Albania · Residency by investment
Unique Permit (Leje Unike), including the Investor Variant
Open but legally in flux. Legal basis is Law 79/2021 'On Foreigners' as amended by Law 43/2025, with changes landing 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 — WE COULD NOT CONFIRM THESE FIGURES IN ANY OFFICIAL ALBANIAN GOVERNMENT PUBLICATION. 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, can now begin closing chapters as of May 2026, and Tirana targets concluding negotiations in 2027 with membership 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 let a client 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
- Cannot be stated reliably while the thresholds are unconfirmed. Administrative and legal costs are modest — roughly EUR 2,000–5,000.
- Timeline
- 1–3 months — Roughly 1–3 months for a complete file.
- Physical presence
- Requires active involvement in the investment or business; this is a discretionary assessment, not a passive box-tick.
- Family
- spousedependent children
- Permanent residency
- 5 years of continuous residence in the ordinary case
- Citizenship
- 7 years of continuous lawful residence plus a valid permanent residence permit at the time of application — but sources genuinely conflict, see watchOuts
- Language test
- Albanian language plus basic Albanian history
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- qualifying investment (amount unconfirmed)active involvement in the investment or businesstax complianceclean criminal recordhealth insuranceapplication via e-Albania
- THE EUR 100k / EUR 300k THRESHOLDS ARE UNVERIFIED. This is our largest open item on Albania. They are cited by practitioners as flowing from Law 43/2025 but 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 Do not quote them to a client without direct confirmation from Albanian counsel.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 7 YEARS, NOT 5 — PROBABLY. 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, reduced from 10. We assess 7 as correct but could not parse the official Law 113/2020 text to read the article directly. Confirm with Albanian counsel before relying on either figure. Reductions: 3 years with Albanian ancestry to the second degree; 1 year if married 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, and the assessment is subjective.
- ALBANIA'S CFC RULES bite at 30% passive income and tax resident individuals at 15% on that income — making 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 (2025 changes).