I won’t try to convince you right now that Montenegro is the best country in Europe for higher education. However, this country does offer some advantages, which I will now list.
First, obtaining a residence permit (residence card) for students is guaranteed.
Second, some universities accept students without requiring foreign language knowledge. This greatly reduces your initial expenses, as in many European countries, students must first take a one-year language course before applying to a university.
Third, you only need € 7200 in your personal bank account. As you may know, having funds in a bank account is a common European requirement — a kind of guarantee that you’ll have money to live on. In other countries, the required amount is 2–3 times higher, which increases your starting costs.
Fourth, students in Montenegro are legally allowed to work — which is not the case in all countries. And today, we’ll talk specifically about student work.
Student Work in Montenegro
According to the Law on Foreigners (2018), students can legally work in Montenegro. In fact, non-students can also work — anyone can come to Montenegro, find a job, and apply for a residence permit based on employment. But student residence permits have some important differences.
First, work permits based on employment are limited by quotas. Nobody knows whether the quota will be available at the time of arrival. Students, however, don’t need a quota to work.
Second, a work-based residence permit is tied to a specific employer. If a worker changes jobs, they lose their permit and must apply for a new one. Students, on the other hand, can change jobs freely — their student residence permit remains valid. This makes job changes much easier for students.
What Are the Salaries Like in Montenegro?
They are relatively low. The average salary in the country is around €500 per month. In general, it’s quite realistic to find a job paying €400–600, but anything more is rare — though not impossible.
There are no legal limits on the number of hours students can work, but it is logical to assume that during the school year, students work part-time, and full-time during holidays.
Are There Job Opportunities?
Yes — many. Last spring, before the tourist season began, I counted 32,000 job listings on local websites. For a small country like Montenegro, this is a huge number. Job ads are everywhere.
Keep in mind that there are many Russian tourists in the country. So workers who speak Russian and Serbian are in high demand. Any employer would gladly hire such a person. Hopefully, you already know Russian, and you can learn Serbian during your first year of university.
