TIRANA, July 3 – Foreigners’ requests for obtaining Albanian citizenship are increasing from year to year, according to official statistics published in local media on Sunday. Official data show that applications have doubled this year compared to the period before the pandemic.
“There is an increase in requests for obtaining Albanian citizenship. From 2019, when there were 485 application requests to obtain Albanian citizenship, this number is up to 834 requests during the first half of 2022. So we have a doubling of the number of requests from foreign citizens to obtain Albanian citizenship,” the official statistic revealed.
Most requests for Albanian passports come from Kosovo, followed by applications from Turkish citizens.
The largest number of requests was made by the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo. In second place are Turkish citizens. Citizens of other countries seeking Albanian citizenship are those who are married to Albanian citizens, while EU citizens who have been living and working in Albania for years are few in number.
But what are the reasons for the increase in requests to obtain Albanian citizenship? The law on citizenship has given the opportunity to benefit from Albanian citizenship even by origin. So those citizens, whose parents had Albanian citizenship, today receive Albanian citizenship with a simpler procedure.
For a foreign citizen to obtain Albanian citizenship, he must have stayed in Albania for 7 years without interruption. In the case of marriage with an Albanian citizen, he or she must stay in Albania for three years to have the opportunity to apply for citizenship.
/Argumentum.al