Albanian Passport: Documents You Need to Apply From the US

The reason most US applications stall

Half the Albanian citizenship applications submitted from the United States stall — not because the applicants don’t qualify, but because the file is incomplete. The Ministry of Interior in Tirana doesn’t reject these applications outright. It just stops the clock and waits, sometimes for months, for the missing piece. Applicants assume nothing is happening. The application sits on a shelf.

The fix is to send a complete file the first time. This article is the checklist.

Two document tracks, one packet

Every Albanian citizenship-by-descent application has two parallel document tracks that get combined into a single submission packet.

Track A — your documents. These prove who you are, that you have no disqualifying criminal history, and that you are connected by an unbroken paper chain to an Albanian ancestor.

Track B — your ancestor’s documents. These prove that the ancestor was Albanian — by birth, citizenship, or ethnicity.

You need both tracks. Most stalls happen on Track B because applicants underestimate how much documentation Albanian municipalities still hold.

Track A — Your documents

A1. Your US birth certificate (certified copy)

• Where: vital records office of the US state where you were born
• What kind: a certified copy with raised seal — not an “informational” copy
• Cost: $15–$30
• What you do with it: apostille it, then translate it into Albanian

Order two copies. One goes to the apostille office and into your packet; one stays in your file.

A2. Your current US passport

• What: a clear photocopy of the photo page
• Cost: free
• What you do with it: include in the packet. No apostille needed; this is identification, not a civil status document.

A3. Your parent’s documents

If you are claiming through a grandparent (typical US case), you need:

• Your parent’s birth certificate — proves your parent is the child of your Albanian grandparent
• Your parents’ marriage certificate — if your last name comes from your father and your father isn’t the Albanian-side parent
• Your parent’s naturalization certificate — if your parent immigrated to the US and naturalized
• Your parent’s death certificate — if deceased

If your Albanian ancestor is a great-grandparent, you also need your grandparent’s full set: birth certificate, marriage certificate, and (where applicable) death certificate.

Each of these documents is apostilled and translated separately.

A4. Marriage and divorce certificates (if name changed)

If you have ever changed your legal name — marriage, divorce, court order — every document explaining each change must be in the file.

The Ministry’s logic: if your birth certificate says “Maria Hoxha” and your passport says “Maria Smith,” they need the marriage certificate that documents the change.

A5. FBI Identity History Summary (background check)

• What it is: the federal background check that confirms you have no criminal record on file
• Where to apply: fbi.gov/services/cjis/identity-history-summary-checks
• Cost: $18 online, plus the cost of fingerprinting through an FBI-approved channeler ($20–$60)
• Apostille: required, federal-level, through the US Department of State Office of Authentications, $20 per document
• Timeline: 1–2 weeks for the FBI summary; 4–8 weeks for the federal apostille if mailed

This is the slowest single document in the packet. Start it first.

A6. Police clearance from any country where you have lived 12+ months

If you have lived outside the US for over a year — Canada, the UK, anywhere — you need a similar background check from that country, also apostilled. Most US-only applicants can skip this.

Track B — Your Albanian ancestor’s documents

This is where applications fail most often. The good news is that Albanian municipal records are unusually complete. The bad news is that ordering them from the US takes patience.

B1. Ancestor’s certifikatë lindjeje (Albanian birth certificate)

• Where: the zyra e gjendjes civile (civil registry office) of the Albanian municipality where the ancestor was born and originally registered
• Who can request: any direct descendant, with proof of relationship
• Cost: 200–500 Lek (~$2–$5), plus international mailing
• How: in person if you are in Albania, or by mailed request with a power of attorney to a relative or paid intermediary in Albania
• What you do with it: the document is already in Albanian, so no translation needed; no apostille needed since it is a domestic Albanian document staying within Albanian administration

If you don’t know which municipality your ancestor was registered in, start with the municipality where they were born. If they later moved within Albania before emigrating, the records may have been transferred. The municipality’s civil registry will redirect you.

B2. Ancestor’s proof of Albanian citizenship

• What: an old Albanian passport, an Albanian ID card (letërnjoftim), or a certifikatë shtetësie (certificate of citizenship)
• Where: family archives, or the same municipal civil registry
• Required? not always strictly mandatory if descent is otherwise clear, but strongly recommended — it shortens review time

If your Albanian-side relatives have an old Albanian passport in a drawer somewhere, dig it out. A scan of an expired passport from 1965 is a meaningful piece of evidence in the file.

B3. Ancestor’s death certificate (if deceased)

• Where: Albanian civil registry of the place of death
• Cost: ~$2–$5 plus mailing

B4. Documents linking your ancestor to your parent

If your grandparent emigrated to the US and your parent was born in the US, the link between them is captured in your parent’s US birth certificate. Done.

If your parent was born in Albania and emigrated separately, you also need your parent’s certifikatë lindjeje from the relevant Albanian municipality, plus their naturalization papers if they later naturalized as a US citizen.

Photos (if applying for the passport at the same time)

Once citizenship is granted, you’ll apply for the passport. Many applicants submit both phases together to save a return trip.

• Size: 4 cm × 5 cm
• Quantity: two
• Background: white
• Pose: front-facing, neutral expression, no glasses, no head covering except for religious reasons
• Cost: $10–$20 at any US passport photo location

CVS, Walgreens, FedEx Office, and USPS all do passport photos and can produce the 4×5 cm Albanian size on request — ask specifically; the default they shoot is the US 2×2-inch size, which the Albanian consulate will reject.

The apostille pass

Every US-issued document in your packet — birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, naturalization certificates, FBI background check — has to be apostilled. The apostille is a state-issued (or, for federal documents, US Department of State-issued) certificate confirming the issuing authority is genuine.

Federal documents do not get state apostilles. State documents do not get federal apostilles. Mismatching these is the second most common reason applications stall.

The translation pass

Every apostilled US document must be translated into Albanian by an authorized translator before submission.

“Authorized” means:

• Registered with the Albanian Ministry of Justice, or
• Translation notarized at an Albanian consulate (DC, NY, or Chicago)

Friends, family members fluent in Albanian, freelance Albanian-speakers on Fiverr, and machine translation are all rejected.

Cost per page: $15–$33, depending on translator. The full set for a typical US descent application — birth certificates, FBI check, parents’ documents — usually runs $200–$500 total.

The DC and New York consulates maintain referral lists of authorized translators. Ask when you book your appointment. They will not always volunteer the list.

The final submission packet

When everything is ready, the packet looks like this — bound or in a single labeled folder:

1. Cover sheet with your name, contact info, and a one-paragraph summary of your descent claim
2. Application form (downloaded from the consulate)
3. Your apostilled and translated US birth certificate
4. Your apostilled and translated FBI background check
5. Your US passport photocopy
6. Your apostilled and translated parent’s birth certificate
7. Your apostilled and translated parents’ marriage certificate (if applicable)
8. Your apostilled and translated parent’s naturalization certificate (if applicable)
9. Your ancestor’s Albanian birth certificate
10. Your ancestor’s proof of citizenship (if available)
11. Any additional name-change or chain-of-evidence documents
12. €30 application fee in the form the consulate has specified
13. (Optional) Two passport photos for the subsequent passport application

Submit in person or by tracked mail to one of:

• Embassy of Albania, Washington DC — 2100 S Street NW, Washington DC 20008
• Consulate General of Albania, New York — 320 East 79th Street, New York NY 10075
• Honorary Consulate, Chicago (verify current operations before mailing)

Estimated costs (US applicant, typical case)

If the file is for the entire family — spouse and children also claiming through you once you’re an Albanian citizen — duplicate document costs apply.

What we keep seeing applicants forget

• The grandparent’s birth certificate from the Albanian municipality. People assume an old family photo is enough. It is not.
• Federal apostille for the FBI check. State apostille offices won’t apostille federal documents. Send it to the right office.
• Marriage certificate when the last name changed. Even if “obvious” from context.
• Order two certified copies of every US document. Apostille keeps one and the consulate keeps one. Saves a re-order.
• Photos sized to 4×5 cm, not US standard. Specify when ordering.

You belong on the count

Whether you complete the application this year or never, the National Albanian Registry counts Albanian Americans by self-identification — no documentation required. The U.S. Census records about 224,000 of us. The real number is closer to a million.

Registration takes 60 seconds. It produces a permanent digital Certificate of Albanian Heritage. Free. Private.

Be counted →

Sources: Law No. 113/2020 — full text (English) at GLOBALCIT, Apostille — US Embassy in Albania, Embassy of Albania in the USA, Future Passports — 2026 Albanian citizenship guide. General information, not legal advice. Confirm current document requirements with the consulate before submitting.