Working in Montenegro as a French National: Permits, Pay, Contributions and Economy

Business travellers making a short stay do not need a visa. Beyond 90 days, France Diplomatie describes a long-stay D work visa, valid for up to 180 days a year, whose processing takes 20 days at most from the application; its issue is subject to quotas of foreign workers and to the shortage situation in certain occupations. There is no visa regime specific to businesspeople. A person staying with a private individual registers within 24 hours with the local tourist organisation or the foreigners’ police, on pain of a fine of 60 euros.

The page consulted describes neither work permits nor long-stay residence permits, nor fees and licences: they should be confirmed with the Montenegrin Ministry of the Interior and the employer before the contract is signed. The regional Economic Service in Belgrade covers Montenegro, and the France-Montenegro Business Circle (Njegoševa 26, Podgorica), a French business network, guides companies. The settling-in formalities are set out in living in Montenegro.

CLEISS gives a national gross minimum wage of the order of 670 euros a month for 40 hours a week, and an average gross monthly salary of the order of 1,200 euros. The Statistical Office of Montenegro (Monstat) publishes monthly average wages and the change in consumer prices. These benchmarks place the local level: an executive recruited locally compares the offer with these averages and with their sector, and often negotiates a package that includes housing, supplementary health insurance and schooling.

CLEISS lists for an employee, on the whole of gross monthly salary: sickness and maternity at 8.50% on the employee side and 2.30% on the employer side; old age, disability and survivors at 15% on the employee side and 5.50% on the employer side; unemployment at 0.50% on each side. The total reaches 24% on the employee side and 8.30% on the employer side; CLEISS mentions no ceiling. The associated rights are described by CLEISS: sickness daily allowances at 70% of the salary or of average income over the last 12 months, with no affiliation period required, paid for the first 60 days by the employer (reimbursed by the fund), then by the fund for 10 months at most; maternity leave of 365 days, including at least 28 days before childbirth and 70 days after, with an allowance of 100% of the last salary, within a monthly ceiling and floor revised regularly; work accidents covered with no qualifying period.

A French employee who works in Montenegro comes under the Montenegrin scheme, unless posted by their employer under the Franco-Yugoslav agreement. Before leaving, they ask their French fund for form SE 21-02, a certificate of insurance periods, to hand to the Montenegrin health insurer so that their French periods are taken into account. See the Montenegrin healthcare system.

CLEISS describes family benefits open for the first five children, subject to permanent residence: a birth or adoption allowance of 900 euros paid once (1,000 euros for a recipient of social assistance) and monthly allowances whose amount varies depending on the child’s situation. For disability, a pension requires at least 50% incapacity, with a monthly minimum for total disability. The statutory retirement age is 65 for men and, for women, raised by three months a year until 65 in 2032, with at least 15 years of contributions; the full rate is acquired after 40 years of contributions, whatever the age.

For a posted employee, the 1950 agreement keeps French family benefits for the family who stayed in France and opens, for the family who accompany them, a right to family allowances and to the PAJE (French early-childhood benefit) birth bonus if the conditions are met. A local employee who leaves their children in France can ask for transferable family allowances, with form SE 21-23, issued by the French civil registry or the CAF (French family benefits fund) and handed to the Montenegrin family allowances fund.

CLEISS specifies that there is no specific scheme for the self-employed: they contribute for the same risks as employees, except unemployment. The rate is 10.80% for sickness and maternity and 20.50% for old age, disability and survivors, or 31.30% in total, on the declared gross monthly income. Retirees pay 1% of their pension for health insurance. To settle as a self-employed person, the residence permit and the business status should be confirmed with the Montenegrin authorities: the pages consulted describe neither a specific visa for digital nomads nor a tax regime for the self-employed.

Several mobile operators cover the country well, except in the high mountains, and European Union roaming rules do not apply: a local plan reduces costs. Self-employed workers and nomads will find cover pointers in the guide digital nomad insurance.

Coordination with France rests on the general Franco-Yugoslav agreement of 5 January 1950, supplemented by the administrative arrangement of 23 January 1967, whose application to Montenegro results from the agreement of 26 March 2003 on succession to treaties, which came into force on that date (CLEISS). It concerns employees of French or Montenegrin nationality and covers all branches except unemployment. A posted employee can remain affiliated in France with no local contribution: CLEISS describes two options for reimbursement, either sending the paid invoices with form S 3125c to the French fund, or applying to the Montenegrin body with the certificate of coverage SE 21-01. Daily allowances are paid by the French fund with a sick-leave notice sent within 48 hours; family benefits continue for the family who stayed in France. See posted worker or expatriate.

On tax, the list of treaties on impots.gouv.fr shows for Montenegro the treaty with the former Yugoslavia on income taxes, which also covers Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Serbia; BOFiP (the French tax authority’s official doctrine) specifies that it was signed in Paris on 28 March 1974 and that it continues to have effect by succession. It designates the State competent to tax salaries and pensions; the French tax residence criteria (home, main place of stay, activity, centre of economic interests) can be checked on impots.gouv.fr. The Montenegrin income tax scale on wages should be confirmed with the local tax administration: no rate is repeated here without reading the official text.

France Diplomatie describes an economy centred on tourism, which represents about 25% of GDP; the macroeconomic indicators (GDP, unemployment, public debt) can be consulted from Monstat, which publishes monthly figures. The currency is the euro, used in practice and in law; the Central Bank of Montenegro quotes currencies against the euro as the base currency. The country’s main customers are Serbia, Slovenia and Kosovo; its main suppliers, Serbia, China and Germany.

Bilateral economic relations are described as limited, with opportunities in tourism, renewable energy and agriculture. French exports remain modest (a few tens of millions of euros a year). Projects cited include a 72 MW wind farm at Krnovo, the clean-up of the Bijela shipyard and studies on concessions for the Podgorica and Tivat airports. International health insurance remains necessary for anyone working on site: see expat health insurance and healthcare reimbursement in Montenegro.