Interview. How to move to Montenegro in 2024, find inexpensive housing and get a residence permit in Montenegro

In this article, the story of the relocation of a married couple from Russia. Olga and Igor with two children moved to Montenegro two years ago and share with us tips on emigrating and adapting to a foreign country.

You can learn 8 important tips:

1. How to find a job in the IT field or another and move to Montenegro. About the Digital Nomad Visa

2. Where to rent inexpensive housing on the coast, in Budva, Becici, Przno

3. How to get a residence permit in Montenegro

4. What stages of emigration do you need to go through in order to adapt in a new country

5. Pros and cons, difficulties of moving

6. Top cities to live in

7. How much does life cost in Montenegro, the required budget for a month

8. How to buy an apartment or house in Montenegro if you decide to stay in this country

 

Reading time 15 minutes.

 

If you do not want to read, but want to rent / buy an apartment, a house on the coast in Budva, Becici, Tivat and other cities, or you are interested in a residence permit in Montenegro, click on this link to go to the main page.

 

Why did you choose Montenegro?

My husband and I wanted to move to a good ecologically clean place where our children could get all the best from nature. We considered three countries, but it so happened that we had the first job interview in this country and decided that we would no longer consider other options.

 

Where and for whom do you work and how did you find the job?

My husband and I work in the IT sector, despite the fact that many now work remotely, there are still companies that relocated abroad to Cyprus, Georgia or Serbia and transport their employees, and also offer relocation to new employees.

There was another option to consider a digital nomad visa, but we chose to work offline in order to make society, friends and adapt faster in a foreign country. And at the time when we were choosing a place to move in Montenegro, the law on digital nomadism had not yet been adopted, it appeared only at the end of this year, when we had already moved.

 

Briefly for those who are interested in visa:

Category D visa is issued for a period of only 2 years. You must have an income of 1350 euros per month and provide proof of this for one year. We need contracts for the provision of our services, rent in Montenegro and almost all those documents that go to obtain a residence permit, medical insurance, consular fees.

 

What attracted you to the country?

Inexpensive housing and car rental. Compared to neighboring countries in Europe. Low taxes, including on the purchase of real estate. Plus, some relocation expenses (tickets for my husband and me and the fee for applying for a residence permit) were borne by the employer.

 

Where did you rent an apartment and in which city do you like best?

We moved to the coast and chose Rafailovici for life, because we did not want to live in the tourist center itself, such as Budva or Becici. It is quiet, calm, rent is cheaper, but it is not enough.

Cheap rent in the capital and there are many different options, as well as more companies. But on the coast, you can also find inexpensive housing. For example, Lastva. If you have a car or work remotely, then this is the perfect place. In the summer it is quiet and calm.

Long-term rent in Budva or Becici is also relatively inexpensive, but it is better to look for a period when there is no tourist season, the chances of finding an annual rental in the summer are very small, everything is rented by the day. Now many new hotels have been built in Budva and Becici, there are more offers for tourists, so the owners are more willing to rent apartments for a year, when we arrived two years ago, there were much fewer offers and we chose Rafailovici.

Przno is also great for family life. Just 10 minutes and you are in Budva and all the infrastructure is at your disposal. Pržno also has restaurants, cafes, shops, beaches, but a small selection of everything, all residents still go to big cities for shopping.

 

Recommend services where you can find vacancies in IT in Montenegro.

This is of course LinkedIn and even now there are many different chats in Telegram.

In addition to the IT sphere, the tourism business is developed here, and if you have an education in this area, then you can easily find a job as a hotel manager, restaurant administrator or other vacancies. But in general, it is very difficult to work here, it would be better if you bring the work with you.

 

How did you get your residence permit? Were there any difficulties in this process?

Our company, in which we got a job, helped us to make a residence permit, it cooperates with your company GoMonte, where they helped us, gave us a list of documents and told everything step by step. The procedure itself takes about a month, and it was not difficult to collect the documents. But the queues at the municipal unitary enterprise, where you need to apply for a residence permit, we were very upset. But a month later we already received the documents.

But a residence permit can be obtained not only through employment, but also when buying real estate or starting a business, and this is a great option, the procedure is no different from the one we had when we were employed, apart from, of course, the time to conclude the deal itself and open firms. You can also get married or invest.

 

More information about the cost and procedure can be found on this website under the link "Residence permit".

 

Yes, in Montenegro you can really easily get a residence permit, but citizenship here is issued to foreign citizens only for investments, from 250,000 euros.

What stages of emigration do you need to go through in order to adapt in a new country?

Oh, emigration is not an easy task, especially if you have never moved anywhere on your own before.

There are six stages of adaptation in a new country. These are euphoria, disappointment, homesickness, orientation and adaptation, overcoming depression and active activity.

We didn’t have euphoria as such, we immediately got down to work and legalization, plus we immediately began to study the language and culture in order to adapt faster and understand the mentality of the inhabitants.

Longing for the motherland will cover you until you learn the local language. But the acceptance stage, despite the fact that we like everything, was a little difficult for us, because we are from a big city where life is in full swing. In Montenegro, the rhythm of life is slow, especially during the tourist season.

 

Where are you having difficulty at this stage, and what advice would you give to those who are planning to move?

For example, shops are closed here on Sunday. And at first it was hard, because we work a lot. But then, during the pandemic, delivery of food, groceries, and even branded clothing appeared.

One piece of advice, perhaps the most important, is to be patient. These are people with their own traditions, their own rhythm, if you are not satisfied with such a rhythm, choose a metropolis for moving, and not a small country.

 

Was there a stage of disappointment?

We didn’t have any disappointment as such, because there were no expectations from the country, but the stage of depression covered us a little.

 

Why? If you like everything here.

We are very active and love different parties, events, networking, all this was not enough here when we just moved. Plus, we still have a society in Russia, we really miss our parents and friends. The Internet, of course, saves and we often communicate, but this is not comparable to live communication.

 

How about now? Do you already feel that the country has accepted you?

Yes, Montenegrins are very friendly, open, sympathetic, sincere and positive people, we are happy that we chose this country. Events have also appeared already, so we began to feel more active in society. And made new friends, but of course we do not forget about the old ones.

 

Tell us about the pros and cons of moving and living in Montenegro, since we are talking about emigration itself and its difficulties.

Of the advantages, I would like to highlight nature, the social climate, safety, even in the tourist season the police work very well and this pleases. Beautiful places to relax, when you sit at the computer all day, it is very important to walk and fresh air.

Of the minuses, perhaps this is the tourist season, when a lot of tourists come and everywhere it becomes noisy, dirty and unbearably crowded, you have to choose places to stay further from civilization. Well, in the summer there are traffic jams, which are pretty exhausting in the heat of 40 degrees. But if you don't live in the main tourist cities, you may not even notice the tourist season.

There are certainly more benefits to moving. In general, we are pleased with the choice and the fact that we decided not to choose a place for a long time. Everywhere has its pros and cons.

Another difficult thing was choosing a place to live. We didn't know anything in the country. We temporarily stopped in Budva when we arrived and GoMonte employees helped us decide on the choice of the city. They have a lot of articles about moving on their website. We studied the information and decided that the suburbs are better for us.

 

What would you choose the top cities to live here, where would you like to buy housing for permanent residence?

On the coast is Petrovac. I consider it the best city to live in Montenegro. Quiet calm. Beautiful views from all the apartments we looked at. GoMonte has a lot of amazing housing options to buy. Now you can buy a one-bedroom apartment there from 99,000 euros. Compared to Budva, the same offers are more expensive here.

And Lastva. You can also buy an apartment there. For example, two-bedroom apartments larger than 50 square meters can be purchased from 80,000 euros! In Budva it will be from 130,000 euros.

If in the north, then of course it is Zabljak! Its beautiful surroundings with stunning mountains, lakes and fresh air in summer and winter.

 

What do you miss and what do you miss here?

We miss people first. As we said above, close friends, parents. Various events have appeared here due to the fact that a large flow of people from Russia has now arrived. There were also parties and karaoke and various intellectual games, competitions and even chess tournaments. We are also pleased with IT meetups, which have been very active for the last year and we communicate a lot with new people.

Sometimes we do not have enough service, such as in Moscow, but we are already used to it.

 

What for example?

Delivery is sometimes slow here, or for example a taxi. You can wait a week or two, and then they will write that there is no product, it was like that. And another month they can return the money. . A taxi may also not warn that it will not arrive, but you are waiting for it.

Or there was another case. We ordered home delivery from a computer store, but we received a notification that we were going to receive it by mail. It was strange, the purchase was expensive.

But this is not critical and we will think ten times before ordering something online.

 

How do you rest? What do you recommend to see for those who have not been here yet.

We like the north of Montenegro. There is a difficult nature, a reserve and a canyon, the deepest in Europe. We take the car, load the children, the dog and go to enjoy the views of the mountains. The food there is tastier, everything is homemade in cafes, restaurants, it differs from the coast, where there is only pizza, risotto and seafood. And we also like cozy beautiful houses for rent there. And we are already looking at housing there. It's cheaper to buy in the north.

 

How much does such a vacation cost for a family and in general, do you think life in Montenegro is expensive or not?

We spend about 5,000 euros per month for a family of four. This does not include rest, of course. If we go on vacation for a couple of days, then at least 400 euros are added to these expenses.

 

What do you spend the most on?

It is a rental and a private school for the junior and a college for the senior. So far we do not have our own housing, but we are considering, if we do not think of moving from Montenegro, then this must be a home for our huge family. Ideally, we would like to go into farming in the future and there are some difficulties with this in Montenegro, so we have not made a final decision yet.

Medicine is relatively inexpensive here, I would say even cheaper than in Moscow, but we do not always like its quality. Therefore, you have to travel to Serbia and then the costs increase.

We spend about 1,000 euros per month on food, 1,000 euros on rent + 200 euros on utilities, internet, telephone for the whole family. Clothes here are inexpensive brands in the capital to dress cheaper. Everything related to school supplies is also cheaper there: stationery, items for creativity, backpacks, books.

We buy products mainly in the market, it is more expensive than in the store, so our expense item for products is large. I know that many spend less on the same family. Plus, we sometimes go out on the weekend to eat somewhere so as not to cook at home, and cafes and restaurants on the coast are very expensive, compared to the north of Montenegro, the thing here is the resort area.

 

How much does it cost to eat in a restaurant or cafe for four people?

Drinks from 2.5 euros, hot soups from 3.5 euros, main dishes fish / meat from 10 euros. The most profitable thing is probably to go to eat pizza or order it at home, it's from 9 euros.

 

You say that you are considering buying a home in Montenegro. And you like Petrovac for life. Have you already studied this issue? Where and how to buy profitable housing?

Yes, we are considering purchasing housing in small towns on the coast. We really like Petrovac and Lastva, it's cheaper there than in Budva or Tivat, but life is much better and there are no tourists. There are a lot of options in Petrovac with a beautiful view from the window, and the city itself is surrounded by olive groves and pine parks. The kids love it there too. Clear sea, beaches. The GoMonte website has a lot of amazing options in Petrovac and Lastva.

A tip for those who are looking for affordable accommodation in a beautiful location by the sea, consider these cities. The infrastructure is also developed there, there are large supermarkets, cafes, beaches. From the main cities it is only 10-20 minutes by car. Lastva is convenient because it is near Tivat and the airport. Petrovac because there is a very beautiful park and a very quiet place.

Still inexpensive, you can buy housing on the ground floors. There are a lot of options. But you need to choose with warm floors, and now they are almost everywhere here in new homes. There are also a lot of offers of inexpensive studios.

 

Look at the options in Petrovac on our website at this link "Buy property".

 

If you were offered to move from Montenegro now to a better salary and living conditions, for example, free education for children, would you move?

A difficult question, it all depends on whether the children want to adapt again to a foreign language and mentality. In general, we are happy here, the language is very similar to Russian, we, as far as possible, also learn Montenegrin with our children.

 

Well, the most important question. Do you agree with the main commandments in Montenegro that a person was born in order to relax?

More likely than not, we also try to relax as fashionably more often, especially since Montenegro has everything for this. And excursions, beautiful beaches, parks.

And we do not scold children if they are lazy. Laziness means not interested, we try to find out what exactly they are not interested in. But it happens that they really get tired and do not want to do anything, then we get together and decide together how to relax. In general, Montenegro has everything for recreation and it is very pleasing.

 

Thank you for an interesting interview! We wish you a successful purchase of housing and beautiful moments in Montenegro!

Thank you! We are glad if our advice on moving will be useful to someone.