You're probably still an Albanian citizen.

The assumption that's wrong

A lot of Albanians abroad believe that taking American — or German, or Italian, or any other — citizenship cancelled their Albanian one. It did not. Albania did not strip citizenship from emigrants who naturalized abroad after 1992. If you were born in Albania, you are still an Albanian citizen today, no matter how many other passports you hold.

Albania allows dual citizenship without restriction. Article 7 of the 2020 Citizenship Law (Law No. 113/2020, "On Citizenship") permits it outright. You are not required to renounce your other citizenship, and you were never asked to. Holding a US passport and an Albanian one at the same time is normal and legal.

Are you an Albanian citizen?

Three situations cover most of the diaspora. If any one of them fits you, you already are a citizen — there is nothing to "apply" for, though you may need to document it.

What the 2020 law changed

If you assumed the rules were stricter, that's because they used to be. Law No. 113/2020 and its 2024 amendments changed several things at once:

• Extended citizenship by descent from two generations to three.
• Removed the requirement to renounce any other citizenship.
• Explicitly permitted dual citizenship.
• Waived the residency requirement for diaspora descent applicants.
• Streamlined the procedures for the diaspora (2024 amendments).

Being a citizen isn't the same as being able to vote

This is the part that trips people up, so it's worth stating plainly. Citizenship is your legal status. Voting requires documents on top of that status. They are two different things.

To vote in an Albanian election you need two things:

• A valid Albanian passport or ID card (letërnjoftim).
• To be registered to vote from abroad.

Someone born in Tirana who has no current Albanian passport is still a citizen — but cannot vote yet. The citizenship is not in question; the documents are. Getting vote-ready means closing that document gap.

Documenting citizenship by descent

Here the details depend on where you live. The steps below are a worked example for the United States. The offices, the way documents are legalized, and the exact fees vary by country — so confirm the specifics with your nearest Albanian embassy or consulate before you start.

1. Gather civil-status documents. Your birth certificate, the chain of documents linking you to the Albanian ancestor, that ancestor's Albanian birth certificate, and an FBI background check.
2. Apostille them. Each document is legalized with an apostille so Albania will accept it.
3. Have them translated. Translation must be done by a translator authorized by Albania's Ministry of Justice. A bilingual friend's translation will be rejected.
4. Submit the packet with the fee. Roughly €30, filed at the Albanian Embassy in Washington DC, the Consulate in New York, the Honorary Consulate in Chicago, or directly in Tirana.
5. Wait for review. Ministry review, background checks, and a presidential decree — realistically six to twelve months.
6. Apply for the passport separately. Once citizenship is confirmed, the passport itself takes about three to four weeks.

Register to vote from abroad

Once you hold a valid Albanian passport or ID card, the last step is registration. Albania runs an out-of-country voting process; you register through it so your ballot counts from wherever you live.

This is new. 2025 was the first election the diaspora was ever allowed to join, and about 245,000 Albanians abroad registered to vote in it. That first turnout is the whole reason getting documented matters now rather than someday.