Director-General Baković: Cheaper passport fees, new ID cards from 30 March

At today's session, the Cabinet adopted the Decision amending the Decision on the amount of fee for the passport and travel certificate and the Decision on amendments to the Decision on the forms of travel documents.

Director-General for Civil Status and Personal Documents at the Ministry of the Interior Milanka Baković said at a press conference after the Cabinet session that the fee for the passport form would be eight euros, which is decrease of seven euros. "In practice, this will mean that for children and persons under 21, the total cost of issuing a passport will be eight euros, and for other citizens, with the payment of an administrative fee of 25 euros, the total cost will be 33 euros instead of the previous 40 euros," Director-General Baković said.

Furthermore, a novelty is being introduced to get the best possible security concept, and the passport will be supplemented with additional features and security features and produced in accordance with ICAO standards.

Talking about the benefits, Director Baković said that the new security features will reduce the possibility of misuse of identity and personal data, i.e. prevent the forgery of documents. More modern travel documents will facilitate the work of the Border Police, operators at airports, airlines, customs officers, since the automated checking of documents and passengers will lead to faster border controls and smaller queues at border crossings.

Director-General Baković added that the Ministry of the Interior will begin issuing passports of the third generation at the end of the January.

Recalling that the Law on Amendments to the Law on Identity Card was also adopted last year, whose implementation was delayed until 30.03.2020. Baković stressed that the third generation of ID cards will have numerous benefits for the citizens of Montenegro. "Since the new ID cards will contain a chip that will incorporate an electronic identification certificate and a certificate for a qualified electronic signature, it will greatly contribute to a better quality of life of our citizens and improve communication and business in the country. Thanks to the certificates stored in the ID card chip, citizens will have access to numerous services. Also, citizens will be given access to certain electronic services in the health care system, such as: to pick up prescriptions, access health check-up, as the ID card will also be a substitute for the health insurance card," Baković explained.

With the introduction of new documents, Montenegro implements European and international standards in this area, which will ultimately enable faster border controls, easier procedures in the areas of e-commerce, e-commerce, payment systems, while eliminating the process of waiting for services. Citizens' communication will become better, simpler and cheaper, Baković concluded.

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