North Macedonia citizenship by investment

What is happening to North Macedonia's citizenship by investment program in 2026

The program exists on paper and barely functions in practice. Between 2005 and 2022, 121 people were granted citizenship on economic-interest grounds and 40 applications were rejected, according to the European Commission. In 2024 the government approved two Turkish nationals; in 2025, one citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The legal basis is Article 11 of the Law on Citizenship of the Republic of North Macedonia (Zakon za drzavjanstvoto). It lets the government naturalise a foreigner whose admission is of special scientific, economic, cultural, sporting or other national interest. What counts as economic interest is defined by a government decree (uredba). The €400,000 real-sector option with 10 jobs dates back to 2012; the €200,000 private-fund option was added by decree in December 2019 and marketed through licensed agents from 2021.

In June 2026 the Interior Ministry posted draft amendments to Article 11 on ENER, the national electronic register of regulations. The €200,000 and €400,000 thresholds and the 10-jobs requirement are not in the law itself: a government decree under Article 11 set them, and the draft scraps that price list altogether. In their place comes a case-by-case assessment of every candidate, with opinions from the relevant state institutions on whether the person genuinely represents a special interest for the country. Investment remains an argument, but it stops being a tariff.

Brussels says that is not enough. In its Eighth Report under the Visa Suspension Mechanism (19 December 2025), the European Commission set out a direct instruction for North Macedonia: abolish the scheme and repeal its legal basis, disclose the applications already filed under the special-economic-interest provision, and put every one of them through rigorous background checks. In September 2026 the EU Delegation in Skopje replied that scrapping the €400,000 threshold while keeping citizenship for special economic interest would not meet the Commission's recommendation. The stake is visa-free Schengen travel for all 1.8 million Macedonian citizens: under the revised suspension mechanism, merely operating an investor citizenship scheme is a ground for suspending visa-free access.

The practical takeaway: this window is closing, not opening. An application filed before the amendments pass will be assessed under current rules, but under close EU scrutiny. Anyone who needs a fast, predictable result should compare Turkey or the Caribbean programs, covered below.

How to get North Macedonia citizenship by investment: the two options

Until the amendments are adopted, two routes apply. The first is a €200,000 contribution to a government-approved private investment fund. The fund must hold at least €5 million in capital, may not invest in real estate, and may accept no more than 500 investors seeking citizenship. The money stays in the fund for at least two years. It is neither a deposit nor a government bond: the return and the repayment depend on how a private fund performs.

The second route is at least €400,000 in a new production or service business (hospitality and retail are excluded) and at least 10 Macedonian employees on open-ended contracts for a minimum of one year. The few real approvals have mostly come this way. In 2021 the US businessman Shawn Scott received a passport after transferring €405,000 to a Skopje hair salon and hiring 13 staff. In total, 51 passports were issued on economic-interest grounds under the Social Democrat government of 2017-2023.

The requirements for the applicant personally are minimal: at least 18 years old and no threat to national security or defence (Article 7, items 1 and 8 of the law). Knowledge of Macedonian, seven years of residence and renunciation of the previous citizenship, all mandatory in ordinary naturalisation, do not apply to investors. That is why a second citizenship can be kept.

One caveat on property: buying an apartment in Skopje does not lead to a passport the way it does in Turkey. Neither the fund nor the business route accepts residential real estate.

How much does a North Macedonia passport really cost

There is no official state list of fees. On top of the contribution, the family pays for due diligence, translations, the notary and support, whose cost Murblz specialists quote after reviewing the documents. These costs are not refunded if the application fails.

Example calculation for a family of two adults and one child on the fund route: €200,000 contribution plus due diligence, translations, the notary and travel; we quote the cost of our support after reviewing the documents. Only the fund contribution can come back after two years, and only if the fund has not lost money.

Example calculation for the business route: €400,000 of investment plus payroll. The average gross monthly wage in 2026 is 73,366 denars, roughly €1,190 (State Statistical Office, April 2026; €1 is about 61.5 denars). Ten employees for one year add roughly €143,000 in wages and contributions alone, before rent and equipment. That is about €543,000 in total, and it is no longer a donation but a real business you have to run.

For comparison, Turkey asks for $400,000 in real estate that remains yours and can be sold after three years, while Caribbean programs such as Dominica start from a non-refundable $200,000 contribution with far more approvals on record. The Macedonian option is cheaper to enter but has far fewer approvals on record.

Compare with all programs: second passport cost in 2026

How long does North Macedonia citizenship by investment take and what is checked

Advertising promises 2-5 months. The record for the last two years is three approvals in total and applications that sit for months. The law sets no statutory deadline for Article 11 decisions: the government issues its opinion on special interest when it sees fit.

The procedure runs like this. Murblz specialists assemble the file together with a licensed agent: passports, birth and marriage certificates, police clearance from the country of citizenship and every country of residence, proof of source of funds, a CV. Everything is translated into Macedonian and certified. The Interior Ministry then screens the candidate for security risks (Article 7, item 8), the line ministries give their opinion on economic interest, and the government decides. The money goes into the fund or the business after preliminary approval. Once the decision on admission is issued, the applicant signs the oath and applies for a passport and ID card, in person in the country or at a consulate.

Refusals are not explained and fees are not returned. Of 161 applications decided in 2005-2022, 40 were rejected, one in four. A decision can also be reversed after the passport is issued: Article 14 allows citizenship to be revoked if the applicant gave false information or used forged documents.

Once the 2026 amendments pass, timelines will become even less predictable: a checklist with fixed sums gives way to a substantive assessment of every candidate involving several institutions.

When do the spouse and children get a passport

The family does not receive citizenship together with the investor. This is the most common misstatement in the marketing, and the law is built differently.

The investor's spouse goes through Article 9: at least three years of marriage and at least one year of continuous legal residence in North Macedonia before applying. That is where the promise of the spouse's citizenship after one year comes from. In reality it is a year of living in the country on a family-reunification residence permit, not an automatic grant. The alternative for couples living abroad is eight years of marriage plus a demonstrated firm and effective bond with the country. The spouse does not need the language and does not have to renounce a previous citizenship.

Children under 18 acquire citizenship under Article 12. If both parents have become citizens, the child becomes one regardless of where the child lives. If only one parent has, that parent must apply and the child must live in North Macedonia, or both parents apply and residence does not matter. From age 15 the child's own consent is required. Adult children, parents and other relatives are not covered by the investor's application: promises to include parents and grandparents have no basis in the law.

What a North Macedonia passport gives you: visa-free travel, taxes, NATO

A North Macedonia passport opens 127 countries and territories without a visa. That covers the Schengen Area and the whole EU for 90 days in any 180, Japan, Singapore, the UAE (since May 2025), Turkey, China for 30 days, Brazil and Argentina. Visas are required for the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. Once the EU's ETIAS system goes live, Schengen trips will need an electronic travel authorisation costing €20 and valid for three years, the same as for US or Japanese citizens.

The country has been a NATO member since 27 March 2020 (the alliance's 30th member) and an EU candidate since 2005. Accession negotiations formally opened on 19 July 2022, but the first negotiating cluster is frozen: under the 2022 deal, Skopje must first write Bulgarians into its constitution, and the government of Hristijan Mickoski refuses to do so without guarantees that Bulgaria will not block the process again. There is no accession date, so a Macedonian passport is worth getting for its benefits today, not for future membership.

Taxes are a real advantage, but only for those who become tax residents, and citizenship by itself does not create tax residence. Personal income tax is a flat 10% on salaries, rent, dividends and capital gains (the country returned to a flat rate in 2023). Capital gains on securities and fund units held for more than two years are exempt altogether. Corporate income tax is 10%; small companies with turnover of 3-6 million denars (about €49,000-€98,000) pay 1% of turnover, and registered users of the Technological Industrial Development Zones are exempt from corporate tax for 10 years. Interest on term deposits stays untaxed until EU accession. Compare the rates in Serbia and Montenegro.

North Macedonia vs Turkey, Montenegro and Serbia: who else sells a passport

Investment passports are dying out in and around the Balkans. Montenegro closed its program on 31 December 2022, Bulgaria abolished investor citizenship in 2022, and Albania passed a law but never launched a scheme and must now repeal the legal basis at the EU's request. On 29 April 2025 the Court of Justice of the EU ruled Malta's program unlawful, calling it a commercialisation of Union citizenship. Among the neighbours, only Turkey and North Macedonia are actually operating.

The Caribbean programs - St Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, St Lucia - have issued around 107,000 passports by the European Commission's estimate and receive more than 10,000 applications a year. That is a different order of predictability, and also a different order of risk to their visa-free access to the EU: the Commission names their operation as a potential ground for suspension. The full list of options is on our page on citizenship by investment and other routes.

Other ways to get North Macedonia citizenship: marriage, 7 years of residence, descent

If the investment route closes, three classic routes remain: naturalisation by residence, marriage and descent. All of them take time or family ties, but none depends on the mood in Brussels.

Naturalisation under Article 7: seven years of continuous legal residence (eight before the 2021 amendments), housing and a steady income, Macedonian at the level of everyday communication (tested by a special government commission), no conviction carrying a prison sentence of one year or more and no pending criminal proceedings, an oath of loyalty, and renunciation of the previous citizenship or proof that it will be released once you are admitted. The seven years count from the first residence permit: a temporary permit is renewed annually, and after five years of continuous residence you may apply for permanent residence under the Law on Foreigners, which requires a stable income, housing, a clean record and Macedonian. Long absences from the country break the continuity of residence. The Interior Ministry decides on permanent residence within four months, extendable by three.

Marriage under Article 9: three years of marriage to a citizen and one year of continuous residence, with no language test and no renunciation. The alternative is eight years of marriage while living abroad with a firm bond to the country. It is the cheapest route, but the Interior Ministry does check for sham marriages, and citizenship obtained on false information is revoked under Article 14.

Descent: a child of at least one citizen born abroad is registered as a citizen before age 18 or applies in their own right before age 23. For emigrants and their descendants there is Article 8: a former citizen who moved abroad and their first-line descendants (children) naturalise without the seven years of residence and without renouncing their previous citizenship, but must still show Macedonian. Grandchildren and more distant descendants are not covered. There is no broad repatriation program of the kind Bulgaria or Serbia run.

The first step on any of these routes is a residence permit: for work, business, study or family reunification. Nearby Balkan starting points are often simpler, such as a Serbian residence permit through a company or a Montenegro residence permit.

Pitfalls, and who North Macedonia citizenship is not for

The main risk is not a refusal but the program being shut down under your feet. Amendments removing the thresholds are already published; the European Commission wants the economic-interest provision repealed entirely; the revised visa suspension mechanism lets the EU punish the program itself. An application filed today will be assessed by a government with every reason not to hurry.

The second risk is money. Due diligence and support costs are not refunded on refusal, and one in four applicants is refused. The €200,000 contribution goes into a private fund with no state guarantee: after two years you get back whatever the fund has earned or lost. The program's official website, mkcitizenship.gov.mk, launched in 2021, does not open in 2026. Verify an agent's licence with the authorities directly, not from the agent's brochure.

The third risk is reputational. Macedonian investment passports have already featured in investigations: citizenship went to people under sanctions and facing criminal charges at home, and the investor who put €405,000 into a hair salon pulled out €80,000 eighteen months later, left one employee on the books and vanished from the country. Every new scandal tightens checks for the next applicants and strengthens the EU's case for closing the scheme.

Who it is not for. Anyone expecting an EU passport: North Macedonia's membership is years away, and the EU requires investor citizenship to be abolished before accession. Anyone who needs visa-free access to the US, the UK or Canada: there is none. Anyone counting on refundable fees or a fixed timeline. Anyone with sanctions or criminal exposure: the security check under Article 7, item 8 is designed to catch exactly that, and the EU wants passports already issued re-examined. Anyone who wants to invest in property: it is not part of the program.

Who it is for: an entrepreneur who is going to open a production or service business in the Balkans with 10 employees anyway, and for whom the passport is a bonus rather than the goal. Someone prepared for a year or more of waiting and a refusal without explanation. Everyone else should look at Turkey, the Caribbean programs, or a residence permit followed by citizenship through marriage or residence.

North Macedonia citizenship for Russian and Ukrainian citizens

Russian citizens need a visa to enter North Macedonia: the country ended visa-free entry for Russian passports on 15 March 2022. Entry without a separate visa is possible for up to 15 days with a valid multiple-entry Schengen visa or an EU residence permit, and in 2026 also with multiple-entry US, UK or Canadian visas. That is enough for biometrics and the oath. Ukrainian citizens with biometric passports enter visa-free for 90 days in any 180.

Macedonian citizenship under Article 11 is not restricted by nationality: the law does not sort applicants by country. But the security check for Russian applicants in 2026 runs under a magnifying glass. In December 2025 the European Commission singled out simplified naturalisations of Russian nationals in Serbia and Georgia and told Skopje to re-examine every application filed on economic-interest grounds.

Russian law allows a second citizenship but requires residents of Russia to notify the Interior Ministry within 60 days of acquiring it. Ukraine has allowed multiple citizenship in a range of cases since 16 January 2026 (law adopted on 18 June 2025); Murblz specialists will check the current wording. Macedonian law does not require an investor to give up a previous passport: Article 7, item 10 does not apply to Article 11.

For Russians with sanctions exposure or public office, the honest answer is no. These are exactly the applicants the EU wants screened out first, and a government fighting to open its negotiating clusters will not pick a fight with Brussels over one investor.

What a North Macedonia passport gives you

How to get North Macedonia citizenship by investment: step by step

FAQ

127 visa-free countries with a North Macedonia passport