Montenegro for New Zealanders: Visa Requirements, Residence Permits, NZ Tax Residence, KiwiSaver and Property (2026)

"Montenegro visa requirements for New Zealand citizens" is the question most Kiwis type first. The answer takes one line: none, for stays of up to 90 days. This page is for the people who then ask the next question. What do I need to stay for a year, or for good? And what does Inland Revenue make of it?

The New Zealand side has a feature that people moving abroad often miss. You can be a New Zealand tax resident because of a house you did not sell, however many days you spend in Montenegro. And KiwiSaver has its own emigration rule, with a one-year wait.

What we read, on 28 September 2026. Montenegro: Decree on the Visa Regime (consolidated to Official Gazette 108/26); Law on Foreigners (Zakon o strancima, consolidated to 3/2026; the one-article amendment 33/2026 has not appeared in any public consolidation); Personal Income Tax Law. New Zealand: Income Tax Act 2007, section YD 1 (version as at 4 September 2026); KiwiSaver Act 2006, Schedule 1, clauses 14 and 14B (version as at 1 April 2026). Hague Conference status table for the Apostille Convention. General legal information, not advice on your own situation.

Short version

Getting in, then staying

New Zealand is on the list in article 1 of Montenegro's Decree on the Visa Regime. A New Zealand passport gives up to 90 days without a visa, inside the general cap of 90 days in any 180 (Law on Foreigners, art. 34). Border hops to Croatia do not restart the clock.

Staying longer means a temporary residence permit, applied for inside Montenegro, in person at the Ministry of Interior office for your address (art. 61) or through the online system (art. 61b). File the complete application before day 90 and you may remain until the final decision, even after day 90 (art. 61(5)). Statutory decision times are 40 days for residence and 15 days for residence with work (arts. 62 and 80). Every document the file needs is listed in our guide to applying for a Montenegro residence permit.

The routes Kiwis actually use

• Remote work. The digital nomad permit covers people working for employers or clients outside Montenegro. It runs for two years and can be extended by two more (art. 60a). Its tax side is in our freelancing and digital nomad guide.
• A job in tech. An IT employment contract of at least 12 months with a Montenegrin employer supports a permit of up to three years, renewable for three. It sits outside the annual quota (arts. 70a and 78).
• Your own business. As director of a d.o.o. in which you hold more than 51 %, you apply for residence and work. Renewal requires €5,000 a year paid in taxes and contributions (arts. 69 and 70). See residence through a company.
• Buying a home. Owning at least half of a house or flat whose transfer-tax base is €150,000 or more (art. 56). See residence through property.

Two rules decide whether those years count. The temporary permit lapses after more than 30 days outside Montenegro during its validity (art. 65), and a trip home for Christmas is usually longer than that. Permanent residence requires five uninterrupted years on any combination of temporary permits (art. 86).

A New Zealander who also holds an Irish or other EU passport should apply with the EU passport. That removes the €150,000 threshold (art. 56(5)) and the €5,000 director minimum (art. 70(8)). A UK passport is not an EU passport for these exemptions.

New Zealand tax residence: the house you keep

Section YD 1 of the Income Tax Act 2007 has two separate ways of being resident, and they end differently.

The permanent place of abode test (s YD 1(2)). A person is a New Zealand resident if they have a permanent place of abode in New Zealand, "even if they also have a permanent place of abode elsewhere". The section says this applies despite anything else in the section. That includes the day-count rules below.

The day-count test (s YD 1(3)-(6)). A person present in New Zealand for more than 183 days in total in any 12-month period is resident from the first of those days. A person who is resident only under that test stops being resident after being absent for more than 325 days in total in a 12-month period. Non-residence then runs from the first of those days. Part-days count as full days present (s YD 1(8)).

What follows for someone moving to Montenegro:

• Spending 330 days a year in Budva does not by itself end New Zealand residence. The 325-day rule only releases people who were resident only because of the 183-day rule.
• A home in New Zealand that stays available to you is the classic way to keep a permanent place of abode there. A furnished house waiting for your return, family living in it, or your belongings stored in it all point that way. Selling or letting it on a long lease to unrelated tenants, and moving your life to Montenegro, points the other way.
• Whether the facts add up to a permanent place of abode is a factual question for Inland Revenue and the courts. Settle it with your New Zealand adviser before you decide what to do with the house.

Montenegro's rule at the same time. You are tax resident in Montenegro if your domicile or centre of business and life interests is there, or if you spend more than 183 days there in the tax year (Personal Income Tax Law, art. 3). Montenegro then taxes worldwide income (art. 4). It credits foreign tax up to the Montenegrin tax on the same income (art. 44) and does not count pensions as income (art. 5(9)). With no New Zealand–Montenegro tax treaty, nothing breaks the tie if both countries claim you. Our explainer on permit versus tax residence covers the Montenegrin half.

KiwiSaver when you emigrate

Schedule 1 of the KiwiSaver Act 2006 sets the scheme rules. Clause 14 covers permanent emigration to any country other than Australia.

• Withdrawal. You may withdraw your accumulation no earlier than one year after your permanent emigration from New Zealand (cl 14(1)). The amount excludes the Crown contributions from the member tax credit, and anything transferred in from an Australian super scheme.
• Transfer instead. At any time after emigrating, you can have the balance, less the same amounts, transferred to a foreign superannuation scheme authorised by regulations (cl 14(2)).
• Proof. The application needs a statutory declaration that you have permanently emigrated. You also need proof of departure (travel arrangements, passport, visas) and proof that you lived at an overseas address during the year after leaving (cl 14(3)).

A Montenegrin residence permit, a lease or title deed, and your address registration are the natural evidence for that last step. Keep copies from the first month. Clause 14B gives a different rule for emigration to Australia only, where the balance moves to an Australian complying super fund. It is worth knowing if you are deciding between the two.

Company, property, documents

Company. A Montenegrin d.o.o. is quick to form and is the base of the director permit. The beneficial owner is registered after incorporation. The permit is cancelled if the company turns out to exist mainly to get the permit (Law on Foreigners, art. 83). New Zealand is not on Montenegro's list of territories that attract 30 % withholding, and there is no treaty to reduce withholding. While you are still a New Zealand resident, your New Zealand adviser should look at how the shares will be treated in New Zealand before you incorporate. Formation is in our company formation service.

Property. New Zealanders buy flats, houses, commercial units and building land like Montenegrin citizens (Property Relations Law, art. 412). The exceptions are farmland, forest, islands and the one-kilometre land border strip (art. 415). Before you pay a deposit, know that:

• the contract must be a notarial deed (Law on Notaries, art. 52), with a court interpreter present if you do not understand the language (art. 47);
• the deposit is earnest money and is not a paid-for right to withdraw unless the contract says so (Law on Obligations, arts. 75 and 79);
• payments from €10,000 go through a Montenegrin bank account, never in cash (AML Law, art. 65a); read how the money moves in a Montenegrin purchase;
• transfer tax is on the buyer: 3 % to €150,000, 5 % on the band to €500,000, 6 % above (Real Estate Transfer Tax Law, art. 11).

Planning to build? Start with the Montenegro building permit process.

Documents. New Zealand has applied the Apostille Convention since 22 November 2001. A New Zealand birth certificate, police certificate, degree or power of attorney needs only a New Zealand apostille. Have it translated in Montenegro by a court interpreter after the apostille is attached. A power of attorney to buy or sell must be special and name the property (Law on Obligations, art. 87).

Social security. There is no social security agreement between New Zealand and Montenegro: New Zealand is not on the Montenegrin Pension Fund's list. Contributions paid in Montenegro as an employee are not added to your New Zealand record, or the reverse.

Moving your belongings and car. The customs relief and the licence rules are in moving to Montenegro: customs relief.

How we help New Zealand clients

We pick the permit with you and send the list of documents to apostille in New Zealand. We file before day 90 and keep your permit years unbroken toward permanent residence. For your New Zealand adviser and your KiwiSaver provider, we assemble the Montenegrin evidence: permit, lease or title, address registration and Montenegrin tax position. On a purchase we check the title, calculate transfer tax and set up the bank route. Write to us: contact.