It’s been an exceedingly-long minute because you learn a headline line this, however the second has come. After 12 years, the European Union is gearing as much as enlarge as soon as extra, and this time, it is the paradisaical Montenegro being invited to affix the membership:
A small nation on the shores of the Adriatic, packed stuffed with Old World wonders and postcard-ready seashores, Montenegro has raced forward of different EU candidates like Bosnia-Herzegovina, North Macedonia, and Serbia, and now appears set to ascend to the Union in a few years.
So far, the nation has managed its personal borders, avoiding inserting pointless purple tape on worldwide journey: they’ve to this point refused to hop on the bandwagon and slap an eVisa requirement on Americans, nor have them give their fingerprints.
On prime of that, Montenegro’s visa coverage is notoriously extra lax than the EU’s. Soon sufficient, this might all change, impacting all vacationers:
Montenegro Could Be An EU Member By 2027
This is not any baseless declare or unfounded rumor. It’s coming straight from the horse’s mouth.
According to the European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos, Montenegro is a ‘main candidate’ for accession to the European Union. In her personal phrases, the accession course of needs to be accomplished someday between late 2026 and late 2027.
That’s solely two years on the newest.
Indeed, Montenegro is the EU’s lowkey favourite in relation to enlargement, as a consequence of its extraordinary engagement in advacing the method in comparison with most of its neighbors:
In order to enter the EU, a rustic should ‘open’ and ‘shut’ a complete of 33 ‘chapters’. Think of those as a guidelines of guidelines and requirements pertaining to issues just like the rule of regulation, the strengthening of democratic establishments, anti-corruption reforms, fishery, and lots of extra.
A chapter is barely ‘closed’ as soon as the candidate nation has met all its necessities. The EU will ratify an accession treaty solely in spite of everything 33 chapters have been closed.
We will not get into element right here as this half is unlikely to be of curiosity to you as a traveler, however what it’s best to know is that Montenegro has already opened all 33 chapters, and closed a complete of seven as of August 2025.
This might not seem to be rather a lot, however let’s check out the chart beneath and the way Montenegro fares in comparison with its counterparts:
A Look At Montenegro’s Impressive Progress
Candidate nationStart of negotiationsChapters openedChapters closedCompletion shareMontenegro201233/337/33 21.2percentAlbania202224/330/330%Serbia201422/34*2/34*5.9percentGeorgiaYet to start out negotiations0/330/330percentMoldova20240/330/330%North Macedonia20220/330/330percentUkraine20240/330/330%Bosnia-HerzegovinaYet to start out negotiations0/330/330%Turkey200516/331/333%Kosovo(Potential candidate)Yet to be granted candidate standing–––
*Serbia is subjected to fulfill thirty fourth set of necessities throughout its accession treaty, referring to the normalization of relations with Kosovo
Elaborating on her earlier assertion, Kos indicated she might see ‘two to a few’ accession negotiations accomplished by the top of her mandate in 2029, with Montenegro being the plain frontrunner.
She urged warning, nevertheless, as a prerequisite for ratifying an accession is that every one EU member states conform to it, even in spite of everything chapters have been closed.
In that regard, Montenegro appears to have widespread help within the European Union, which might assist its case. Nevertheless, it is a prolonged course of, and it may possibly drag on for years, if not many years.
It’s Getting There… Slowly But Surely
The painfully-slow tempo of negotiations has been criticized by North Macedonian Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski himself, who added he hopes different international locations in search of to affix the Union ‘won’t have the identical expertise’ as his nation.
North Macedonia has been an official candidate for EU membership since 2005, whereas it is solely managed to start out negotiation talks in 2022, and at this level, no chapters have been opened or closed.
When it involves Turkey, they utilized as early as 1987.
In Montenegro’s case, candidate standing was granted solely in 2010, a lot later, making their faster-paced progress all-the-more encouraging.
That being stated, all of it will depend on how Montenegro performs in negotiations within the coming 12 months. More optimistic projections level to full EU membership by late 2027, whereas less-optimistic ones favor the 2030–2032 deadline as extra lifelike.
How Exactly Will Montenegro’s EU Membership Impact Travelers?
An accession to the European Union will carry important modifications for Montenegro and Montenegrins.
As the twenty eighth EU member state, Montenegro will take pleasure in unfettered entry to the European Single Market, and its residents will be capable of journey, examine, and reside freely, with out making use of for visas, throughout a lot of the European continent.
This is the place it will get tough:
Montenegro Will Start Fingerprinting Americans
On October 12, 2025, the EU is ready to introduce its Entry-Exit System (EES), a brand new laptop system that can assist border brokers preserve document of vacationers coming into and leaving the member states. It will change guide passport stamps, and tighten border checks total.
Sounds honest sufficient, till you learn in between the traces, and discover out it is going to truly contain giving your fingerprints and different biometric information. Be ready for longer wait traces at passport management beginning this fall.
The factor is, as Montenegro is not part of the EU, it’s not required to function underneath the EES: flying to Montenegro, Americans are issued a easy stamp, and might typically simply breeze via the border with minimal questioning.
Should Montenegro be part of the EU, it could be legally required to undertake the EES, which implies it could additionally begin fingerprinting international arrivals.
Americans Will Need A Digital Entry Permit To Enter Montenegro
Similarly to the EES, the ETIAS is an EU-wide initiative. Officially named an Electronic Travel Authorization, it is primarily a $23 journey allow it’s essential to apply previous to flying to Europe.
Though not but in place, the ETIAS system is scheduled to go dwell in 2026, and it’ll utterly change how Americans (and different present visa-exempt vacationers like Canadians and Brits) journey to the Old Continent.
Unless you will have an ETIAS in your identify, you’ll not be allowed to board a flight to any EU member states, and must you attempt to cross a land border from a non-EU nation into the European Union, you will be refused admission.
Needless to say, ETIAS don’t apply in Montenegro, however you already know, as soon as it is a full EU member, it is going to be a unique story.
Oh Yes. That Schengen Thing
If you are unfamiliar with Europe’s sophisticated journey guidelines, maybe you have not been launched to the Schengen Area.
It’s a border-free zone that covers a lot of the continent, the place customary passport checks often don’t apply, and crossing from one nation to a different feels as clean as going from California to Arizona.
Again, sounds nice on paper, however do you know that, as an American vacationer, you might be solely allowed to remain within the Schengen Area for 90 days out of any 180-day interval?
‘Sure, no matter, 3 months is sufficient time‘… hum, we might beg to vary?
Most international locations worldwide enable vacationers to remain between 90 to 180 days as guests earlier than they need to go away. In the Schengen Area, the 90-day rule applies to 29 international locations unexpectedly:
The Issue With Schengen’s Restrictive 90-Day Rule
If you’ve got spent 30 days touring round Italy, you then have ‘solely’ 60 extra days to make use of up in 28 different European international locations (it may very well be France, Italy, Spain, Croatia) inside the subsequent 6 months.
When put that means, it sounds much more limiting, proper?
Luckily for Americans, Montenegro is just not in Schengen on the minute, and they’re granted a 90-day keep independently of any time spent in different European nations.
Fast ahead a couple of years, and Montenegro is a full EU and Schengen member, and you’ll have to watch your clock right here, too, pal.
It’s vital to notice that Schengen membership is not automated upon EU accession, so it may very well be fairly some years down the road till Montenegro enforces the 90/180 rule, so that you’re good to go for now.
It Will Have A Stricter Visa Policy
This final bit will not significantly have an effect on Americans, but it surely might negatively affect a whole bunch of tens of millions of different vacationers worldwide.
Right now, Montenegro has the liberty to outline its personal visa coverage, and it is notoriously extra beneficiant than that of the European Union:
Most notably, Russian and Turkish residents can enter Montenegro with out getting visas, in contrast to within the EU, the place they’re topic to a gruelling visa utility course of.
As an EU member state, Montenegro can be legally required to completely align its visa coverage with the remainder of the Union. This means it is extremely seemingly a variety of international residents who can at present journey there with their passports solely, can be made to get a visa.
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