While failing to answer questions sent directly by citizens and Exit.al the US Embassy in Tirana has finally issued guidance about the recent changes in immigration law for US citizens via its STEP alert system.
Exit reported last week over the lack of information from the embassy, including a failure to publish any updates for weeks or to clarify various points with concerned citizens.
Previously US citizens could spend a year in Albania without a residence permit, leave for 90 days, and return for another year. This stopped in January 2022, but US citizens in Albania were not notified. Furthermore, the US embassy failed to clarify whether the rule change would apply retrospectively to citizens who arrived in Albania before January.
Several citizens told Exit they were worried they would have to pay hefty fines for “overstaying” and were at a loss as they had enrolled their children in school, taken out year leases on apartments and even purchased cars.
The new information states that those who entered Albania before 7 January 2022 “will be subject to the previous law, and the 90-day limit will not be applied to them”.
It continues that “those who entered Albania on 7 January 2022 or later, are subject to the new 90-day limit,” adding that those planning to stay longer than 90 days should start the application process after 30 days.
It says the embassy will continue to seek more clarification on the situation and update citizens accordingly.
The notification, sent to all US citizens registered with the STEP programme, comes over a month since the law changed and five months since the original decision was taken. STEP pushes out alerts to everyone registered with it when there are significant bits of news such as protests, during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in the aftermath of the 2019 earthquake.
A recipient of the alert who forwarded it to Exit said, “this, plus social media…they have the means to provide timely updates and notices, they simply failed to do so on this one.”
It is not known why the embassy did not notify citizens earlier, and they did not answer this question when asked by Exit.
