North Macedonia: citizenship by investment in the Balkans

When people talk about citizenship by investment, most think of the Caribbean, Vanuatu or Türkiye. North Macedonia barely appears on any list, and that is exactly its appeal. There is no dedicated Citizenship by Investment Unit and no glossy brochure here, just a lean article in the Law on Citizenship and a government decree with clear amounts. For the big picture of every investor programme, see the guide buying citizenship. In North Macedonia's case, a close look at the law and the decree pays off: they demand real entrepreneurial commitment and, in return, give you a passport in the heart of Europe.

Macedonian citizenship by investment: what Article 11 allows

You can acquire North Macedonian citizenship in three ways: by descent, in exceptional cases by birth in the country, and by naturalisation. Naturalisation is normally a long road. Article 7 of the Law on Citizenship sets ten conditions, among them seven years of lawful and continuous residence, secure housing, a permanent income, good command of Macedonian and release from your current citizenship.

Article 11 cuts this road radically short. A foreign national who is of age and whose admission does not threaten the country's security and defence can be naturalised if this represents a special scientific, economic, cultural, sporting or other national interest. The law asks nothing more at this point. The other conditions of Article 7 fall away: no seven years of residence, no language test, no renunciation of your German passport.

What counts as a special economic interest is laid down by the government in a decree. The first version of 2005 still spoke in general terms of direct investment, donations, securities and know-how. After a first amendment in 2012, the government rewrote the economic part completely in December 2019, and since then it names two routes with fixed amounts. That version, supplemented in February 2021, still applies today: the Ministry of Interior lists the decree among the regulations in force with exactly these amendments. A Ministry of Interior draft of June 2026 would drop the fixed investment amounts and have every application assessed individually, with opinions from the competent institutions; the discretionary route under Article 11 remains, and to date the law and the decree apply unchanged.

Besides the economic interest, Article 11 also names scientific, cultural and sporting interest; those criteria are assessed by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Culture and the sports agency, and every route is summarised on North Macedonia. Article 11 is discretionary. The state decides on your admission at its discretion, as with almost every investor programme worldwide. That makes an application that documents the economic interest cleanly and completely all the more important.

The two investment routes: EUR 400,000 with jobs or EUR 200,000 in a fund

The 2019 decree names two routes with fixed amounts. Both apply per person.

Direct investment in new capacity

You invest at least EUR 400,000 as a direct investment in new capacity in the country. Hospitality businesses and retail space are excluded: a restaurant or a shop does not count. On top of that come at least ten employees on permanent contracts over a period of at least one year.

The Ministry of Finance checks this against three documents: your company's entry in the trade register of the Central Registry, the Central Registry's confirmation of the registered direct investment by a non-resident including the amount, and a certificate from the Public Revenue Office on the taxes and social contributions the company has paid. This is a route for entrepreneurs who want to manufacture, develop or build services in North Macedonia. If you are planning a production site or a development team in the Balkans anyway, you combine business and passport in one step.

Investment in a private investment fund

The second route needs half the amount: at least EUR 200,000, invested for at least two years in a private investment fund. The decree sets three conditions for the fund:

• Before submitting its investment programme to the Fund for Innovation and Technological Development, it has at least EUR 5,000,000 in initial capital.
• Its investments promote the economy, innovation or innovative activities, and it does not invest in real estate, apart from business premises for the fund itself or the Innovation Fund and infrastructure projects for the country's development.
• It has no more than 500 foreign investors who have applied for citizenship under this decree.

The review covers the fund's programme, a report from the fund management company on its implementation, the register entries of the management company and the fund, proof of your stake and a bank confirmation of your payment. The 2021 supplement instructs the Innovation Fund to set out the review procedure in its own rules of procedure, including a fee schedule, with the government's approval.

The open criteria without a fixed amount

Beyond the two amounts, the decree recognises further grounds for a special economic interest. They include top managers with an international reputation, experts in technologies not yet used in the country, professionals in shortage occupations, economic cooperation with North Macedonian companies, investment in existing businesses or long-term securities, industrial property rights and know-how, and donations for economic reforms. The Ministries of Economy and Finance assess these cases by how much they strengthen employment, tax revenue, production and exports in the country. For most investors, the two fixed routes remain the framework they can plan around.

Applying for Macedonian citizenship: how the procedure works

Citizenship falls under the Ministry of Interior. You file your application for admission in person, and you can get the form free of charge at any of the ministry's regional offices.

Step by step

1. Set up the investment: found a company and have the direct investment registered, or subscribe to units in an approved fund.
2. Prove the economic interest: for the direct investment, the Ministry of Finance checks register extracts and the tax certificate; for the fund route, the Innovation Fund checks the fund documents.
3. Apply to the Ministry of Interior: in person, with a CV, an identity document, a birth certificate in certified translation and the records on criminal history and pending proceedings.
4. Security review: since the 2021 amendment, the competent authority decides on the security condition within six months of the application.
5. Decision and fee: the administrative fee is EUR 100 in total, payable in denars: EUR 20 with the application and EUR 80 when the decision is handed over.

Typical documents

For a naturalisation application, the Ministry of Interior lists a short CV, an identity document, a birth certificate translated by a court-sworn translator and notarised, a criminal record certificate from your country of origin and certificates that no criminal proceedings are pending against you either in North Macedonia or there. Foreign documents are submitted translated and certified. Starting early with clean German paperwork saves you weeks later on. How states screen investors in general is explained in due diligence in the passport application.

North Macedonia and dual citizenship

The good news first: you do not have to give up your German passport. Renouncing your current citizenship appears in Article 7 as a condition of the regular naturalisation route. Article 11 only requires that you are of age and meet the security condition, not that you renounce. The Ministry of Interior also expressly confirms that North Macedonian citizens may hold another citizenship. Inside the country, you are then treated as a citizen of North Macedonia.

On the German side, the position has been clear since 27 June 2024. With the modernisation of nationality law, acquiring a foreign citizenship on application no longer costs you your German citizenship; the former ground for loss in § 25 of the Nationality Act (Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz, StAG) has been repealed. You no longer need a retention permit (Beibehaltungsgenehmigung). What this means for travel, tax and the authorities is set out in CBI passport and German passport.

A passport is a right, not a permission. A residence permit expires and can be refused or revoked. Citizenship gives you the permanent right to live, work and return to the country, without ever applying for a renewal.

What the North Macedonian passport gives you

The first advantage is the obvious one: you have a permanent right to live and work in a country in the middle of the Balkans, with no renewals, no residence permit and no work permit. What everyday life there feels like is described in the German-language country guide on moving to North Macedonia.

The second advantage is freedom to travel to Europe. According to the German Federal Foreign Office's list of countries, North Macedonian nationals with a biometric passport travel to Germany without a visa for up to 90 days in any 180-day period, without taking up work. As a German, you travel freely anyway, but for family members from a third country who also become North Macedonian, this can make exactly the difference.

The third advantage is the direction the country is heading. North Macedonia applied for membership of the European Union in March 2004, has been a candidate country since December 2005, and the first intergovernmental conference on accession negotiations took place in July 2022. There is no date for accession. Still, whoever becomes North Macedonian today holds a passport whose path points towards Europe. Why a direct EU passport is no longer available to investors is explained in buying an EU passport.

How North Macedonia taxes income and companies, and when you become tax resident there, is shown in the North Macedonia tax overview (in German); the basics for holders of a second passport are on the taxes page.

The route without investment: naturalisation through residence, marriage and descent

Not everyone wants to tie up EUR 200,000. North Macedonia has several routes to a passport without investment, and the Ministry of Interior describes them in detail.

Naturalisation after seven years

Since the amendment of July 2021, North Macedonia requires seven instead of eight years of lawful and continuous residence. On top of that come being of age, housing, a permanent income, no prison sentence of one year or more, no pending criminal proceedings, knowledge of Macedonian, no entry ban and no threat to security. At the end you swear an oath of allegiance. The catch for Germans: on this route, the law requires release from your current citizenship or proof that you will obtain it. If you meet all the other conditions, the Ministry of Interior issues you a guarantee in advance that you will be admitted.

Marriage and descent

If you have been married to a North Macedonian citizen for at least three years and have lived lawfully in the country for at least one year, the proof of housing and income, the language requirement and the renunciation of your passport all fall away. If you live lawfully abroad, it takes eight years of marriage with no prior residence in North Macedonia, plus a firm and genuine link to the country. Emigrants and the children of emigrants apply at the nearest embassy or consulate, without residence, without a language certificate and without renunciation. The country comparison for the spouse route is in naturalisation by marriage, and the big overview of residence routes in the guide naturalisation abroad.

If you commit to the long route through residence, you first need the right residence permit. How residence, tax and data exchange interact in North Macedonia is described in detail on the German-language North Macedonia country page.

Investment or naturalisation: why you should think about both

Naturalisation through residence is the route without investment and often the best one in the end, but it costs years of real life in the country. The investment buys you that time. North Macedonia shows this especially clearly: seven years of residence, everyday Macedonian and the renunciation of your German passport on one side; an entrepreneurial investment with no years of residence and no renunciation on the other.

That is why many people combine both. A passport by investment secures you a second right straight away, while in parallel you collect the years for naturalisation in a country of your choice. Why this dual strategy is the strongest for most families is explained in CBI and naturalisation.

North Macedonia, Türkiye or the Caribbean: where the Balkan passport fits

North Macedonia is not an off-the-shelf programme. There is no fixed donation amount and no real estate route; the decree even expressly excludes real estate on the fund route. The state wants businesses, jobs and capital for innovation. That makes the route narrower, but a very good fit for the right person.

Türkiye offers more routes and the option of buying property, but requires a residence permit before you apply. All the details are on the programme page Türkiye. The Caribbean programmes, for their part, are built for speed and donations and require no business in the country. Which region suits you is shown in CBI regions compared, the programmes side by side are in the comparison, and what a second passport costs overall is under costs.

Who the route through Skopje is worth it for

North Macedonia suits you if you already run a business in the Balkans or want to. If you are planning a production site, a development centre or a service unit with ten or more staff, you are deploying the capital anyway and receive the passport as the result of a project that pays for itself.

The fund route suits you if you can tie up capital for two years and do not want to run your own company in the country. Here the quality of the fund decides everything: check its initial capital, investment strategy and entry in the Securities and Exchange Commission's fund register carefully before you subscribe.

The route is less suitable if you need a passport within a few months without building a tie to a country, or if one single amount is meant to cover your whole family. The decree counts per person; your spouse can be naturalised with you under Article 11(4), provided you have been married for at least three years and your spouse has lived lawfully in the country for one year. For fast family solutions, the programmes on the family page are the better first stop, and which types of investment exist at all is shown in donation, real estate, government bonds.

Choosing North Macedonia is a deliberate choice: a European base for entrepreneurs, a state on its way into the EU and a passport that grows out of real commitment to the country.

Frequently asked questions