Western Balkans nationals work in Albania without AKPA approval

Nationals of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Serbia and North Macedonia who are lawfully resident in Albania hold the right to work on the same footing as Albanian citizens. The rule sits in article 80, point 1, letter a, of law no. 79/2021 on foreigners, and it removes the AKPA approval step from the employer's file.

The exemption is not the removal of formality. The employment declaration is made online through the e-Albania portal, in the single permit application section, and the residence file remains the ordinary business of the local border and migration authority.

Who is covered and who is not

Article 80 places three groups on the same line: nationals of the United States of America and their family members, nationals of European Union member states and of the Schengen area together with family members who are not nationals of those countries, and nationals of the five Western Balkans countries named above. The shared condition is lawful residence in the territory of the Republic of Albania.

The joint instruction of the minister responsible for the economy and innovation and the minister responsible for internal affairs, adopted in August 2026, confirmed that split in day to day practice: for these categories the file is handled only by the local border and migration structures, while AKPA exchanges employment data electronically.

One limit survives. Article 80 preserves the exemption from the approval requirement, but not the cases where employment is specifically tied to holding Albanian citizenship under national law, which covers part of the public administration.

Why it matters even when you recruit elsewhere

The same group appears once more in the law, in a different role. Article 74, point 8, letter ç, places nationals of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Serbia and North Macedonia on the list of priority candidates that AKPA checks before approving the employment of a third country national.

That means an employer recruiting from Nepal or the Philippines competes with this group twice: once while the vacancy stays public for at least five calendar days under article 74, point 9, and once when the agency verifies the availability of priority candidates under point 6, letter c. The more precise the posted profile, the fewer suitable candidates that check produces. The mechanism is set out in AKPA employment approval and the vacancy rule.

The opposite direction of this traffic is better known. For Western Balkans nationals heading to Germany, the route runs through the special regulation described in the Western Balkans Regulation route, which carries annual quotas and a consular appointment queue. Albania, after repealing its quotas in June 2025, has neither for this group.

What is still left to do

The exemption from approval does not touch the residence deadlines. Article 56, point 4, gives the authority four weeks from the filing date to examine the request and issue the single permit once the criteria are met, and the biometric card is collected about fourteen days after the decision. For nationals of the Republic of Kosovo, article 33, point 5, provides a five year residence permit on a first application meeting the general criteria of article 36.

The monthly cost is the same as for any other hire: 16.7 percent in contributions on gross pay, on a minimum base of 50,000 lekë a month since 1 January 2026, against a national average gross wage of 92,150 lekë in the second quarter of 2026 according to INSTAT. What falls is time, not money: one whole institutional step drops out of the chain described in the Albanian single permit procedure. How Werklist separates the regional corridors from the Asian ones is set out on the employers page.

For an employer with roles in construction or tourism, this article is why a candidate from Pristina can start weeks earlier than a candidate with the same profile from Kathmandu, even when both apply on the same day.