New passports to be issued for citizens born abroad

TIRANA, Sept. 01 – In what seemed to be a significant step in giving an end to the pain of hundreds of thousands of emigrants, mainly in neighboring Greece, Tirana decided to issue new passports to all its citizens who live abroad.
That follows especially continues problems for the immigrants coming from neighboring Greece, where families have increased with many children born there. It was the issue of writing the place names in the documents. Greece had insisted that Albania should use Greek toponyms for Albanian passport-holders in Greece. They were born in Greece but they still hold Albanian citizenship.
The government decided to supply to the emigrants born abroad with new birth certificates, identity cards and passports where the birthplace is written in the local language of the country of birth rather than in Albanian.
Following diplomatic negotiations with Athens, Tirana agreed in May to reissue passports that met the requirements of the Greek authorities.
In January 2015, emigrants seeking to obtain new passports or IDs will also see a rise in the price of the documents.