Most sending-state provisions in this country set apply to employers generally. Mexico has one that applies specifically to the employer without a presence in Mexico — which is precisely what a Montenegrin company is.
It is Article 28 of the Ley Federal del Trabajo, and it does two things that will reshape your timetable and your budget.
Mexican nationals were recorded at 257 workers in Montenegro in 2025, within a foreign workforce of 40,567 from 107 countries — one of the larger Latin American presences in the country.
Legal position stated as at 3 September 2026.
The contract goes to a federal centre for approval
Article 28 governs the provision of services by Mexican workers outside the Republic where they are contracted within Mexican territory. Under it, the employment contract must be submitted for approval to the Centro Federal de Conciliación y Registro Laboral (CFCRL), which approves it after verifying that it complies with the requirements set out in the article.
Two consequences follow immediately.
This is prior approval, not registration. The contract is examined and approved before it operates. An agreement reached commercially and signed is not the end of the process; it is the beginning of a Mexican administrative one.
Your standard contract will need work. It is being assessed against Mexican statutory requirements, not Montenegrin ones. Drafting once, to satisfy both, is markedly cheaper than drafting twice.
The bond, and why it exists for you in particular
This is the provision written with the foreign employer in mind.
Where the employer does not have a permanent establishment and fiscal address, or a commercial representation, in Mexican territory, the CFCRL will fix the amount of a surety bond (*fianza*) or deposit to guarantee compliance with the contracted obligations. The employer must prove to the Centre that the bond has been granted or the deposit constituted.
A Montenegrin company hiring in Mexico will, in the ordinary case, fall squarely inside that description. So the bond is not an edge case here — it is the default.
The bond is not permanent. Once the employer proves to the CFCRL that the contracted obligations have been complied with, the Centre orders cancellation of the bond or return of the deposit. But that release comes at the end, which means the amount is capital committed for the life of the engagement, and it should be in the budget from the outset rather than discovered during the approval.
The sequencing problem worth planning around
Article 28 also requires that the worker and employer attach to the contract the visa or work permit issued by the consular or immigration authorities of the country where the services will be provided.
For Montenegro this creates an ordering question that deserves attention rather than improvisation. The Montenegrin residence-and-work permit is applied for by the employer in respect of a named worker, and Montenegrin law then requires the employment contract and insurance registration to be completed within 24 hours of permit issuance. Meanwhile Mexico wants the destination permit attached to a contract it has yet to approve.
⚠️ These are not irreconcilable, but they have to be sequenced deliberately, with both authorities' requirements mapped against each other before either process starts. Running them in the obvious order — sign, then file, then discover — is how this corridor produces expensive delays.
Documents: apostille has applied since 1995
Mexico acceded to the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention on 1 December 1994, and it entered into force for Mexico on 14 August 1995. Montenegro is a party by succession, in force 3 June 2006, so an apostille is sufficient for Mexican public documents. Certified translation into Montenegrin is a separate step.
The document chain is comfortably the easiest part of this corridor. The contract approval and the bond are not.
There is no social security agreement between Montenegro and Mexico, so contributions are paid where the work is performed with no aggregation of insurance periods.
The Montenegrin half, briefly
The receiving side is ordinary. In short: Article 66(1) of the Zakon o strancima allows work only on a residence-and-work permit or a work registration certificate — an entry route is never a work route — and only the permit bases under Article 40(3) consume the annual quota, set at 28,988 for 2026.
The filing mechanics, the quota, the eight no-permit situations under Article 67(1) and the Article 85 certificate list are in our guide to foreign worker employment in Montenegro and the quota page.
Sequencing
- Map the two approval processes against each other before either starts. This is the whole game in this corridor.
- Budget the bond. Treat it as committed capital for the life of the engagement, released only on proof of compliance.
- Draft the contract once, to satisfy both Article 28 and Montenegrin employment law.
- Apostille and translate. Short.
- The Montenegrin permit, then the contract-and-insurance registration within 24 hours of issuance, counted from the permit date rather than the arrival date.
What this page does not tell you
It does not tell you the amount of the bond — the CFCRL fixes it, and we will not guess. It does not resolve the sequencing question for your facts; that requires both sets of requirements in front of you. And it does not advise on Mexican law: for Article 28 as applied to your company, take Mexican counsel.
RoNa Legal is a registered employment intermediary under activity code 78.10 and a legal adviser. We do not supply, lease or second workers, and we are not an employer of record. We build the Montenegrin file and coordinate with licensed agencies where the structure requires one.
Send us the engagement structure before anything is signed — in this corridor a signed contract that has not been sequenced against Article 28 is a liability rather than progress. Our services are set out on the services page and a file can be opened through the contact page.
More on the employer side: how the annual work permit quota is allocated, hiring Colombian workers, hiring Cuban workers and our work permit and recruitment service.
