Kosovars looking for Albanian passports

TIRANA – An increased number of Kosovo Albanians have started to seek Albanian citizenship after the country got the EU’s visa liberalization last week.
But the Albanian Ambassador in Prishtina, Islam Lauka, made it clear at an interview that the Kosovo residents need to meet numerous criteria, eight precisely, in order to get the Albanian citizenship.
Lauka said that his country’s law allowed foreigners to apply for Albanian citizenship but it did not mean that everybody can get it because several criteria need to be met.
“There are at least eight documents, i.e. criteria that need to be met. It is very important to provide a document which proves that a person has been living in Albania for five years straight and for citizens of Kosovo that period is three years,” the Albanian ambassador explained.
“There are mitigating circumstances in those three years, if a person from Kosovo has been married to the Albanian citizen for at least a year, for which they need to have a document of the Albanian Interior ministry,” Lauka added.
A distinguished person can get Albanian citizenship without any problems. All they need is a recommendation of the Albanian Academy of Sciences or some other important institution.
Before they started to apply for Albanian citizenship, Kosovo Albanians had been in large numbers seeking citizenship of Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro since the EU lifted visa regime for these countries’ citizens last year
Albanians will be able to go visa-free to European Union member countries after Dec. 15.