The retirement residence permit has its own checklist: proof of pension income, accommodation in Albania, health insurance and a clean criminal record, all correctly apostilled and translated. This page lists each requirement and how to document it.
Pension income requirement
The threshold set for the pensioner permit under Article 85 of Law 79/2021 is an annual pension of at least 1,200,000 ALL — about €12,000, roughly €1,000 per month. Acceptable evidence is the official pension statement or certificate from the paying institution, legalised or apostilled in the country of issue, then translated into Albanian by a sworn translator.
Practitioner reports agree on two fine points. First, the pension should be a state/government pension: for US applicants that means Social Security, VA or Railroad Retirement — private annuities and retirement-account withdrawals are routinely questioned. Second, the money must actually flow to Albania: you are expected to open a second-tier Albanian bank account and have the pension credited to it regularly. That creates a sequencing problem — banks often want to see the permit before opening the account — which we walk through in the bank account catch-22 guide. Order your documents so the pension certificate is still within its validity window when you file.
Accommodation and the notarized lease
You must show somewhere to live: either a registered property title in your name, or a rental contract of at least one year, notarised in Albania. This is a firm rule — booking confirmations and Airbnb receipts are not accepted, and minimum housing standards apply (about 20 m² per person is the commonly applied benchmark).
The catch is that many Albanian landlords prefer unregistered cash arrangements, because a notarised lease means declared rental income. Expect some owners to refuse, or to raise the rent when they learn the contract is for a permit application — this is a recurring complaint in expat groups. Ask about a registered contract before paying a deposit, and consider that the same lease will be needed again, freshly notarised, at every annual renewal. Practical advice, including clauses to ask for, is in our notarised lease guide.
Health insurance for retirees
You need a one-year health insurance policy valid in Albania, paid upfront, at the time of application. The policy that satisfies the authorities is a long-term plan that explicitly names Albania as a covered country, with medical coverage commonly cited around €30,000. Simple travel insurance is refused — this is one of the most frequent document mistakes.
Be aware of what you are buying. Basic local policies that meet the formal requirement cost relatively little but cap emergency coverage low and are not full private medical insurance; comprehensive international cover for someone over 60 typically runs €1,000–3,000 a year and can cost more with pre-existing conditions. American applicants should note that Medicare provides no coverage outside the United States. We compare realistic options, including evacuation cover for serious cases, in the health insurance guide.
Criminal record and apostille
The criminal record certificate must be issued no more than six months before your application reaches the authorities, apostilled (or legalised, if your country is outside the Hague Convention) and then translated. Since the six-month clock runs while you gather everything else, this document is the one to time most carefully — an expired certificate is a standard reason for delays and refusals.
US citizens need the federal FBI Identity History Summary, not a state police check, apostilled by the US Department of State in Washington; the whole step takes four to eight weeks, so start it first. Albania does not issue or accept e-apostilles — everything is paper. A reported alternative used successfully by some applicants is a notarised affidavit of clean record sworn at the US Embassy in Tirana ($50, valid 90 days), but acceptance can vary, so treat it as a fallback rather than the default. Full country-by-country instructions are in our criminal record and apostille guide. Applicants over 75 and under 16 are exempt from the criminal record requirement.
Sources & verification
Requirements are stated in Law 79/2021 as amended (criminal record mandatory for all applications under Law 43/2025, exemptions under 16 and over 75); practical details come from practitioner guides and applicants' first-person reports.
- Law no. 79/2021 "On Foreigners", Article 85; Law 43/2025 amendments (criminal record certificate required for all applications, ≤6 months old).
- U.S. Embassy Tirana — Entering and Residing (affidavit option, FBI check).
- Expatsi — Albania Retirement Permit (insurance and lease requirements in practice).
- Lexology/Deloitte — Joint Instruction 2024 on criminal record documentation.
Last verified: October 2026