Foreign diploma recognition in Albania: 2,000 lek, 45 days and regulated professions

Recognition and equivalence of foreign diplomas is handled by the Education Services Centre, the national ENIC and NARIC centre for the Republic of Albania. The fee is 2,000 lek per diploma for levels 5 to 8 of the Albanian Qualifications Framework, and the procedure generally runs about 45 days once the file is complete.

Employers meet this procedure in only a share of cases, but where they meet it, it is a precondition of employment rather than a formality afterwards. For a welder or a machine operator, a foreign diploma needs no state recognition. For a nurse, a pharmacist, a civil engineer or a teacher the profession is regulated, practising it depends on a recognised title, and without the QSHA decision the contract cannot start even where the single permit has been granted.

Who needs recognition, and when

The first distinction to make is between academic recognition and the right to practise. QSHA certifies that a foreign qualification corresponds to a level of the Albanian Qualifications Framework. The professional chambers and line ministries then decide whether the recognised title carries the right to practise. An employer who plans only the first step risks a worker with a recognised diploma and no licence to work.

The reform announced by the Ministry of Education and Sports moves seven professions towards automatic recognition with the European Union, following the model of the EU qualifications directive. Until then every file is assessed individually. This step is planned in parallel with the single permit file described in the Albanian single permit and the employer procedure, because both rest on the same legalised documents.

The file, the fee and the deadline

The application is filed online on the e-Albania portal for qualifications at levels 5 to 8 of the Albanian Qualifications Framework. The file QSHA asks for contains the diploma carrying an apostille and notarised, the transcript of records or diploma supplement, a translation by a licensed translator, a copy of the passport for foreign nationals, and the payment receipt for the 2,000 lek fee.

The apostille is the element that puts the deadline at risk. It is issued in the country that awarded the diploma, not in Albania, and requires the graduate or an authorised representative to act there. When that begins after the worker has already arrived, the file stays open for weeks while the position sits empty.

How the deadline fits the hiring plan

The 45 days at QSHA do not come after the single permit, nor before it. They run alongside, because these are procedures of two different institutions over the same documents. An employer who starts both at once loses time only at legalisation, not at assessment. An employer who waits for one decision before starting the other adds the two deadlines end to end.

There is a consequence for the vacancy notice too. Where the position calls for a regulated profession, the published criteria have to match the title that will be recognised, otherwise the approval file and the recognition file describe two different profiles. The publication rules are set out in AKPA employment approval and the vacancy rule, and the full sum of fees and deadlines in the cost and timeline of hiring a foreign worker.

The 2,000 lek fee is the small part of this procedure. The real cost sits in the order of the steps: the apostille in the country of origin, the licensed translation, the e-Albania application and, where the profession is regulated, the professional licence that follows the QSHA decision.