1945, which stated that Yugoslav citizenship was held by people who were citizens under the 1928 act and people who had the ethnicity of one of the Yugoslav republics; it also deprived emigrants of their citizenship, and prohibited multiple citizenship. The constituent republics, including the Socialist Republic of Montenegro, passed their own citizenship acts, which mirrored the federal acts and provided for acquisition of citizenship of the constituent republic along with federal citizenship. Citizenship of a constituent republic came from descent rather than place of birth; in the case of two parents with citizenship of different republics, the citizenship of the child depended on agreement by the parents, or lacking such agreement, a legal determination based on the child's place of residence.
Until the breakup of Yugoslavia there were two further changes to nationality laws, each being passed soon after the adoption of a new Constitution of Yugoslavia. The Citizenship Act of 1964 removed the provisions for depriving emigrants of citizenship, as well as establishing procedures for naturalisation. It also clarified the relationship that if one lost federal citizenship, then republic citizenship would be lost as well. The 1976 Citizenship Act clarified the mechanism for acquisition of citizenship of a republic by citizens of other republics. By the time the federal legislation was passed, the constituent republics had already adopted new citizenship legislation in line with the new constitution. Montenegro was the first to pass such legislation, in May 1975; it would remain in force until 1999.
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and State Union of Serbia and Montenegro
The constitution of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY, comprising Serbia and Montenegro) passed in 1992 continued the two-tier structure of federal citizenship and republic citizenship. However, the actual citizenship act governing the details of acquisition of citizenship in the FRY was not passed until 1996. It automatically gave citizenship in the FRY to everyone who had republic citizenship of Serbia or of Montenegro under the SFRY. It also provided that people who held SFRY citizenship, were permanently resident on the territory of the FRY at the time of the promulgation of the constitution, and had no other citizenships could apply for FRY citizenship. However it required that they renounce their former citizenship in the process. It also stated that a person acquiring FRY citizenship by naturalisation would also acquire the citizenship of the republic on whose territory the event of naturalisation occurred.