The short version: On October 22, 2026, two Republican members of Congress, Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina and Rep. Keith Self of Texas, wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio about corruption and the rule of law in Albania. They asked the State Department to use a visa authority known as Section 7031(c) to bar Albanian officials involved in significant corruption from entering the United States. They wanted written answers to four questions by November 5 and a briefing for their staff. Fox News Digital published the letter on October 28. As of the morning of November 5, we found no public reply from the State Department. The letter is a request, not a sanction, and it does not name anyone for designation.
Wilson is co-chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, an independent U.S. government commission that monitors human rights and democracy across Europe and Eurasia. Self chairs the Europe subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. A letter from those two chairs carries weight at the State Department, but only the Secretary of State can make a designation.
You can read the full letter through Fox News Digital’s report, which links to it.
What the letter asks
The letter calls Albania “a NATO ally and candidate for European Union membership” and says the United States has invested heavily in Albania’s justice reforms. It argues that recent events “suggest that progress is fragile and, in key areas, at risk of reversal.”
Its main request is that the State Department publicly designate Albanian officials, and where appropriate their immediate family members, for whom it has credible information of involvement in significant corruption. The lawmakers ask that the review include officials charged by SPAK, Albania’s Special Prosecution Against Corruption and Organized Crime, and anyone who has used their position to obstruct SPAK’s investigations. They ask that the tool be applied “regardless of party.”
The four questions, due November 5:
- Will the department commit to reviewing Albanian officials for designation under Section 7031(c), on what timeline, and will it also consider Global Magnitsky sanctions?
- What help is the department giving SPAK, the High Justice Inspector (the body that oversees judges and prosecutors) and Albania’s wider justice reform, and how will it protect them from political pressure?
- Has the department raised with the Albanian government parliament’s failure to act on SPAK’s request to arrest former Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku, and what was the answer?
- How is the U.S. Embassy in Tirana engaging Albanian authorities on the policing of protests and the safety of journalists, and does the department support independent investigations of this summer’s incidents?
What Section 7031(c) does
Section 7031(c) is a short provision that Congress writes into each year’s Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, the law that funds the State Department. A version of it has appeared in that law since fiscal year 2008, according to the Congressional Research Service.
In plain words, it works like this:
- Who it covers: foreign government officials the Secretary of State has credible information were involved in significant corruption or a gross violation of human rights.
- What it does: the official and their immediate family become ineligible to enter the United States.
- Public or private: the Secretary can designate someone publicly, with a named press statement, or privately. The letter asks for public designations.
- What it is not: it is not a criminal charge or a court finding, and it does not freeze money or property. Freezing assets is done by the Treasury Department, under programs such as Global Magnitsky sanctions, which is why the letter’s first question asks about both.
- It can be waived: in June 2026 the State Department told Reuters it had “issued waivers for several 7031(c) designations imposed under the previous administration,” saying the waivers serve “a compelling national interest.”
The cases behind the letter
The letter points to a series of events over the past year. Each is an allegation or an open case, and the people involved have not been convicted.
Belinda Balluku. SPAK accuses Balluku of steering two 2021 road contracts, for the Llogara tunnel and a section of the Tirana outer ring road, worth more than €200 million in total, toward specific companies while she was infrastructure minister, according to Reuters. She denies wrongdoing. A special anti-corruption court suspended her in November 2025, and the Constitutional Court reinstated her on December 12, 2025. On December 16, 2025, SPAK asked parliament to lift her immunity so it could arrest her. Prime Minister Edi Rama dismissed her as deputy prime minister on February 26, 2026. On March 12, 2026, parliament voted 82 to 47 against lifting her immunity, with most of the votes against coming from Rama’s Socialist Party. On July 31, 2026, SPAK summoned her again to notify her of charges tied to several procurement procedures.
Vlora Hyseni. On September 22, 2026, at SPAK’s request, the special court ordered house arrest for Vlora Hyseni, then head of the State Intelligence Service, on suspicion of helping a criminal suspect and leaking secret information. She was outside Albania at the time. Rama announced her removal and said everyone is presumed innocent until a final ruling.
The protests. Thousands rallied outside the prime minister’s office on January 24, 2026, demanding Rama’s resignation. Through the spring and summer, protests against a luxury development planned on Sazan Island and in the protected Vjosa-Narta area, a project linked to investor Jared Kushner, grew into what activists called the Flamingo Revolution. Since October 13, 2026, students have been protesting over the cost of university and their prospects; we covered that wave in Albania’s Students Are Protesting. What Should the Diaspora Do?
The press. On July 30, 2026, the European Federation of Journalists and ten other organizations warned of cumulative pressure on media freedom in Albania. They cited 27 threats and attacks against journalists recorded in 2026, 15 of them in June and July alone, and questioned the use of water cannons and tear gas at protests.
The ratings. The letter cites three outside assessments, and each checks out against the source:
- Freedom House: Albania scores 69 out of 100 and is rated “Partly Free” in Freedom in the World 2026, up one point from the year before.
- Transparency International: Albania scored 39 out of 100 on the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index, down from 42 the year before.
- V-Dem Institute: its Democracy Report 2026 places Albania in the “electoral autocracy” category.
What Albania’s government says
The letter itself notes that Rama denies all allegations of corruption against him.
Rama has refused calls to resign. “As for calls for my resignation, governments change through democratic elections,” he told Reuters in October. “Last year, we had elections, not a revolution.” His Socialist Party won a fourth term in May 2025. He has also blamed “foreign hands” for the unrest, according to Fox News.
On Balluku, Rama refused her resignation offers three times and argued that SPAK had stepped outside its role. “There is no such thing as a resignation under pressure from a power that has stepped outside its territory,” he told lawmakers, according to Reuters. After the March vote, he said support for SPAK “remains unwavering” and that Balluku is not accused of corruption. Her charge falls under the Criminal Code article on violating the equality of participants in public tenders, which concerns how contracts were awarded. Ulsi Manja, the Socialist chair of parliament’s Law Committee, argued that an arrest was unnecessary because a travel ban was already in place.
We found no public response from the Albanian government to the Wilson and Self letter itself as of November 5.
Albania has seen this tool before
On May 19, 2021, the State Department publicly designated Sali Berisha, Albania’s former president and prime minister, under Section 7031(c), along with his wife and two adult children. It cited his involvement in the “misappropriation of public funds and interfering with public processes.” Berisha leads the opposition Democratic Party today.
In June 2026, Berisha announced that the U.S. entry ban on him and his family had been lifted. The State Department told Reuters it had issued waivers for several 7031(c) designations from the previous administration, without naming anyone. Gazeta Tema reported that the Berisha family’s names remained on the department’s public 2021 list, since a waiver allows travel without removing a designation.
So the same administration that Wilson and Self are writing to has, this year, eased a 7031(c) designation on Albania’s main opposition leader. That is the background to the letter’s call for the tool to be applied consistently, “regardless of party.”
Why it matters for Albanian Americans
A public designation follows a person to the U.S. border. An official named under 7031(c), along with any family members named with them, cannot travel to the United States, including to visit relatives or appear at diaspora events here. Any Albanian American group planning an event with a designated official would have to take that into account.
It also matters because the United States is one of Albania’s closest allies, and, as the letter notes, SPAK was built with U.S. and European support. How Washington answers this letter will tell Albanians in both countries how much weight the U.S. still puts on that reform.
Members of Congress act on what they hear from constituents. Albanian Americans who hold views on this, whatever those views are, can tell their own representative. You can look up yours at house.gov. If you want to understand the wider relationship first, start with our explainer on Albania and the United States.
NAR does not take sides in Albanian politics and does not support or oppose sanctions on any person. Our board’s October 18 statement says peaceful protest and the freedom to speak without fear belong to no party. We report what the letter says so that Albanian Americans can follow it from accurate information.
What to watch next
- The State Department’s answers. They were due November 5. Replies to congressional letters are often private, so the first public sign may come from Wilson’s or Self’s office.
- The staff briefing. The letter asks for one. If it happens, the lawmakers may describe what they were told.
- Any designation. Public 7031(c) designations are announced in State Department press statements, which name the person and the family members covered.
- Treasury. Global Magnitsky sanctions, which can freeze assets, would come from the Treasury Department, not the State Department.
- The courts in Tirana. The cases against Balluku and Hyseni are still open, and neither has been tried.
- Brussels. The European Union has said that handling immunity requests without delay is the Albanian parliament’s job, and corruption cases weigh on Albania’s EU accession talks.
This article will be updated if the State Department or either lawmaker makes a response public.
Sources
- Fox News Digital, “GOP lawmakers urge Rubio to weigh visa restrictions on corrupt officials as Albania rocked by protests,” October 28, 2026. foxnews.com
- Congressional Research Service, “Foreign Officials Publicly Designated by the U.S. Department of State on Corruption or Human Rights Grounds: A Chronology,” R46362, May 18, 2020. everycrsreport.com
- U.S. Department of State, public designation of Sali Berisha under Section 7031(c), May 19, 2021. globalsecurity.org
- Reuters, “Albania opposition leader Berisha says US lifts entry ban on him,” June 12, 2026. thestar.com.my
- Gazeta Tema, “Berisha says US has lifted sanctions, but State Department listing remains,” June 2026. gazetatema.net
- Reuters, “The probe into corruption at the heart of Albania’s government,” February 19, 2026. thestar.com.my
- Shteg, “SPAK demands the arrest of Belinda Balluku, Rama openly opposes it,” December 16, 2025. shteg.org
- European Western Balkans, report on the parliament vote blocking Balluku’s arrest, March 12, 2026. europeanwesternbalkans.com
- Tirana Times, report on the Socialist group’s position on SPAK’s arrest request, March 9, 2026. tiranatimes.com
- Albanian Daily News, “Former Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku faces procurement-related charges,” July 31, 2026. albaniandailynews.com
- Albanian Daily News, “EU says Albanian parliament must act without delay on immunity requests,” February 9, 2026. albaniandailynews.com
- European Western Balkans, report on the house arrest order for intelligence chief Vlora Hyseni, September 23, 2026. europeanwesternbalkans.com
- CBS News, report on protests against the Kushner-linked resort project, 2026. cbsnews.com
- Al Jazeera, “‘Boiling point’: Why students are protesting against Albania’s Edi Rama,” October 15, 2026. aljazeera.com
- IFEX / European Federation of Journalists, “Albania: Cumulative pressure on media freedom and civic space demands urgent action,” July 30, 2026. ifex.org
- Freedom House, “Albania,” Freedom in the World 2026. freedomhouse.org
- Citizens Channel, “Albania falls even lower on the corruption index,” February 10, 2026. citizens.al
- V-Dem Institute, Democracy Report 2026. v-dem.net
- Tirana Times, report on Albania’s classification in V-Dem’s Democracy Report 2026, March 23, 2026. tiranatimes.com
- EU Alive, report on the parliament vote and the charges against Balluku, March 2026. eualive.net
- National Albanian Registry, “A statement from the NAR board on the protests in Albania,” October 18, 2026. albanianregistry.org