Albania's foreigners: From Palestine, India and Turkey, work and live in the country

My friends told me about Albania and if I wanted to invest here. I came, I liked it and I opened the bar. I've been six years since I first came to Albania and I see that there's been a lot of change, there's a lot of” developments, Ahmet Faras said.

He does not regret the choice made. The desire to stay in Albania is great. But Ahmet, he's facing a problem, which is actually going to turn into worry.

I don't know why young people want to leave, it disappoints me, I hear them say that Albania is not very good. I understand that compared with other countries, maybe they're better, but we shouldn't be seen that way. I have seasonal workers, I can say I pay them well, but if they see a chance to leave Albania, they leave directly. That's what happened to the employees here”, he said.

Albania's population on January 1st, 2022, results in 2,79 million inhabitants, suffering a decline of 1.3 % compared to the previous year. According to the EU Agency for Asylum and according to the European Asians Office, in relation to the population, Albania is the first for asylum seekers in the EU, with 59 applications for every 10,000 residents.

Experts say that if we continue at this rate, we risk being left without human resources.

In Albania, information is lacking to guide young people about what steps to follow, how to create an idea, to independently secure their income. In Albania, the gap between opening a new business among the accompanying taxes is lower, including the work force, than by other countries”, the economy expert Erion Muca stressed.

In our country, there is an increase of foreigners each year. So far there are more than 15 thousand living in Albania with residence permits, while almost half of them are for work reasons. According to INSTAT, by the end of 2021, the number of foreigners with residence permits in Albania resulted in 14,921 inhabitants, undergoing growth of 9.6% compared to 2020.

Nishat Taneya, has been in Albania for 15 years. He has been very clever, so to speak, for he has been able to see the need for a physician since then.

I have come in 2009 for almost 15 years. Albania needs doctors like me, I'm very special. When I started, there was no stranger here and there was even a doctor for eye injuries. My family is here, my kids are born here, I don't think I'm going back to India”, the Indian doctor underlined.

We are known as a welcome place. And that's actually what happened to another citizen.

I've been here for two years trying to work, I've come with my family. I feel like in my place here”, Turkish doctor Gonul Kiraci said.

Gonul's husband is of distant Albanian origin. The desire to return to Albanian roots has always been. But something held him back.

I was hearing about the uncertainty part and when I came here, the thing I've noticed is the lack of security cameras and I felt I didn't know for sure”, she said.

The Turkish doctor shows that Albanians have made her feel at home, even when she doesn't understand what she says.

“Albanian is a difficult language. But whenever they are in trouble, I speak Turkish and I am very easily understood by Albanians and I am very happy”, the doctor said.

For foreigners, Albania is a beautiful, paradise country, as Ahmet and Gonul consider.

And that's exactly what she found. A 22-year-old man who set up his own shopping business.

The passage for the mall is born to say from nothing. I did the designer course. Everything was a separate art. I liked to be more focused on the mall. She used to be a colleague who's a third year old now and she made me pick up the embroidery machine and she said do it like that until late hours of the night, he confirmed.

Asked if he wants to leave Albania, he is firm in his response.

The last thing I'd like to do is leave the country, because I'm setting up something of mine, I don't have a reason why”, he explained.

Youth is “the country's”, so to keep all young people in Albania, we all have to engage, to facilitate their integration into the realm of the country's social, economic and political life.

As for foreign investors, their numbers are expected to increase, as for them, our country offers more ease to establish a business. /euronews. al