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In June 2023, the Government published a dedicated instruction to implement and regulate the statelessness determination procedure (SDP), which had been adopted 2021. This is a positive step towards the protection of stateless people in Albania, but the implementation of this instruction needs to be monitored as uncertainties remain.
Positively, the instruction sets a maximum time limit of 180 days for a decision to be made (with a possible three-month extension), and the competent authority must certify acceptance of an application for the SDP. It provides that country-of-origin information is to be gathered on the political, economic, social, and human rights situation of the relevant country, and foresees a process of verification and information gathering from foreign authorities and international organisations. It also provides that if the applicant also applied for asylum then the SDP is suspended, with the applicant’s approval. There is a right of appeal before the court.
However, uncertainties and gaps in protection remain. Applicants are required to provide many documents in their application, but the instruction is not clear as to the consequences of not attaching some documents, including when the applicant may have difficulties in obtaining them. While UNHCR may be present during the interviews, the instruction does not specify who decides on their presence. Applicants may also face barriers to accessing legal aid. There is no information available yet about the implementation of the SDP in practice.
The information below was last updated in January 2023. A full update to this page will be available in 2024.
The legal and policy framework in Albania has some positive aspects and some important gaps. Positively, Albania is State Party to three of the four core statelessness conventions with no reservations, as well as all other relevant international instruments. Some data is available on the stateless and at-risk population from the census and a more recent mapping study, but there is no ‘stateless’ category in asylum and immigration data, including in relation to detention.
There is a definition of a stateless person in Albanian law, but it is narrower than the 1954 Convention definition. The new Law on Foreigners, which entered into force in November 2021, established a statelessness determination procedure and provides for the issuance of a dedicated instruction to implement and regulate the procedure, but this has not yet been approved and therefore details are not yet clarified. Some rights were already granted to stateless people by law, including the right to apply for residence on humanitarian grounds, legal aid, and a travel document. However, these are difficult to access as a formal procedure and identification documents are required.
There is a facilitated route to naturalisation with a reduced residence period (although this was increased from five to seven years in 2020) and exemptions from some of the standard requirements. Some limited safeguards protect against the arbitrary detention of stateless people, but there are barriers to effective remedies and legal aid, and people released from detention are not protected from re-detention.
Since 2020, the law ensures that children born stateless on the territory, foundlings, adopted children and most children born to nationals abroad acquire Albanian nationality. There have been measures to reduce the risk of statelessness and improve access to birth registration, but children still face difficulties if parents are undocumented or have irregularities in their documentation, and Romani and Egyptian communities are disproportionately impacted. Same-sex marriages are not recognised, and children of same-sex parents may not be able to have both parents listed on their birth certificates. In a case currently pending appeal, the civil registry refused the registration of children recognising same sex mothers with equal rights.
New powers were introduced in 2020 to deprive naturalised Albanians of their nationality on national security grounds, but there are sufficient safeguards to prevent this resulting in statelessness.
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