MOBILITY

IOM in Albania provides efforts for migrants and societies to strive towards fostering safe, orderly, and regular human mobility.
 

• Labour and Migration - IOM supports the government's efforts to manage labour mobility through technical assistance for the implementation of labour agreements, as well as assessing and advising on the role of labour market actors, with a view to enhancing recruitment standards and migrants' rights protection. In partnership with the relevant institutions, IOM facilitates the provision of advice, information and referral services to prospective migrants, immigrants, and returnees on regular migration for labour and study purposes, on reintegration opportunities in Albania, as well as immigration issues.
   
• Prevention of Unsafe Migration and Awareness Raising - IOM Albania supports the GoA, in line with recommendations for EU accessions and implementation of the country’s migration policy, to implement prevention activities for unsafe migration from Albania towards EU member states. These interventions aim to support information dissemination and awareness-raising on visa-free regime movement, risks, and consequences of unsafe migration, as well as encourage youth to benefit from sustainable self-development opportunities and promote the use of regular migration channels.
   
• Counter Human Trafficking - IOM promotes concerted efforts among government, civil society, and other actors to build an effective integrated system of prevention of trafficking in persons, protection assistance and reintegration of victims of trafficking (VoTs) and unaccompanied minors in Albania. Direct assistance and transfer of know-how are key elements of IOM's contribution to the country's counter-trafficking efforts. IOM is committed to supporting the implementation of the National Strategy for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, the National Referral Mechanism, and further improvement of national standards of assistance to VoTs and their protection. Capacity building aims to strengthen local service delivery to VoTs.
   
• Immigration and Border Management - Technical support is provided to the border authorities for the implementation of the Integrated Border Management (IBM) strategy as well as contingency planning and strengthening capacities on the management of mixed migration knows. IOM promotes cooperation with neighboring countries in preventing and fighting irregular migration of Albanian citizens and third-country nationals in line with existing bilateral agreements and regional initiatives, in particular on information processing and exchange, AVR, Advance Passenger Information systems, country of origin analysis, readmission agreements, reception facilities for irregular third-country nationals, interpretation and language analysis. IOM contributes to the efforts in the WB to counter the smuggling and trafficking of migrants along the route.
   
• Preparedness and Response - IOM uses its extensive expertise and experience to provide support to States as well as the individuals and communities affected by crisis and to actively contribute to the efforts to effectively address challenges. Albania has not been affected by the massive mix of migration movements as its neighbor countries in the WB. However, it remains an alternative route with very high potential to be used by migrants trying to transit through the WB countries to reach the EU.
   
• Resettlement and Movement - IOM facilitates movement operations and pre-departure services, in liaison with concerned authorities in resettlement countries. IOM carries out “fitness to travel” health assessments, facilitates and provides logistical support for visa processing; offers transportation and other services for refugee resettlement, in line with agreements signed with immigration services in the respective countries. IOM assists with voluntary returns of third-country nationals to their countries of origin. Since October 2021, IOM is engaged in the relocation of Afghani evacuees to Canada, Norway, Sweden and the USA.
   
• Canada Visa Application Centre - Under a public-private sector partnership, the new Canada Visa Application Centre (CVAC) for Residents of Albania opened in June 2013 and has since been operated by the IOM Mission in Tirana. CVAC is the exclusive service provider for the Government of Canada, authorized to accept applications in all temporary resident categories (visitor visas, study, and work permits) and travel document applications from Canada's permanent residents in Albania

For more information about our projects in the area of Labour and Migration, please write us at: infotirana@iom.int