The Albanian government has decided to postpone the launch of the Citizenship by Investment program for now. This decision was influenced by criticism from the European Union.

Recently, negotiations between Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and the Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell, and EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi took place. After that, Albania decided to pause plans to launch its own “Golden Visa” program.

Earlier, the EU authorities had already criticized the Albanian government's idea, saying that in this way they could lose the right to free movement in the Schengen area and would hardly be able to advance in the process of European integration.

Whether or not this idea will eventually be implemented in Albania will depend on the outcome of the lawsuit in the European Court of Justice on whether the issuance of “golden passports” in Malta is legitimate. If the island state defends its rights in this proceeding, it is likely that Albania will resume its attempts to open such opportunities to investors.

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Recently, we also wrote that the “golden passport” program was closed by Montenegro and Ireland—this also happened after the recommendations of the European Union. Earlier, in November 2020, the program was also closed by Cyprus.

While the court makes a decision on the “Maltese case,” the Albanian authorities intend to attract “digital nomads” and entrepreneurs working in innovative areas to the country. For example, Albania will not consider remote workers as tax residents, regardless of the length of their stay in the country. In addition, a tax amnesty is planned for those who have undeclared assets.