קשת השקעה-אזרחות (לעולם לא פועלת)

No Albanian citizenship has ever vested through an investment or golden-passport channel, and this is established as a positive disconfirmation rather than a mere absence of evidence. No economy-field criteria-VKM was adopted under Art 9(3); no investor application channel ever opened; and the European Commission's 2024 enlargement report contains zero mentions of any operative investor-citizenship scheme ( EC Albania 2024 Report, SWD(2024) 690, 30.10.2024). GLOBALCIT records that “the new 2020 law has closed the debate for the time being”. Where citizenship HAS vested under the neighbouring Art 9 machinery, it has done so only through the two merit programmes (art/culture and education/science/sport), which are a separate live track documented at AL-NAT-03 — an exceptional-contribution route, not an investment route. Nor would any such grant, had it occurred, have carried a renunciation condition: the Ligj 113/2020 regime retains dual citizenship. In short, the investment-citizenship arc produced no naturalisation decrees, no beneficiaries and no downstream nationality effects. Its practical effect is precisely nil, and its documentation exists to foreclose the recurring assumption that Albania runs a citizenship-by-investment programme.

There has never been a set of eligibility criteria for an Albanian investment/CBI route, because the criteria instrument the statute itself demands was never issued. Under Art 9(3) of Ligj 113/2020 the eligibility criteria, application procedures and verification rules for any Art 9(1) special programme “miratohen me vendim të Këshillit të Ministrave, me bashkëpropozim të ministrit dhe ministrave përgjegjës” ( Neni 9(3)). Two criteria-VKMs were in fact adopted under Art 9(3) — VKM 151, datë 11.3.2022 for special contribution “në fushën e artit e të kulturës” ( titull) and VKM 205/2022 for contribution “në fushën e arsimit, shkencës dhe sportit” ( titull) — but both are non-investment MERIT programmes. Neither defines any economic-investment eligibility, and, tellingly, neither implements the “ekonomisë” field of Art 9(1): no economy-field programme was ever created. No monetary threshold, no qualifying-investment schedule, no donation tier, and no investor applicant profile has ever existed in Albanian law. Because the operative criteria never came into being, there is no applicant to describe — the eligibility set for this route is, and has always been, empty. A prospective investor was, and remains, channelled only into the ordinary residence-based naturalisation conditions of Art 8, not into any bespoke investment eligibility.

Albania has never operated an investment- or donation-based citizenship route; this entry documents the disconfirmation, not a live pathway. The only textual peg on which such a scheme could conceivably have rested is Art 9 of Ligj 113/2020 (“Rastet e veçanta të fitimit të shtetësisë shqiptare”). Art 9(1) as enacted lets a foreign national over 18 who poses no public-order or national-security threat acquire citizenship where Albania has a national interest “në rastet kur Republika e Shqipërisë ka interes kombëtar apo interes në fushën e arsimit, shkencës, artit, kulturës, ekonomisë e sportit” ( Neni 9(1)). The single word “ekonomisë” (the economy) is the only hook that could theoretically host an economic-contribution or investment programme. But Art 9(3) makes any such programme contingent on a Council-of-Ministers criteria decision — “Kriteret për fitimin e shtetësisë.. miratohen me vendim të Këshillit të Ministrave” ( Neni 9(3)) — and no economy-field criteria-VKM was ever adopted. Crucially, the 2020 DRAFT of Law 113/2020 had carried a naturalisation-by-investment clause that was dropped before enactment ( GLOBALCIT-CR 2021/5 §2.7). Ligj 49/2026 (in force 20.6.2026) then restructured Art 9 outright — retitling it “Natyralizimi për interes shtetëror” and replacing the enumerated “ekonomisë” list, and the old Art 9(2)/(3) programme machinery, with a generic special-state-interest standard that expressly reaches the individual's “veprimtarisë së tij, private ose publike” ( Neni 3). That broadened the qualifying nexus rather than removing an investment hook, and the replacement Art 9(2) VKM is itself unadopted. The acquisition type is historical_never_operative because no investment- or donation-based channel has ever existed — not because such a basis was legislated away.

These are the bodies that WOULD have operated an Art 9 investment programme, none of which ever did so for investment. (1) The COUNCIL OF MINISTERS is the sole author of the criteria decision required by Art 9(3) — “miratohen me vendim të Këshillit të Ministrave” ( Neni 9(3)); it never adopted an economy-field VKM. (2) The MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR (and the minister responsible for citizenship and asylum) is joint proposer of any special-programme VKM and headed the ministry that in 2022 was authorised to run the PPP tender. (3) A SPECIAL STATE AGENCY: Art 9(2) of Ligj 113/2020 provides that “krijohet një agjenci shtetërore e posaçme në varësi të ministrit” ( Neni 9(2)); this was operationalised as AHPVSH — the Agjencia e Hartimit të Programeve të Veçanta të Shtetësisë — by VKM 1008, datë 25.11.2020, a public legal person seated in Tirana whose mission is to draft the special programmes and their specific security- and character-vetting rules. (4) The PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC is the constitutional grantor of naturalisation. Under Ligj 49/2026 the state-interest must be “identifikohet, mbështetet dhe garantohet përpara Presidentit të Republikës nga ministri,” and the same amendment mandates a new Interior-Ministry agency to examine and assess Art 9 applications ( Neni 3). For investment specifically, every one of these authorities' investment-facing competences remained dormant.

PRIMARY (decoded verbatim).: Ligj 113/2020 “Për shtetësinë” as enacted (FZ 2020/174; Neni 9(1)–(3) special-cases and VKM-and-agency machinery).: VKM 151, datë 11.3.2022, art & culture merit programme (Art 9(3) basis).: VKM 205/2022, education/science/sport merit programme (Art 9(3) basis).: VKM 1008, datë 25.11.2020, creating AHPVSH (Art 9(2) special agency).: Ligj 49/2026 amending 113/2020 (FZ 2026/116, in force 20.6.2026; Neni 3 restructures Art 9 into “Natyralizimi për interes shtetëror”).: Ligj 49/2012 (administrative courts) for review architecture. SECONDARY / OFFICIAL-MONITOR: EC Albania 2022 Report (SWD(2022) 332, PPP tender); EC Albania 2023 Report (SWD(2023) 690 final, 8.11.2023, legal basis + suspension); EC 2023 Report March-2023 suspension sentence; EC Albania 2024 Report (SWD(2024) 690, 30.10.2024, silence sweep); GLOBALCIT-CR 2021/5 §2.7 (dropped clause). EVIDENCE: (merit-VKM survival), (no-CBI disconfirmation chain), (pending Art 9(2) VKM). Windows W6a/W6b/W6c. Not legal advice; verify current status against the gazette (Fletorja Zyrtare) and EC monitoring before reliance. As of 2026-07-11.