In this article we will approach a plan to retire in Montenegro getting the best value deals for your money. If you want to travel for an extended period or time, we will analyze the costs involved and what you need to know to retire in Montenegro
Montenegro is located in the Southeastern part of Europe, and despite the current news about the ongoing social crisis in Europe regarding refugees and economic growth, you probably will never hear about Montenegro making the headlines. Why?
Montenegro is a tiny, mountainous nation with a population smaller than those of San Diego or Phoenix. It’s neither rich nor poor, allowing its residents to enjoy a considerably higher social stability than rich countries like Germany or Sweden, currently being flooded my migrants in search for a better life, or other famous destinations among retired people like Ecuador or Dominican Republic, which, due to poverty and other reasons, have low standards in terms of public safety.
Here is a step by step guide to retire in Montenegro:
Getting there: You can just fly to Podgorica, the country’s capital from most major airports in Europe (no direct flights from the US).
Most OECD countries, and all of those from the EU have a 90 day visa free access to Montenegro, so you can just get there, see if you like the beaches or the mountains, and make up your mind on weather you should consider Montenegro to be your new home. You can also choose it to spend the winter, where the temperature is considerably less depressive than those of North America and Northern Europe.
How to open a bank account in Montenegro?
If you want to move abroad you will certainly want to open a bank account in this location to avoid hefty ATM withdrawal fees or simply to pay your bills and buy food. Montenegro, unlike a number of European countries, allows any foreigner, even non residents, to open a bank account in the country, where most of the banks just require a valid passport to start the process.
Montenegro is using the Euro, so you don’t have to worry about currency devaluation like in most of its neighbors. Perhaps you can worry though, since the Euro dropped from 1.60 to 1 usd to 1.07, in a rather short period.
There are many EU banks operating in Montenegro, such as Hypo Alpe Adria Bank from Slovenia and Erste bank from Austria.
Getting your Montenegro residence permit.
There are 2 ways which I consider reasonable to get your papers in order in Montenegro.
The first involves buying a real estate. If you buy any real estate in Montenegro (except a land plot without anything built on it) it entitles you automatically to get a resident permit in Montenegro, that’s specially ideal if you want to retire entirely in Montenegro and do not carry any commercial activity in it.
The second way to retire in Montenegro legally is to open a company there. It doesn’t have to be a company that actually carries a real business activity, but regardless, there are costs involved in this process such as hiring an accountant and paying the minimum social contributions. These costs are roughly of 1500 USD per year.
In case you want to have some kind of business online or offline, Montenegro is an excellent option to be considered.
Apart from the advantages written above, Montenegro residents currently enjoy one of the most relaxed tax systems in the European continent, with income tax at 9% and VAT at 17%.
Now, let’s analyze what would be the monthly budget for 1 person to retire in Montenegro:
The rental price (long term) for a 35m2 renovated flat in Podgorica, the country’s capital would be hovering around 250 euros without common costs as we can see on this link here. Utilities should be around 50 euros.
Eating is a very personal choice, but, if you don’t eat in restaurants everyday, you will have a hard time spending more than 10 euros per day on that.
Internet in Montenegro is quite expensive. Both cable and mobile data are considerably more expensive than many other countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Expect to pay more than 20 euros per month for a decent internet package, and not less than 3 euros por GB in any prepaid mobile data plan.
All in all, with a budget of roughly 800-900 euro per month, you can have a very relaxed life in Montenegro. It can go down to 450, if you decide to buy your own real estate, which still makes of Montenegro a country chosen by a number of Brits, Scandinavians and others to spend their retirement years.
If your budget is 1500 usd or more per month, you will live like a King, as the minimum salary is just below 200 euros per month, and the average salary for 2015 is at 484 euros per month.
It is hard to determine how much one can spend per month, it depends entirely on your lifestyle and needs, but Montenegro remains one of my favorite destinations to be considered in the future.
On the last note, even if you wouldn’t consider Montenegro to live because the language is quite complicated, or for any reason, you should, at least, visit it once, as its unique fjords, mountains and sea coast are definitely worth every dollar you’d spend to get there.
Even being Serbian, I guess $644 usd takes me out of the picture ?
If you don’t have to pay rent, you will be fine with $644 a month. Otherwise, it will be rather complicated
Well researched article. Are you here in Montenegro? We just moved here this year, arrived Oct 2016. We are in a small town near Herceg Novi, on Kotor Bay. It is a nice place during the winter. Quiet, mild temperatures compared to where we are from. Cost of living information article is very close to what we found. You can definitely rent for 250 euros, but quality will vary. Just have to take your time to look around.
On mobile internet, Telenor offers their existing prepaid customers add ons which don’t appear on the public website. I got 10Gigs for 4.25 euros. I think it is a way to get you to buy more if you burn through your first data package early 🙂 I burned through 1Gig in 15 days, so I am guessing that is why I got the offer of 10Gigs cheaper. The addon 10 Gigs is good for 1 month, so I am happy with that.
We opened a company to get residency and it went fairly smoothly. If someone wants a recommendation to a reliable accounting/legal service, feel free to contact us. The folks we used were are great.
Great article…
Ed in Kotor Bay
I have been to Montenegro, but I don’t live there. I am glad you are enjoying, are you running some kind of business there?
Hi Ed. Thanks for your comments. I have read numerous articles about obtaining residency using the company route. It is good to compare that online info against your first hand experience. I am interested to know more about the actual process you stepped through. Can you point to a specific website that lists the steps exactly as you followed yourselves? Also, I would appreciate your recommendation for the accounting / legal service. My email address is ronandsusan2@yahoo.com – thanks for your post and this helpful article from valueNomad!
Ed,
Next year I am planning to retire early (I’ll be 41) with an estimated retirement income of roughly $5500USD (depending on market forces) I know that this money will go a long way.
I remember spending summers over there when I was a kid and I spent few summers over there vacationing with my wife and kids. My kids speak limited Serbian (to my dismay) but my wife doesn’t speak any Serbian. How do you get on without speaking Serbian? Did you run into problems getting permanent residency? Me and my family have American citizenship and don’t plan on trying to obtain citizenship of Montenegro. Are you taxed on your retirement income? I’d hate to be double-taxed and feel I already pay enough here in the States. Do you have to start a business in order to get residency? I’d rather not due to complicated tax system here in the USA. How does property ownership work without/with residency? Are property taxes higher for non-residents?
Can you recommend any law-firms in the area that specialize in answering these questions.
Hi Ed
Thank you for the valuable information. My son and I am planning to go the same route opening a business for him and I will be buying property…..or can he employ me? I will appreciate if you can assist with the accountants that you made use of to assist us with the process.
Kind regards
Alley
You don’t need to buy property, you can be one of the company shareholders.
Dear Ed, My partner and I are looking into retiring to Montenegro so would appreciate the name of the accounting/legal parties you used. Many thanks
Thanks for blogging on this subject … we are Americans who lived in Germany for 4 years working as civilians for the US government. We almost moved to Montenegro when my wife’s job ended in Germany based on our research then. You are much more up to date on your information than we are now so where would you recommend we consider. We like many dining options and good travel connections for air, rail, and cruising. Thanks for any help you can provide.
Hi Ed, From what I’m reading and seeing online, Montenegro has it all over the usual expat retiree choices. I refer to Panama and Latin America in general. Can I buy a residence in one of the smaller towns outside the capital, yet close to the Adriatic with $5000.00 USD. Are mortgages available, and would this be cheaper than renting? I wouldn’t mind renting an apartment if buying is out of the question. Do apartment buildings usually have on-premises laundry and fully equipped kitchens? I mean with all the usual appliances. Is Social Security taxed? I am seeing online that out of pocket costs for Dr. visits is very reasonable, but I would keep an open return ticket for major medical issues. I wouldn’t mind a four season area, but I love boats and water. I should be able to fly in about Jan.-Feb. 2019. Any info is mucho appreciated!