Visa requirements for Albanian citizens

An Albanian passport with biometric chip.

Visa requirements for Albanian citizens are administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other nations placed on citizens of Albania.

As of 9 January 2024, Albanian citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 123 countries and territories, ranking the Albanian passport 48th in terms of travel freedom according to the Henley Passport Index.

According to the individual countries official sources (as listed in the table below), Albanian citizens can travel to 126 countries and territories without a visa, or with a visa on arrival, or an eTA/eVisa.

Recent

In August 2018 Colombia abolished visa requirements for Albanian citizens.

In September 2018 Albania and El Salvador sign an agreement on visa waiver for all types of passports.

In May 2019 Albania and St. Kitts and Nevis sign an agreement on visa waiver for all types of passports.

In January 2020 Albania and Guyana sign an agreement on visa waiver for all types of passports.

In September 2022 Albania and Kazakhstan sign an agreement on visa waiver for all types of passports.

In January 2023 Albania and China sign an agreement on visa waiver for ordinary passports holders.

In March 2023 Albania and United Arab Emirates sign an agreement on visa waiver for ordinary passports holders.

In August 2023 Saudi Arabia facilitates visas for citizens with ordinary Albanian passports by applying E-visa or simply getting a Visa On Arrival.

Future

The Embassy of Albania in the USA intensifies its efforts to facilitate the visa regime with Mexico and other countries of Central and South America.

The Albanian government hopes that soon Japan will remove the visa regime for ordinary passport holders.

The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs of Albania has taken the initiative to sign bilateral agreements with the following 10 countries for the abolition of the reciprocal visa regime for ordinary passport holders with: Grenada, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Samoa, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Visa requirements map

Visa requirements for Albanian citizens
 Albania
 Freedom of movement
 Visa not required
 Visa on arrival
 eVisa
 Visa available both on arrival or online
 Visa required

Visa requirements

Territories and disputed areas

Visa requirements for Albanian citizens for visits to various territories, disputed areas, partially recognized countries and restricted zones:

Visitor to Visa requirement Notes (excluding departure fees)
Europe
 Abkhazia Visa required
Mount Athos Special permit required Special permit required (4 days: €25 for Eastern Orthodox Church visitors, €35 for non-Orthodox visitors, €18 for students). There is a visitors' quota: maximum 100 Eastern Orthodox Church and 10 non-Orthodox per day and women are not allowed.
Belarus Brest and Grodno Visa not required Visa-free for 10 days
Autonomous Republic of Crimea Crimea Visa not required Visa policy of Russia is applied.
 Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Visa not required 3 months
United Nations UN Buffer Zone in Cyprus Access Permit required Access Permit is required for travelling inside the zone, except Civil Use Areas.
 Faroe Islands Visa not required 90 days
 Gibraltar Visa required
 Guernsey Visa required
 Isle of Man Visa required
Norway Jan Mayen Permit required Permit issued by the local police required for staying for less than 24 hours and permit issued by the Norwegian police for staying for more than 24 hours.
 Jersey Visa required
 Kosovo Visa not required 90 days, Id card Valid
 Russia Special authorization required Several closed cities and regions in Russia require special authorization.
 South Ossetia Visa not required Multiple entry visa to Russia and three-day prior notification are required to enter South Ossetia.
 Transnistria Visa not required Registration required after 24h.
Africa
 British Indian Ocean Territory Special permit required Special permit required.
 Eritrea outside Asmara Travel permit required To travel in the rest of the country, a Travel Permit for Foreigners is required (20 Eritrean nakfa).
 Mayotte Visa not required 90 days
 Réunion Visa not required 90 days
 Ascension Island eVisa
  • 3 months within any year period
 Saint Helena Visa required
 Tristan da Cunha Permission required Permission to land required for 15/30 pounds sterling (yacht/ship passenger) for Tristan da Cunha Island or 20 pounds sterling for Gough Island, Inaccessible Island or Nightingale Islands.
 Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Undefined visa regime in the Western Sahara controlled territory.
 Somaliland Visa on arrival 30 days for USD30, payable on arrival.
 Sudan Travel permit required All foreigners travelling more than 25 kilometres outside of Khartoum must obtain a travel permit.
Sudan Darfur Travel permit required Separate travel permit is required.
Asia
 Hong Kong Visa not required 14 days
 India PAP/RAP PAP/RAP required Protected Area Permit (PAP) required for whole states of Nagaland and Sikkim and parts of states Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh. Restricted Area Permit (RAP) required for all of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and parts of Sikkim. Some of these requirements are occasionally lifted for a year.
 Kazakhstan Special permission required Special permission required for the town of Baikonur and surrounding areas in Kyzylorda Oblast, and the town of Gvardeyskiy near Almaty.
Iran Kish Island Visa not required Visitors to Kish Island do not require a visa.
 Macao Visa not required 90 days
Maldives Maldives Permission required With the exception of the capital Malé, tourists are generally prohibited from visiting non-resort islands without the express permission of the Government of Maldives.
 North Korea outside Pyongyang Special permit required People are not allowed to leave the capital city, tourists can only leave the capital with a governmental tourist guide (no independent moving)
 Palestine Visa not required Arrival by sea to Gaza Strip not allowed.
 Taiwan Visa required
Tajikistan Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province OIVR permit required OIVR permit required (15+5 Tajikistani Somoni) and another special permit (free of charge) is required for Lake Sarez.
China Tibet Autonomous Region TTP required Tibet Travel Permit required (10 US Dollars).
 Turkmenistan Special permit required A special permit, issued prior to arrival by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is required if visiting the following places: Atamurat, Cheleken, Dashoguz, Serakhs and Serhetabat.
United Nations Korean Demilitarized Zone Restricted zone.
United Nations UNDOF Zone and Ghajar Restricted zone.
 Yemen Special permission required Special permission needed for travel outside Sana’a or Aden.
Caribbean and North Atlantic
 Anguilla Visa required
 Aruba Visa not required 30 days
 Bermuda Visa required
Netherlands Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba Visa not required 90 days
 British Virgin Islands Visa required
 Cayman Islands Visa required
 Curacao Visa not required 90 days
France French Guiana Visa not required 90 days
France French West Indies Visa not required 90 days; French West Indies refers to Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin and Saint Barthélemy.
 Greenland Visa not required 90 days
 Montserrat Electronic visa
 Puerto Rico Visa required
 Saint Pierre and Miquelon Visa not required 90 days
 Sint Maarten Visa not required 90 days
 Turks and Caicos Islands Visa required
 U.S. Virgin Islands Visa required
Oceania
 American Samoa Entry permit required
Australia Ashmore and Cartier Islands Special authorisation required Special authorisation required.
France Clipperton Island Special permit required Special permit required.
 Cook Islands Visa not required 31 days
Fiji Lau Province Special permission required Special permission required.
 French Polynesia Visa not required 90 days
 Guam Visa required
 New Caledonia Visa required
 Niue Visa on arrival 30 days
 Northern Mariana Islands Visa required
 Pitcairn Islands Visa not required 14 days visa free and landing fee 35 USD or tax of 5 USD if not going ashore.
 Tokelau Entry permit required
United States United States Minor Outlying Islands Special permits required Special permits required for Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, Palmyra Atoll and Wake Island.
 Wallis and Futuna Visa not required 90 days
South Atlantic and Antarctica
 Falkland Islands Visa required
 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Permit required Pre-arrival permit from the Commissioner required (72 hours/1 month for 110/160 pounds sterling).
Antarctica Special permits required for  British Antarctic Territory,  French Southern and Antarctic Lands,  Argentine Antarctica, Australia Australian Antarctic Territory, Antártica Chilena Province Chilean Antarctic Territory, Australia Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Norway Peter I Island, Norway Queen Maud Land, New Zealand Ross Dependency.

Diplomatic and official passports only

Countries allowed stay
 Algeria 90 days
 Argentina 90 days
 Azerbaijan 90 days
 Cuba 90 days
 Ecuador 90 days
 Japan 90 days
 Kuwait 90 days
 Marshall Islands 90 days
 Mongolia 90 days
 Morocco 90 days
 Peru 90 days
 Philippines 90 days
 Qatar 90 days
 Russia 90 days
 South Africa 90 days
 Thailand 90 days
 Tunisia 90 days
 Uruguay 90 days
 Vietnam 90 days

Albanian ID as optional passport replacement

Albanian Identity card

Albanian identity cards can be used instead of a passport for travel to some Western Balkan countries and territories that have signed bilateral agreements with Albania.

Countries and territories
 Bosnia and Herzegovina
 Kosovo
 Montenegro
 North Macedonia
 Serbia

Non-visa travel restrictions

Many countries have entry restrictions on foreigners that go beyond the common requirement of having either a valid visa or a visa exemption. Such restrictions may be health related or impose additional documentation requirements on certain classes of people for diplomatic or political purposes.

Blank passport pages

Many countries require a minimum number of blank pages to be available in the passport being presented, typically one or two pages. Endorsement pages, which often appear after the visa pages, are not counted as being valid or available.

Vaccination

Cover of the new International Certificate of Vaccination issued by the Bureau of Quarantine in the Philippines since 2021

Many African countries, including Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo, South Sudan, Uganda, and Zambia, require all incoming passengers older than nine months to one year to have a current International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis, as does the South American territory of French Guiana.

Some other countries require vaccination only if the passenger is coming from an infected area or has visited one recently or has transited for 12 hours in those countries: Algeria, Botswana, Cabo Verde, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Lesotho, Libya, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Passport validity length

Very few countries, such as Paraguay, just require a valid passport on arrival.

However many countries and groupings now require only an identity card – especially from their neighbours. Other countries may have special bilateral arrangements that depart from the generality of their passport validity length policies to shorten the period of passport validity required for each other's citizens or even accept passports that have already expired (but not been cancelled).

Some countries, such as Japan, Ireland and the United Kingdom, require a passport valid throughout the period of the intended stay.

In the absence of specific bilateral agreements, countries requiring passports to be valid for at least 6 more months on arrival include Afghanistan, Algeria, Anguilla, Bahrain, Bhutan, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Curaçao, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Laos, Madagascar, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Rwanda, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tokelau, Tonga, Turkey, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Vanuatu, Venezuela, and Vietnam.

Countries requiring passports valid for at least 4 months on arrival include Micronesia and Zambia.

Countries requiring passports with a validity of at least 3 months beyond the date of intended departure include Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Honduras, Montenegro, Nauru, Moldova and New Zealand. Similarly, the EEA countries of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, all European Union countries (except the Republic of Ireland) together with Switzerland also require 3 months validity beyond the date of the bearer's intended departure unless the bearer is an EEA or Swiss national.

Countries requiring passports valid for at least 3 months on arrival include Albania, North Macedonia, Panama, and Senegal.

Bermuda requires passports to be valid for at least 45 days upon entry.

Countries that require a passport validity of at least one month beyond the date of intended departure include Eritrea, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Macau, the Maldives and South Africa.

Criminal record

Some countries, including Australia, Canada, Fiji, New Zealand and the United States, routinely deny entry to non-citizens who have a criminal record while others impose restrictions depending on the type of conviction and the length of the sentence.

Persona non grata

Entry Permit to Nagorno-Karabakh issued in Yerevan as a stand-alone document rather than a visa affixed in a passport

The government of a country can declare a diplomat persona non grata, banning entry into that country. In non-diplomatic use, the authorities of a country may also declare a foreigner persona non grata permanently or temporarily, usually because of unlawful activity.

For example, Azerbaijan bans visits by foreign citizens that have previously entered Azerbaijan through non-Azerbaijani controlled borders. This includes the illegal entry into the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh (the de facto independent Republic of Artsakh), its surrounding Armenian-occupied territories, and the Azerbaijani exclaves of Karki, Yuxarı Əskipara, Barxudarlı, and Sofulu which are de jure part of Azerbaijan but under the control of Armenia. Foreign citizens who enter these territories will be permanently banned from entering the Republic of Azerbaijan and will be included in their "list of personae non gratae". As of 2 September 2019, the list mentioned 852 people.

Israeli stamps

Israeli border control Entry Permit (issued as a stand-alone document rather than a stamp affixed in a passport)

Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, and Yemen do not allow entry to people with passport stamps from Israel or whose passports have either a used or an unused Israeli visa, or where there is evidence of previous travel to Israel such as entry or exit stamps from neighbouring border posts in transit countries such as Jordan and Egypt.

To circumvent this Arab League boycott of Israel, the Israeli immigration services have now mostly ceased to stamp foreign nationals' passports on either entry to or exit from Israel (unless the entry is for some work-related purposes). Since 15 January 2013, Israel no longer stamps foreign passports at Ben Gurion Airport. Passports are still (as of 22 June 2017) stamped at Erez when passing into and out of Gaza.[citation needed]

Iran refuses admission to holders of passports containing an Israeli visa or stamp that is less than 12 months old.

Biometrics

Several countries mandate that all travellers, or all foreign travellers, be fingerprinted on arrival and will refuse admission to or even arrest travellers who refuse to comply. In some countries, such as the United States, this may apply even to transit passengers who merely wish to change planes rather than go landside.

Fingerprinting countries/regions include Afghanistan, Argentina, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, India, Japan, Kenya (both fingerprints and a photo are taken), Malaysia upon entry and departure, Mongolia, Paraguay, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Uganda, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.

Many countries also require a photo be taken of people entering the country. The United States, which does not fully implement exit control formalities at its land frontiers (although long mandated by domestic legislation), intends to implement facial recognition for passengers departing from international airports to identify people who overstay their visa.

Together with fingerprint and face recognition, iris scanning is one of three biometric identification technologies internationally standardised since 2006 by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for use in e-passports and the United Arab Emirates conducts iris scanning on visitors who need to apply for a visa.

See also


This page was last updated at 2024-02-02 17:47 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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