The Directorate of Immigration has added Montenegro to the Directorate‘s list of safe countries of origin.

Montenegro is a constitutional democracy and a member state to all principal treaties on human rights, i.e. the Geneva Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights. Human rights are generally respected in the country, people are not systematically persecuted and authorities can offer sufficient protection to their citizens. Montenegro has the status of an EU candidate country and negotiations are ongoing. The Icelandic Directorate of Immigration has investigated the situation in Montenegro and it is clear that all the prerequisites exist for defining Montenegro as a safe state.

The fact that an applicant comes from a state on the list of safe countries can never lead to the Directorate of Immigration not taking his/her case up for consideration or rejecting the application without prior examination. When appropriate, cases of nationals of states on the list undergo general material procedure; therefore the list is only intended for guideline purposes.

More information on the reasons why the Directorate has added Montenegro to the list of safe countries is available here in Icelandic.