According to Serbian Economist, Montenegro will cancel visa-free entry for Russian citizens and introduce a visa regime by the end of the third quarter of 2026 as part of the harmonization of visa policy with the rules of the European Union.
“In accordance with the commitments undertaken by Montenegro on its path to full membership in the European Union, the country must fully harmonize its visa policy with the EU policy by the end of the third quarter of 2026. This includes, among other things, the introduction of a visa regime for Russian citizens,” the commentary reads.
Russian citizens can now enter Montenegro without a visa and stay in the country for up to 30 days under a bilateral agreement.
According to the national statistical service Monstat, in 2023 Montenegro was visited by about 247 thousand tourists from Russia, which provided 24% of all overnight stays of foreign guests; in 2024 their share amounted to 18.3% with a total flow of 2.6 million tourists. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Montenegro, about 20 thousand citizens of the Russian Federation with temporary or permanent residence permits are officially registered in the country.
Thus, the tightening of the visa regime will potentially affect annually hundreds of thousands of tourist trips and tens of thousands of Russians living or regularly vacationing in Montenegro. Experts expect that part of this flow will be reoriented to other visa-free or easier destinations for Russians – primarily Turkey, Egypt, UAE, Serbia and a number of Asian countries.
https://t.me/relocationrs/1822
