Montenegro

How do Chinese citizens apply for the Montenegro Digital Nomad Visa?

Worth knowing: This is the field where Montenegro's digital nomad route stops resembling the US, UK, Canadian or Australian version. Chinese ordinary passport holders are visa nationals for Montenegro: the official gov.me page for China states plainly that nationals of China are required to obtain a visa to enter Montenegro, and the only carve-outs it lists are organised tourist groups for 30 days and public affairs passport holders for 30 days, neither of which fits a nomad. Article 19 of the Law on Foreigners requires a visa national to hold the visa before entry, so unlike an American who simply flies in on 90 visa-free days, a Chinese applicant needs a lawful entry channel arranged first. Two exist. Article 18 provides a long-stay visa (viza D) issued specifically for stay in the status of a digital nomad, granted on proof of working electronically for a foreign company or the applicant's own company not registered in Montenegro plus health insurance, and gov.me's visa page lists the digital nomad category among the D visa document sets. Separately, the introductory rule on the same gov.me page lets a holder of a valid Schengen, US, UK or Irish visa or residence permit enter Montenegro for up to 30 days, no longer than the visa's own expiry, which is how a Chinese applicant who already holds a Schengen visa can arrive without touching the Beijing embassy. The permit itself is in-country either way: Article 61 requires it to be lodged in person at the Ministry at the place of stay, with biometrics taken there, and there is no consular route for the permit. Article 61b allows the application to be filed electronically through the Ministry's information system, with the applicant then reporting to the Ministry within ten days of entering Montenegro for biometrics, which is the one channel that lets a Chinese applicant start the file before travelling. The tax and social security picture is the reverse of the American one: China's own tax treaty registry lists Montenegro with the treaty signed 21 March 1997 and effective from 1 January 1998, and Montenegro's treaty table lists China from 1998, so a treaty is in force, but Montenegro is not among the 13 countries China has signed social security agreements with, so no totalisation applies.