Henley & Partners – An Established Feature On Montenegro's Investment Landscape

BY RADE LJUMOVIĆ,

Henley & Partners is the global leader in residence and citizenship by investment. Each year, hundreds of wealthy individuals and their advisors rely on our expertise and experience in this area. The firm’s highly qualified professionals work together as one team in over 35 offices worldwide. The concept of residence and citizenship by investment was created by Henley & Partners in the 1990s. As globalisation has expanded, residence and citizenship have become topics of significant interest among the increasing number of internationally mobile entrepreneurs and investors whom we proudly serve every day.

Henley & Partners established its Montenegro office in 2018, with the aim of providing dedicated support to processing offices in Montreal, Cape Town, Dubai, Hong Kong (SAR China), London, Singapore and Zurich, and to applicants interested in investing in Montenegro. Henley & Partners Montenegro is an official member of the Montenegrin Foreign Investors’ Council (MFIC) and AmCham Montenegro.

The Montenegro Citizenship by Investment Programme –Top Citizenship Programme in 2022

The Montenegro Citizenship by Investment Programme was the most popular citizenship programme among Henley & Partners’ clientele in 2022. The potential combined contribution to the Montenegrin economy of all 1,112 applications submitted over the three years of the programme’s active implementation is approximately 500 million euros. About half of these applications were submitted by Henley & Partners. Thanks to this programme, the intense construction of hotels is underway, particularly in the north of the country. Such projects would not have been realised without the programme, and certainly not at the current speed and dynamic. One of the programme’s greatest strengths lies in its comprehensive due diligence. Prior to submitting applications, potential applicants are subject to preliminary checks — first by intermediary agents, such as Henley & Partners, and then by local and international banks. After submission, as part of the government’s internal process, world-renowned companies that specialise in this field conduct the official procedure for checking the eligibility of candidates. Unique processes and rigorous evaluations like these had never been previously implemented in Montenegro.

2023 and Beyond – What lies ahead?

Aware of the programme’s significant impact to date, the Government of Montenegro is conducting detailed analyses and holding advanced discussions on a new investment migration programme, which might operate according to a different model. In terms of Henley & Partners’ presence in the country, over and above its primary purpose, the firm’s Montenegro office also serves as a regional hub focused on promoting residence and citizenship investment programmes across the globe, as well as investment migration-linked real estate, education and concierge services to the many high-net-worth investors who visit the region.