20% more foreign workers in Albania in 2025 - Muçaj: New law, more controls on recruitment agencies
Albania has seen a significant increase in the number of foreign nationals working in sectors with a shortage of local talent.
Most of these foreign workers are involved in sectors such as tourism, construction and other services. 15-20% more foreigners have come to Albania during this period of 2025, compared to last year, where according to official data, there are 13 thousand foreign citizens who have received regular permits. As seasonal employment is becoming increasingly common in our region, it often occurs without clear rules and without protection for workers.
Many seasonal workers face insecurity and lack of rights, and for this reason, the countries of the region, Albania, North Macedonia, and Montenegro, have begun cooperation to create a regular, safer labor market, as well as to guarantee better working conditions.
The General Director of the State Inspectorate of Labor and Social Services, Eljo Muçaj, said on the "GDP" show on SCAN TV that with the new law on foreigners, employee recruitment agencies are being subjected to a detailed control filter. Meanwhile, even for Albanian citizens crossing border points, Muçaj says that they must fill out a self-declaration form.
"Migration offices and border crossings should encourage individuals, at least I'm talking about our citizens, to fill out a self-declaration form when they cross the border, to understand that they are registered and working in a neighboring country. At a minimum, these citizens should have a work contract, so they are in a regular working relationship. The role of inspectorates in other countries is that they should have more focus on collecting statistics, what they evidence to understand whether this phenomenon is widespread or not, and on the other hand is to create manuals and communication procedures between countries for special events. Awareness is very important, especially for foreign workers, I'm not talking only about those in neighboring countries, but also foreign workers who come from other more distant countries, which is already a reality for our country. About 13 thousand permits have been registered and this is a trend, it is an increasing demand that varies from 15-20% compared to the previous year. This shows that the demand for There is a workforce, and foreign workers integrate over time in our country and for these employees it is important to be informed both on labor legislation and on practical issues. With the new law, every employment agency that seeks to recruit employees will undergo a strict control through the ministry, the Central Labor Office, the ministry forwards it to the Labor Inspectorate, which identifies and checks on the ground every declaration made by the company on the criteria, the documentation that at the moment it was registered with the Central Labor Office, to identify and certify and whether or not it meets the basic conditions, including an additional financial guarantee that was added with the new law for foreigners. From the control we made in the Agencies that were active in 2024, or that had at least one active license before the new law came into force, there were 188 companies that had the license to exercise the right to develop this activity. It turned out that half of them had never exercised that activity. In the rest, 30% of this number were those who actually had this important business activity of large companies that had it as a license, but had exercised it as an activity with the specific request of large clients, but did not have a basic activity. And in the end, a much more controlled group will remain in the process, which will sophisticated the quality of exercising this service, in the function of ethical, decent and more effective recruitment, as it is a dynamic process and Albania is becoming attractive" - says Muçaj.
Meanwhile, Albania has been chosen as a pilot country where, with technical assistance from the ILO, the Risk Intelligence and Analysis Matrix, an innovative platform developed for the State Labor Inspectorate, is being applied.
''MIRA has modernized labor inspection in Albania using advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, data mining and machine learning. This system collects, analyzes and uses real-time data to improve: Inspection Quality; Risk-based Planning; Transparent and objective decision-making. MIRA is a revolution in the way labor inspections are carried out in Albania. This system makes the process more transparent. Of the 10 thousand inspections we carry out per year, 85% of them are planned, and this planning is automated, risk-based planning. 15% are random, starting from complaints and accidents at work, '' adds Muçaj.
Muçaj says that during 2024, about 4 complaints were administered by this inspectorate per day. 50% of them resulted in fines, with sanctions of up to 50 times the minimum wage and for occupational safety and health, up to 400 thousand lek.
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