Based on the case of Kozeta Turishte, how long does it take a foreigner to obtain Albanian citizenship
2024-06-13 13:26:24
TiranaPost
Former journalist Kozeta Turishta has made a status where she shows her disappointment with the procedures to get an Albanian passport. Coseta writes:
"I am very disappointed how difficult it is to get the Albanian passport, so many bureaucrats and idiotic rules.
Easier is to become an American citizen, 100 times over.
In other words, an applicant for an Albanian passport with marriage needs a minimum of 2 years of residence permit in the Albanian state plus other senseless bureaucracies".
Coseta Turishta
Albanian citizenship can be obtained in several cases: as a refugee, as a stateless person, as a minister, as a child, as origin, as naturalization and by marriage.
We will focus on the one from marriage, which is supposed to be the easiest way, but which seems to be not so much, as Coseta also brings to attention.
In order to obtain an Albanian passport from marriage, the conditions according to the law are as follows:
• The foreigner, who is married to an Albanian citizen for a period of not less than 3 (three) years, can submit a request to acquire citizenship by naturalization, even if he does not meet the conditions defined in the letters "c" and " e", of point 1, of this article, if he has resided legally and continuously in the territory of the Republic of Albania for at least 1 (one) year. With the exception of conditions C and E, it means that it is not necessarily important to know Albanian or to be resident in Albania for 7 consecutive years.
So, it is enough to be married to an Albanian citizen for no less than three years and to reside in Albania, legally, for one year.
These rules are more or less similar everywhere. Each state has conditions for the time period of marriage, residence, regular work or home, payment of taxes, spoken written language and even the final exam. Even America has its own rules and does not grant citizenship so easily. There are three ways to get your spouse to America, but with a visa and not a passport.
• Method 1: the American citizen marries the foreign citizen in Albania. Then, the US citizen writes an invitation through the USCIS office to invite the spouse to the US. Within 3 to 5 months, the invitation is approved and shortly thereafter promoted to the National Visa Center in New Hampshire, also known as the NVC. NVC studies the data, and a few months later sends it to the American embassy in Tirana, which arranges a meeting with the Albanian spouse for an interview. If the interview is successful, the foreign spouse will have an immigrant visa stamped in their passport that allows them to travel to the US and stay there permanently with the right to work from the first day of arrival.
Method 2: The Albanian citizen travels to the USA with a tourist visa, in order to marry his American partner there. The wedding takes place, and the US citizen fills out an invitation at the USCIS office, just like in step one. The Albanian citizen must leave before the tourist visa expires and must wait a few months until the time comes for the meeting with the American embassy, just like in the first way. The second method is essentially identical to the first, except that the marriage takes place in the US. Also, obtaining a tourist visa for individuals who have an Albanian passport is very difficult.
Method 3: The third method is to use a fiance visa (known as K-1). The American citizen fills out an invitation for an engagement visa before marrying the Albanian partner. This invitation is sent to the American embassy in Tirana 4-8 months later, and the Albanian fiance travels to the USA on an engagement visa. Upon his arrival in the USA, the Albanian fiance must marry the American citizen who invited him, within 90 days. But he still gets a residence permit and not a passport.
Of course, America has strong rules for granting citizenship because of the power that its passport has. In 2024, it results in the 7th place.
The passport of France is in the first place together with Japan and Italy in terms of power. If you have a French passport you can travel freely in 194 countries of the world.
Yes, France also has its own rules for granting citizenship.
France – in 1st place
Foreigners who have been married for 4 years to a spouse of French nationality can obtain French citizenship. In this case, the foreigner must justify an emotional and material connection and a sufficient knowledge of the French language.
Switzerland – in 5th place
Candidates for naturalization through marriage must have lived in Switzerland for at least five years, have spent the year before applying in the country and have been married to and lived with the Swiss citizen for at least three years. This ensures that a foreigner marries a Swiss citizen for all the right reasons – namely love – and not just to get a passport.
Each country has its own conditions for granting citizenship. The rules change slightly over the years, sometimes loosening and sometimes tightening due to the abuse that is often done with passport marriages. Switzerland, for example, cancels 50 citizenships a year, when it discovers in divorce cases that the marriage was for the citizenship.
What can be surprising in Albania is the complication of the rules when our passport is in the 48th place on the list.
