Albania visa and entry requirements

The allowance is not your Schengen one

• Albania is outside the Schengen area and outside the EU. Its 90 days in 180 are counted separately.
• Days spent here do not consume your Schengen allowance - which makes the region genuinely useful if you are close to your 90-day Schengen limit and want to stay in Europe.
• Your passport is stamped on entry and exit. This country is outside EES, so the stamps are the record and you should keep the passport pages readable.
• Crossing back into the EU re-enters Schengen and is an external border: expect the EES biometric check, and a longer queue than the drive suggests.

The American exception

• US passport holders are admitted visa-free for up to 365 days, with no residence permit.
• That is one full year, and it is the most generous unilateral allowance offered by any European country.
• A weekend in Montenegro does not reset it. The US embassy is explicit that short trips out neither lengthen nor restart the year; to begin another one you must leave Albania and stay out for at least 90 days.
• It is a unilateral Albanian policy, not a treaty, and it has been in place for years - but check before relying on it for a long stay, because unilateral policies can change without notice.
• Everyone else gets the standard 90 days in 180, on Albania's own clock.

Practicalities

• Albania is an EU candidate and has aligned much of its visa policy with the EU's, but it is not in Schengen and its allowance is separate.
• There is a small entry fee for some nationalities - check yours; most Western passports pay nothing.
• Your passport is stamped. Keep the stamps; Albania is outside EES.