Albanian citizenship by descent: who qualifies, the law, and what it takes

Q: Can you claim Albanian citizenship through a parent?

Likely. A child of an Albanian citizen is Albanian by birth and can register at any age.

Q: Can you claim Albanian citizenship through a grandparent?

Possible. With an Albanian parent, grandparent or great-grandparent, you can acquire citizenship by origin without living in Albania or giving up another citizenship. Proving the ancestor’s Albanian citizenship is the case.

Q: Can you claim Albanian citizenship through a great-grandparent?

Possible. With an Albanian parent, grandparent or great-grandparent, you can acquire citizenship by origin without living in Albania or giving up another citizenship. Proving the ancestor’s Albanian citizenship is the case.

Through a parentLIKELYCitizenship by origin (Art. 6)Through a grandparentPOSSIBLECitizenship by origin (Art. 6)Through a great-grandparentPOSSIBLECitizenship by origin (Art. 6)

Ways to apply: Citizenship by origin, to the third degree (Art. 6)
Dual citizenship: Kept, however you apply

Each answer assumes none of your ancestors became a citizen of another country before their child was born. Below is what changes each answer.

On this page

01Who qualifies
02Dates that matter
03Through your mother
04Keeping your citizenship
05Ways to apply
06The documents
07What it takes
08Where the records live
09Places that changed countries
10Law changes
11Other options
12Sources

Who qualifies, generation by generation

LIKELY

Can you claim Albanian citizenship through a parent?

Citizenship by origin (Art. 6)

A child of an Albanian citizen is Albanian by birth and can register at any age.

Anyone born with at least one parent who is an Albanian citizen acquires Albanian citizenship automatically and is registered as a citizen; the right to register does not lapse after 18. Law No. 113/2020 on Citizenship, Art. 5

POSSIBLE

Can you claim Albanian citizenship through a grandparent?

Citizenship by origin (Art. 6)

With an Albanian parent, grandparent or great-grandparent, you can acquire citizenship by origin without living in Albania or giving up another citizenship. Proving the ancestor’s Albanian citizenship is the case.

What would settle itWhether the ancestor’s Albanian citizenship can be documented; Ottoman-era records need a civil-registry match.

A foreigner whose ascendant up to the third degree in the direct line was an Albanian citizen acquires citizenship by origin; no residence, language or renunciation is required. Law No. 113/2020 on Citizenship, Art. 6 and Art. 2(d)

What changes the answer

POSSIBLE
If you have a criminal conviction or charges pending
The applicant must not have a final conviction, anywhere, for an offence that Albanian law punishes with at least three years’ imprisonment (political convictions excepted), and must not threaten public order or security. Law No. 113/2020 on Citizenship, Art. 6(2) with Art. 8(1)(dh) and (ë)

POSSIBLE

Can you claim Albanian citizenship through a great-grandparent?

Citizenship by origin (Art. 6)

What would settle itWhether the ancestor’s Albanian citizenship can be documented; Ottoman-era records need a civil-registry match.

A foreigner whose ascendant up to the third degree in the direct line was an Albanian citizen acquires citizenship by origin; no residence, language or renunciation is required. Law No. 113/2020 on Citizenship, Art. 6 and Art. 2(d)

What changes the answer

POSSIBLE
If you have a criminal conviction or charges pending
The applicant must not have a final conviction, anywhere, for an offence that Albanian law punishes with at least three years’ imprisonment (political convictions excepted), and must not threaten public order or security. Law No. 113/2020 on Citizenship, Art. 6(2) with Art. 8(1)(dh) and (ë)

The dates that matter

No date named in Albania’s rule decides who qualifies. The answers above turn on the family’s facts, not on when anyone was born or left.

Claiming through your mother or grandmother

Albania’s rule gives the same answer whether the line runs through a mother or a father.

Dual citizenship with your home country

You keep your citizenship.

On every open route, the rule lets a citizen of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina or South Africa keep that citizenship.

Holding this citizenship alongside another is addressed by the law cited; check the current position before relying on it. Law No. 113/2020 on Citizenship

Every way to apply, and the law behind it

Citizenship by origin (Art. 6)

Open to you through a parent, a grandparent or a great-grandparent

LIKELY
Through a parent
POSSIBLE
Through a grandparent

The law

Anyone born with at least one parent who is an Albanian citizen acquires Albanian citizenship automatically and is registered as a citizen; the right to register does not lapse after 18. Law No. 113/2020 on Citizenship, Art. 5
A foreigner whose ascendant up to the third degree in the direct line was an Albanian citizen acquires citizenship by origin; no residence, language or renunciation is required. Law No. 113/2020 on Citizenship, Art. 6 and Art. 2(d)
The applicant must not have a final conviction, anywhere, for an offence that Albanian law punishes with at least three years’ imprisonment (political convictions excepted), and must not threaten public order or security. Law No. 113/2020 on Citizenship, Art. 6(2) with Art. 8(1)(dh) and (ë)

What would settle an unsure case

Whether the ancestor’s Albanian citizenship can be documented; Ottoman-era records need a civil-registry match.

The documents, as the rule lists them

Citizenship by origin (Art. 6)

Through a parent

Your parent’s Albanian birth or citizenship record
Your birth certificate, apostilled and translated

Through a grandparent or great-grandparent

Your ancestor’s Albanian birth or citizenship record
Birth and marriage records for each generation to you
A clean criminal record

Most countries also want proof that your ancestor didn’t become a citizen somewhere else before their child was born: the naturalization record with its date, or a letter saying there isn’t one.

What it takes: time, cost, the hard part, who decides

Citizenship by origin (Art. 6)

Time: 6–18 months for the Ministry of Interior decision, then a few weeks for the passport.
Cost: About $400–900: certified copies, apostilles and translations into Albanian. The application fee itself is small, about €30.
The hard part: Documenting the ancestor’s Albanian citizenship or origin. Ottoman-era and interwar records are thin, and the civil registry (gjendja civile) match is what the case turns on.
Who decides: The Albanian Ministry of Interior, through the nearest Albanian consulate.
The first record: Your ancestor’s Albanian birth or citizenship record, from The gjendja civile (civil status office) of the ancestor’s town, or the Central State Archive. Write to the civil status office with the name, father’s name and approximate birth year; for records before the 1950s, ask the Central State Archive (AQSH) in Tirana instead. gjendjacivile.gov.al

How it’s filed

Where: Only in Albania. The applicant requests ‘Kërkesë për fitim shtetësie’ on e-Albania and uploads the documents as PDFs; the State Police checks them and asks for the originals. The local State Police directorate forwards the file to the Interior Ministry. The embassy and the New York consulate take only renunciation and reacquisition. office list
How: In person; you appear in person
Form: Request addressed to the President of the Republic for citizenship by origin (Law 113/2020 Art. 6), filed through e-Albania ‘Kërkesë për fitim shtetësie’
Appointments: e-Albania request ‘Kërkesë për fitim shtetësie’; the State Police answers by email and asks for the originals
Fee: About $124
Decision: 6–18 months

What goes in the file (6)

Request addressed to the President: name, dates, permanent and temporary address, the address for news of the case, the reasons for the request and a detailed account of the applicant’s life, signed and dated
Personal and family certificate of the applicant
Certificate or other document proving Albanian origin in the direct line up to the third degree, even through one parent
Criminal record certificate from the state of residence, apostilled
Certificate of judicial status from the Albanian authorities
Receipt for the 10,000 lekë application fee

What goes wrong (7)

The application fee is 10,000 lekë, set by Joint Instruction No. 271 of 1 July 2021 (Official Gazette 2021 No. 123) for applications at the State Police. The €30 fee at missions covers only renunciation and reacquisition.
Citizenship by origin is Art. 6 of Law 113/2020. ‘Origin’ means a direct-line link of up to three degrees to an ancestor who held Albanian citizenship (Art. 2).
The origin route asks only for a clean record (no final sentence carrying three years or more under Albanian law, unless political) and no threat to public order (Art. 6(2)). It asks for no residence, no Albanian language, and no renunciation of U.S. citizenship or proof about the ancestor’s naturalisation.
Documents must be originals, consistent with each other and free of corrections, and issued within six months; foreign ones are apostilled where issued, translated into Albanian and notarised.
The applicant files personally; a power of attorney is not accepted. Parents file for children under 14.
The Interior Ministry reviews the file within six months and sends a proposal to the President, who decrees within 60 days; a refusal is an act of the minister and can be appealed to the administrative court.
After the decree the member swears the oath within six months, on a Monday, at the civil-status office of the municipality; without the oath the decree lapses (Arts. 21–22).

source ↗

Fees are each office’s published fee, converted to U.S. dollars.

Where each record lives, and how to ask for it

citizenship1945–2026
General Directorate of Civil Status (Gjendja Civile) and the local civil-status office of the ancestor’s municipality: the family certificate (certifikatë familjare) and personal-status certificate
Civil-status office of the municipality where the family is registered. Albanian citizens pull these on e-Albania with a national ID; descendants abroad need a relative, a lawyer with power of attorney, or the consulate.
Ask
Through an agent, in Albanian · request page ↗
Takes
1–13 weeks
Good to know (3)
- Documents are accepted only if issued within the last six months, so order the family certificate last.
- An Albanian-citizen relative in the U.S. can order a certified family certificate through the embassy or the New York consulate for €30 (10 to 30 days); a relative in Albania downloads it from e-Albania with their ID card.
- Facts from before 1945 come from the Central State Archive.
source ↗
birth1912–1945
Central State Archive (Arkivi Qendror Shtetëror, AQSH) and regional archives: interwar civil and parish records, Ottoman-era and royal-period registers
AQSH in Tirana; ask for the ancestor by name, father’s name, village and approximate year.
Ask
Through an agent, in Albanian · request page ↗
Fee
500 ALL (about $6)
Takes
2–4 weeks
Good to know (4)
- The archive holds baptism, marriage and death registers of the religious communities, not civil certificates.
- Requests are filed at an Albanian Post counter on the archive’s form, so someone in Albania files for the family. Only a direct heir may ask; anyone else needs a power of attorney, an inheritance act or a court decision. Attached documents must be originals issued within six months.
- 500 lekë on filing plus postage, then 50 lekë per photocopied page. The answer is collected at the same post office after 15 working days; the expedited service is 10,000 lekë and answers in five days.
- Ottoman-era records are thin and often only in Turkish archives.
source ↗

Translations

Into: Albanian
Who may translate: Any certified translator
About: $20–$50 a page

Each U.S. record is apostilled by the state that issued it, translated into Albanian, and the translation notarised. Records must be issued within six months of filing.

source ↗

The passport

Where: After the oath the civil-status office enters the member in the National Civil Status Register, and the member applies in Albania for the ID card and the biometric passport: book on e-Albania and pay 7,500 lekë for the passport at Albanian Post (18,000 lekë expedited).
Fee: About $93
Time: 4–17 weeks

source ↗

Places on old papers that lead to Albania

If your family’s records name one of these, Albania’s law may be the one that applies. The town decides.

Ottoman Empire · also Turkey (before 1923)
Pick the country the town is in today.
Today: Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania, Egypt

Recent and pending changes

We know of no pending bill or recent court ruling for Albania.

We re-read the official pages behind this guide every day. When one changes, a person checks the rule before we update anything here.

If descent doesn’t reach you

2 residence programs lead to Albania without an ancestor, each with its own law and road to citizenship.

Every source on this page

1 laws and official pages behind the answers, then the offices and pages behind the records and filing.

LawLaw No. 113/2020 on Citizenship · Art. 5; Art. 6 and Art. 2(d); Art. 6(2) with Art. 8(1)(dh) and (ë)
RecordsThe gjendja civile (civil status office) of the ancestor’s town, or the Central State Archive: Your ancestor’s Albanian birth or citizenship record
RecordsRequest addressed to the President of the Republic for citizenship by origin (Law 113/2020 Art. 6), filed through e-Albania ‘Kërkesë për fitim shtetësie’
RecordsCitizenship records, 1945–2026: General Directorate of Civil Status
RecordsBirth records, 1912–1945: Central State Archive
RecordsTranslations into Albanian
RecordsThe passport: where, the fee and the wait

Not legal advice. Every answer comes from the country’s own laws and is tested against real cases. Where the law isn’t clear, we say “possible” rather than guess.

Who qualifies, generation by generation

LIKELY

Can you claim Albanian citizenship through a parent?

Citizenship by origin (Art. 6)

A child of an Albanian citizen is Albanian by birth and can register at any age.

Anyone born with at least one parent who is an Albanian citizen acquires Albanian citizenship automatically and is registered as a citizen; the right to register does not lapse after 18. Law No. 113/2020 on Citizenship, Art. 5

POSSIBLE

Can you claim Albanian citizenship through a grandparent?

Citizenship by origin (Art. 6)

What would settle itWhether the ancestor’s Albanian citizenship can be documented; Ottoman-era records need a civil-registry match.

A foreigner whose ascendant up to the third degree in the direct line was an Albanian citizen acquires citizenship by origin; no residence, language or renunciation is required. Law No. 113/2020 on Citizenship, Art. 6 and Art. 2(d)

What changes the answer

POSSIBLE
If you have a criminal conviction or charges pending
The applicant must not have a final conviction, anywhere, for an offence that Albanian law punishes with at least three years’ imprisonment (political convictions excepted), and must not threaten public order or security. Law No. 113/2020 on Citizenship, Art. 6(2) with Art. 8(1)(dh) and (ë)

POSSIBLE

Can you claim Albanian citizenship through a great-grandparent?

Citizenship by origin (Art. 6)

What would settle itWhether the ancestor’s Albanian citizenship can be documented; Ottoman-era records need a civil-registry match.

A foreigner whose ascendant up to the third degree in the direct line was an Albanian citizen acquires citizenship by origin; no residence, language or renunciation is required. Law No. 113/2020 on Citizenship, Art. 6 and Art. 2(d)

What changes the answer

POSSIBLE
If you have a criminal conviction or charges pending
The applicant must not have a final conviction, anywhere, for an offence that Albanian law punishes with at least three years’ imprisonment (political convictions excepted), and must not threaten public order or security. Law No. 113/2020 on Citizenship, Art. 6(2) with Art. 8(1)(dh) and (ë)

Dual citizenship with your home country

You keep your citizenship.

On every open route, the rule lets a citizen of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina or South Africa keep that citizenship.

Holding this citizenship alongside another is addressed by the law cited; check the current position before relying on it. Law No. 113/2020 on Citizenship

Every way to apply, and the law behind it

Citizenship by origin (Art. 6)

Open to you through a parent, a grandparent or a great-grandparent

LIKELY
Through a parent
POSSIBLE
Through a grandparent

The law

Anyone born with at least one parent who is an Albanian citizen acquires Albanian citizenship automatically and is registered as a citizen; the right to register does not lapse after 18. Law No. 113/2020 on Citizenship, Art. 5
A foreigner whose ascendant up to the third degree in the direct line was an Albanian citizen acquires citizenship by origin; no residence, language or renunciation is required. Law No. 113/2020 on Citizenship, Art. 6 and Art. 2(d)
The applicant must not have a final conviction, anywhere, for an offence that Albanian law punishes with at least three years’ imprisonment (political convictions excepted), and must not threaten public order or security. Law No. 113/2020 on Citizenship, Art. 6(2) with Art. 8(1)(dh) and (ë)

What would settle an unsure case

Whether the ancestor’s Albanian citizenship can be documented; Ottoman-era records need a civil-registry match.

The documents, as the rule lists them

Citizenship by origin (Art. 6)

Through a parent

Your parent’s Albanian birth or citizenship record
Your birth certificate, apostilled and translated

Through a grandparent or great-grandparent

Your ancestor’s Albanian birth or citizenship record
Birth and marriage records for each generation to you
A clean criminal record

Most countries also want proof that your ancestor didn’t become a citizen somewhere else before their child was born: the naturalization record with its date, or a letter saying there isn’t one.

What it takes: time, cost, the hard part, who decides

Citizenship by origin (Art. 6)

Time: 6–18 months for the Ministry of Interior decision, then a few weeks for the passport.
Cost: About $400–900: certified copies, apostilles and translations into Albanian. The application fee itself is small, about €30.
The hard part: Documenting the ancestor’s Albanian citizenship or origin. Ottoman-era and interwar records are thin, and the civil registry (gjendja civile) match is what the case turns on.
Who decides: The Albanian Ministry of Interior, through the nearest Albanian consulate.
The first record: Your ancestor’s Albanian birth or citizenship record, from The gjendja civile (civil status office) of the ancestor’s town, or the Central State Archive. Write to the civil status office with the name, father’s name and approximate birth year; for records before the 1950s, ask the Central State Archive (AQSH) in Tirana instead. gjendjacivile.gov.al

How it’s filed

Where: Only in Albania. The applicant requests ‘Kërkesë për fitim shtetësie’ on e-Albania and uploads the documents as PDFs; the State Police checks them and asks for the originals. The local State Police directorate forwards the file to the Interior Ministry. The embassy and the New York consulate take only renunciation and reacquisition. office list
How: In person; you appear in person
Form: Request addressed to the President of the Republic for citizenship by origin (Law 113/2020 Art. 6), filed through e-Albania ‘Kërkesë për fitim shtetësie’
Appointments: e-Albania request ‘Kërkesë për fitim shtetësie’; the State Police answers by email and asks for the originals
Fee: About $124
Decision: 6–18 months

What goes in the file (6)

Request addressed to the President: name, dates, permanent and temporary address, the address for news of the case, the reasons for the request and a detailed account of the applicant’s life, signed and dated
Personal and family certificate of the applicant
Certificate or other document proving Albanian origin in the direct line up to the third degree, even through one parent
Criminal record certificate from the state of residence, apostilled
Certificate of judicial status from the Albanian authorities
Receipt for the 10,000 lekë application fee

What goes wrong (7)

The application fee is 10,000 lekë, set by Joint Instruction No. 271 of 1 July 2021 (Official Gazette 2021 No. 123) for applications at the State Police. The €30 fee at missions covers only renunciation and reacquisition.
Citizenship by origin is Art. 6 of Law 113/2020. ‘Origin’ means a direct-line link of up to three degrees to an ancestor who held Albanian citizenship (Art. 2).
The origin route asks only for a clean record (no final sentence carrying three years or more under Albanian law, unless political) and no threat to public order (Art. 6(2)). It asks for no residence, no Albanian language, and no renunciation of U.S. citizenship or proof about the ancestor’s naturalisation.
Documents must be originals, consistent with each other and free of corrections, and issued within six months; foreign ones are apostilled where issued, translated into Albanian and notarised.
The applicant files personally; a power of attorney is not accepted. Parents file for children under 14.
The Interior Ministry reviews the file within six months and sends a proposal to the President, who decrees within 60 days; a refusal is an act of the minister and can be appealed to the administrative court.
After the decree the member swears the oath within six months, on a Monday, at the civil-status office of the municipality; without the oath the decree lapses (Arts. 21–22).

source ↗

Fees are each office’s published fee, converted to U.S. dollars.

Where each record lives, and how to ask for it

citizenship1945–2026

General Directorate of Civil Status (Gjendja Civile) and the local civil-status office of the ancestor’s municipality: the family certificate (certifikatë familjare) and personal-status certificate

Civil-status office of the municipality where the family is registered. Albanian citizens pull these on e-Albania with a national ID; descendants abroad need a relative, a lawyer with power of attorney, or the consulate.

Ask: Through an agent, in Albanian · request page ↗
Takes: 1–13 weeks

Good to know (3)

Documents are accepted only if issued within the last six months, so order the family certificate last.
An Albanian-citizen relative in the U.S. can order a certified family certificate through the embassy or the New York consulate for €30 (10 to 30 days); a relative in Albania downloads it from e-Albania with their ID card.
Facts from before 1945 come from the Central State Archive.

source ↗

birth1912–1945

Central State Archive (Arkivi Qendror Shtetëror, AQSH) and regional archives: interwar civil and parish records, Ottoman-era and royal-period registers

AQSH in Tirana; ask for the ancestor by name, father’s name, village and approximate year.

Ask: Through an agent, in Albanian · request page ↗
Fee: 500 ALL (about $6)
Takes: 2–4 weeks

Good to know (4)

The archive holds baptism, marriage and death registers of the religious communities, not civil certificates.
Requests are filed at an Albanian Post counter on the archive’s form, so someone in Albania files for the family. Only a direct heir may ask; anyone else needs a power of attorney, an inheritance act or a court decision. Attached documents must be originals issued within six months.
500 lekë on filing plus postage, then 50 lekë per photocopied page. The answer is collected at the same post office after 15 working days; the expedited service is 10,000 lekë and answers in five days.
Ottoman-era records are thin and often only in Turkish archives.

source ↗

Translations

Into: Albanian
Who may translate: Any certified translator
About: $20–$50 a page

Each U.S. record is apostilled by the state that issued it, translated into Albanian, and the translation notarised. Records must be issued within six months of filing.

source ↗

The passport

Where: After the oath the civil-status office enters the member in the National Civil Status Register, and the member applies in Albania for the ID card and the biometric passport: book on e-Albania and pay 7,500 lekë for the passport at Albanian Post (18,000 lekë expedited).
Fee: About $93
Time: 4–17 weeks

source ↗

Who qualifies, generation by generation

Can you claim Albanian citizenship through a parent?

Can you claim Albanian citizenship through a grandparent?

What changes the answer

Can you claim Albanian citizenship through a great-grandparent?

What changes the answer

The dates that matter

Claiming through your mother or grandmother

Dual citizenship with your home country

Every way to apply, and the law behind it

The law

What would settle an unsure case

The documents, as the rule lists them

Citizenship by origin (Art. 6)

What it takes: time, cost, the hard part, who decides

Citizenship by origin (Art. 6)

How it’s filed

Where each record lives, and how to ask for it

Translations

The passport

Places on old papers that lead to Albania

Recent and pending changes

If descent doesn’t reach you

Every source on this page

Check your family for Albania.

Who qualifies, generation by generation

Can you claim Albanian citizenship through a parent?

Can you claim Albanian citizenship through a grandparent?

What changes the answer

Can you claim Albanian citizenship through a great-grandparent?

What changes the answer

The dates that matter

Claiming through your mother or grandmother

Dual citizenship with your home country

Every way to apply, and the law behind it

The law

What would settle an unsure case

The documents, as the rule lists them

Citizenship by origin (Art. 6)

What it takes: time, cost, the hard part, who decides

Citizenship by origin (Art. 6)

How it’s filed

Where each record lives, and how to ask for it

Translations

The passport

Places on old papers that lead to Albania

Recent and pending changes

If descent doesn’t reach you

Every source on this page

Check your family for Albania.