North Macedonia · Citizenship by investment
Naturalisation in the Economic and National Interest (Law on Citizenship, Article 11)
LEGALLY EXTANT, OPERATIONALLY NON-FUNCTIONING. The Article 11 basis and the implementing Government Decree (Official Gazette 9/05, amended 2012, 2019, 2021) have not been repealed. But no investor has obtained a passport via the EUR 200k fund route introduced in 2021. Henley & Partners, the promoter itself, says the government is currently in the process of setting up the program. The European Commission reported that North Macedonia had received five economic-citizenship applications and processed none. The roughly 121 economic citizenships cited by promoters were granted between 2005 and 2022 under discretionary national-interest naturalisation, not the fund programme. Some 2026 promoter sites claim it is reopening. That claim is commercially interested, uncorroborated, and we do not credit it.
This is the clearest case in the region of a programme that exists in law and not in fact. An independent April 2026 analysis put it plainly. It is discretionary naturalisation dressed as investment citizenship. Any adviser presenting the EUR 200k route as a live path to an EU-candidate passport is, on the available evidence, mis-selling.
Qualifying routes
Theoretical. Per adult, held at least 2 years. No verified delivery since introduction in 2021.
Theoretical. Must employ at least 10 people for at least 1 year.
The facts
- Minimum investment
- €200k
- Total landed cost
- Not meaningfully estimable for a programme that has never delivered a passport.
- Route type
- Citizenship by investment
- Physical presence
- None claimed
- Family
- SpouseDependent children
- Permanent residency
- Not applicable
- Citizenship
- Theoretical, direct
- Language test
- None claimed
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- In theory: a qualifying fund or direct investment, a clean record, and government discretion.In practice: no functioning application pathway has been demonstrated.
- No verified deliveries have come through the EUR 200k fund route since it launched in 2021. The European Commission reports five applications received by the state and none processed.
- The promoter itself says the programme is still being set up. When the appointed concessionaire describes a nine-year-old programme as still in the process of being established, that tells you what you need to know.
- There is a sunset clause. The scheme terminates automatically on EU accession. Even in the scenario where it revives, it comes with a fixed expiry.
- The visa-free regime is the real hostage here. Brussels has explicitly warned North Macedonia against running an investor-citizenship scheme, citing the risk of circumventing the Schengen short-stay visa procedure and the danger to the visa-free arrangement itself. If the programme succeeded, it would destroy the very asset the passport is meant to deliver.
- Claims of an official reopening in 2026 come solely from self-described authorised agents. Henley's own page and independent analysis both contradict them.