Albania has reached a record in employing foreign nationals, exceeding 22 thousand citizens, by June 2026, up from 18 thousand that was their number until December 2025.
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Specifically, according to data from the Electronic Register for Foreigners (FER) provided to Monitor by the State Police, the number of foreign nationals employed in the country reached 22,693 citizens by June 30, 2026.
Of the total, those provided with a Unique permit by employers are 20,332 foreign nationals and 2,361 foreign nationals are registered with a unique permit as self-employed.
Foreign nationals provided with a unique permit by employers are led by citizens from the Philippines, India and Egypt. These countries together have 10,258 unique permits for employees, making up around 50% of the total employed in the country.
Specifically, the number of foreign nationals from the Philippines by June 2026 reached 3,552 citizens with work permits, accounting for about 16% of all foreign nationals employed in the country.
Following them are citizens from India with 3,423 employed or 15% of the total. Citizens from Egypt reached 3,283 employed.
Next comes Turkey with 1,503 unique permits for employees and Italy with 1,306 permits.
Further, among other countries with a higher number of foreign employees with unique permits are the USA with 619 permits, Indonesia with 229 citizens, China with 212 citizens with unique employee permits, etc.
In recent years, many entrepreneurs, especially in the bar and restaurant service sector, have told Monitor that they have significantly increased employment of foreign nationals from the Philippines and India.
Many foreigners from these countries are employed in bars and restaurants in job positions such as waiters, cleaners or cooks. Other employments have also been made in manufacturing factories, which are hiring young engineers from India.
Meanwhile, Egyptian nationals are being hired more by the transport, livestock and agritourism sectors.
Also, the employment of foreigners has expanded greatly into households. Citizens from the Philippines are being hired as childcare personnel (nannies), for the elderly, or for house maintenance. Italians and Kosovo nationals continue to lead self-employment.
Unlike unique permits for employees, which are dominated by nationals from the Philippines, India and Egypt, unique permits for self-employed are led by Italian nationals.
Of a total of 2,361 unique permits for self-employed, 868 belong to Italian nationals or about 37% of the total. After Italy comes Kosovo with 283 permits, followed by Turkey with 199, USA with 198, Ukraine with 92, Syria with 68, Germany with 67, and Poland with 65 unique self-employment permits, etc. /Monitor
