Do EU nationals need visa to stay in Albania longer than 90 days?

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There is a footnote regarding this column:

(***)Type D Visas are required for foreign citizens that intend to stay in Albania for more than 90 days during a six month period (90/180 days) and intend to apply for a Residence Permit at the relevant institution for migration.

Neither the website nor the document are explicit about this but it seems to imply that this column is about the requirement to secure a visa before entering the country and not about what you may need to do after entering. If you don't need a visa to enter, you may still need to apply for a residence permit to stay longer than 90 days. By contrast, citizens from other countries would not even be allowed to apply for that permit if they didn't secure the necessary visa beforehand.

In other words, EU citizens may not need a visa but they are still not necessarily allowed to stay indefinitely without any formality whatsoever. Beyond that, the US embassy does suggest that stays up to one year are in fact possible without a residence permit but it doesn't say where that limit is defined. In any case, this also confirms that the fact a D visa might not be required doesn't mean that anything goes.

Additionally, every discussion of short stays in these documents makes reference to a Schengen-style 90-days-in-any-180-days limit so I would assume that “border runs” are not supposed to be allowed. I have no idea how strictly this is enforced but the intent is clear.

Generally speaking, if Albania was keen on attracting extended stays or even residence from EU citizens and staying for one year or more was allowed without any formalities, I would expect official websites to state that in a straightforward way or even advertise it. Actively looking for some loophole or ambiguity in the rules because you really wished it were the case is not a good way to understand them.

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