Albania Honorary Citizenship: The New Best Opportunity?

Albania honorary citizenship, citizenship by exception, by merit. We've been talking about this topic for years here on the wealthy expert channel. I help you obtain a second citizenship to protect yourself, your family, your assets. Now, Albania is recently in the spotlight because of Eric Adams, the former mayor of New York City, who obtained Albanian honorary citizenship. You can see here in the news, Eric Adams has announced that he has become a citizen of Albania. Now, as you see here in this particular post, the decision by the Republic of Albania to grant Mayor Adams citizenship reflects that enduring relationship and mutual respect. Super vague, as always. In a text message, "Further strengthens the bond between New York and Albania." Now, is Albania citizenship by merit, honorary citizenship, possible? And is it the new trend? Is it the new hot [snorts] country where, for example, Americans are obtaining citizenship? Now, Albania is a very attractive option for Americans. I've talked about this country for a long time because you not only get 1-year visa-free just as a tourist with a US passport, and many other countries get visa-free access to Albania. You can enjoy it. I've been to Albania. I like the coast of Albania. I don't really like the capital, but the coast is quite beautiful, the nature is beautiful, they have great beaches, and it's developing pretty well. And for non-EU citizens that want some EU citizenship in the medium term, I would say Albania is obviously a candidate to join the European Union by who knows when, but for example, Macron has said that he wants Albania in the EU by 2027. Some other estimates say 2029, 2030, 2032, but let's say in the next 10 years, Albania joins the European Union. As a US citizen, right now, citizenship by merit or citizenship by exception is extremely difficult. In the European Union, citizenship by investment is effectively closed in Malta and Cyprus. They only have permanent residency. So, if you want some type of EU citizenship and you're willing to wait a couple of years for the country to become an EU country, then Albania is a great play. Also, for people that want some diversification from the West, let's say you're a US citizen who wants some place outside of the US, some other country to become a citizen of, and you don't want the citizenship by investment countries like St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Grenada, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda. You're not looking at Turkey. You don't want to be a citizen of Turkey. You also don't want to be a citizen of an African country, for example, then Albania provides a specific opportunity. Now, how does this program actually function? Is it citizenship by investment? The short answer is no. It's not citizenship by investment. You can't just buy Albanian citizenship. It effectively functions as a contribution to the country, and in exchange for your contribution, you get citizenship. That contribution can be many different ways. It can be artistic. It can be financial in the sense of making a huge investment into the country. It can be a sports contribution. It can be an entrepreneurial project where you start a huge startup, you hire a lot of people in the country, an infrastructure project, some type of contribution that the government of Albania sees as significant enough for you to be granted citizenship. That is essentially how most citizenship by exception, honorary citizenship programs work. If the government at the time of the country sees that you can provide certain skills, you can provide certain financial benefits, you can provide certain investments, you can provide certain knowledge to the country, they grant you citizenship in exchange for that. That's exactly what Malta has. Now, Malta used to have a citizenship by investment program before. They're obviously an EU country. That program closed. Now, they have citizenship by merit. What I don't like about Malta is that it's revocable. So, let's say you go to Malta and you start making investments, and you start a huge real estate development company, or you start a huge business, you hire 20 Maltese people, you get granted citizenship by merit, and let's say you close that business. You finish that development. They said that if the contribution finishes, then the citizenship can effectively be canceled because you stopped the contribution, therefore, we're going to stop the citizenship. That is why I don't like and don't recommend that program specifically. But, for example, Austria has citizenship by merit, honorary citizenship. It's going to cost you over 5 million euros in investments and contributions to the country. It is a top-tier program. Obviously, Austria has extremely high quality of life, strong passport. Albania doesn't have that strong of a passport like some EU countries, but it is a solid passport to have in your diversification portfolio. If you're a US citizen, Albania is a solid plan B. You have a great country to live in. It's not the most developed. It's not the safest country. Obviously, Albania has a huge reputation of gangs and criminals in the United States and in Europe. It's not like that day-to-day if you pick the right places. There are some sketchy places in Albania. I'll I'll do tell you that. But, it's a passport that provides it provides access to China, for example. You got the Schengen area. You got solid access around the world. It's not a bad passport. It's also a country that if they do become an EU country, obviously, that access is going to expand dramatically, and you'll have access to live anywhere in the European Union. So, I see it as a great opportunity. Now, it's on the news. Now, it's being highlighted by Eric Adams, and it is definitely possible. If you're interested in second citizenship and you want to talk to other people around the world, multimillionaires, high-net-worth individuals that are also getting second citizenships, moving abroad, buying real estate abroad, I made a private community called the Wealthy Expat Forum. We have more than 800 members. You can click the link in the description and join it right now. Now, a couple more things you should know about Albania as a country. If you've never been to Albania, I do recommend visiting. It is a pretty well English-speaking country. Especially the young population, they speak good English. In most European countries, like for example, in Serbia or Montenegro, most young people are going to speak English. You won't really struggle. You won't have to learn Albanian. And for the honorary citizenship, for the citizenship by exception, you don't even have to learn Albanian if your contribution is high enough. So, you won't need to worry about that. Now, one thing, if this is important to you, Albania is a half or majority, or depending on the different stats that you look at, Muslim population country. Now, the Muslim population in Albania is roughly 45.7% to 51% of people are Muslim, Sunni or Bektashi Muslims. So, if you're really strong in your religion and you don't want to whatever your preference is, I thought this would be important to know. For example, close by Serbia is 81% Orthodox Christian. So, if you're a Christian and that matters to you, then maybe you want to choose Serbia as opposed to Albania in this case. And one last important thing, because for example, I, when I go to a country or I go to a city, I like to feel the vibe of the country, the vibe of the city. For me, it's very important. And also, for I've seen my wealthiest clients, literally billionaires, they really like to check out the vibe of a place. You should know that Albania was under a brutal communist dictatorship for 46 years. From the end of World War II, 1944, all the way to 1990, 1991, they were under a dictator. This particular dictator was quite kooky in the head. So, he built bunkers all over the country. The country was very isolated from the rest of the world, and it was an extremely strict dictatorship. So, that vibe could remain for you. You might feel like a weird tension in the air. Obviously, new generations are being born. People are being born that have no idea about this particular history. Maybe their grandpa tells them about it, but they they're starting to forget, so that vibe is freshening up. But, you should know about that, and obviously, about the Kosovo War, which happened not that long ago. So, there is that vibe in the air. Just wanted to let you know. If you're interested in honorary citizenship, citizenship by merit, by exception, also Serbia has a citizenship by exception program. You can learn all about it right here. Serbia citizenship by merit, how does it work? Obviously, it's very similar to Albania, but with some differences. You can check it out right here.