Albania · Residency by investment
Unique Permit (Leje Unike), including the Investor Variant
Open, but legally in flux. The legal basis is Law 79/2021 on foreigners, as amended by Law 43/2025, with changes landing in January 2026. Legal commentators cite new minimums of EUR 100,000 (business or government securities) and EUR 300,000 (real estate), introduced via Law 43/2025. No official Albanian government publication confirms these figures. Historically, the property route had no minimum, which was Albania's distinguishing feature. Treat the amounts below as unverified.
Albania is on the faster EU accession track. It has met the Chapter 23/24 interim benchmarks, and can now begin closing chapters as of May 2026. Tirana is targeting concluding negotiations in 2027, with membership expected around 2030. A residence permit taken now sits on a plausible path to EU rights. But the investor route's terms are currently unclear enough that we would not advise a client to commit capital on them.
Qualifying routes
UNVERIFIED. Cited by legal commentators as introduced by Law 43/2025, but not confirmed in official sources.
UNVERIFIED. Cited by legal commentators as introduced by Law 43/2025, but not confirmed in official sources. Historically, there was no minimum.
The facts
- Minimum investment
- €100k
- Total landed cost
- This cannot be stated reliably while the thresholds remain unconfirmed. Administrative and legal costs are modest, running roughly EUR 2,000–5,000.
- Route type
- Residency by investment
- Timeline
- 1–3 months (A complete file typically takes roughly 1–3 months.)
- Physical presence
- It requires active involvement in the investment or business. This is a discretionary assessment, not a passive box to tick.
- Family
- SpouseDependent children
- Permanent residency
- In the ordinary case, 5 years of continuous residence.
- Citizenship
- 7 years of continuous lawful residence plus a valid permanent residence permit at the time of application. But sources genuinely conflict here, see watchOuts.
- Language test
- Albanian language plus basic Albanian history
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- A qualifying investment, amount unconfirmedActive involvement in the investment or businessTax complianceA clean criminal recordHealth insuranceApplication via e-Albania
- The EUR 100k and EUR 300k thresholds are unverified. This is our largest open item on Albania. Practitioners cite them as flowing from Law 43/2025, but they appear in no official Albanian government publication we could reach. Do not quote them to a client without direct confirmation from Albanian counsel.
- Naturalisation is likely 7 years, not 5. Wikipedia and GLOBALCIT-derived sources say 5 years, which likely reflects the superseded Law 8389/1998. Multiple 2026 practitioner sources say 7 years under Law 113/2020 as amended by Law 77/2023, down from 10. Seven is the better reading, though the official Law 113/2020 text is not accessible in a form that settles the article directly. Confirm with Albanian counsel before relying on either figure. There are reductions. It drops to 3 years with Albanian ancestry to the second degree, and to 1 year if married for at least 3 years to an Albanian citizen, which also waives the language requirement.
- Active involvement means discretion. The investor Unique Permit is not a rules-based entitlement. The assessment is subjective.
- Albania's CFC rules kick in at 30% passive income and tax resident individuals at 15% on that income. That makes Albania hostile to holding structures, despite the headline 0% business rate.
- Application review for naturalisation runs 6–24 months on top of the residence clock.
- EU citizens staying more than 90 days must now register online within 3 months. This changed in 2025.