Retiring to Albania from Germany: residence, pension and taxes (2026)

Law 43/2025 added Article 33/1 to the law on foreigners: citizens of EU countries may live in Albania longer than three months without a residence permit, provided they have sufficient means and a health policy, and register online within three months of arrival for a registration certificate - an application checked within two working days, free of the service fee. After five years of continuous residence comes the right of permanent stay. No money figure for "sufficient means" is published; the pension statement is the natural evidence.

The older path still exists for those who want formal permit status: the national visa D for pensioners and the pensioner residence permit of Article 85, which requires pension income of at least 1,200,000 lek a year (about EUR 12,000), runs up to one year, renews annually and allows no work.

The Deutsche Rentenversicherung pays pensions abroad, and the German-Albanian social security agreement has been in force since 1 December 2017. Under it, German and Albanian insurance periods are added together for the pension entitlement, nationality and place of residence play no role, and each country pays the pension earned under its own system itself. The agreement covers pension insurance - it does not bring Albania into European health-insurance coordination, so healthcare needs its own answer (below).

Before the move, tell the Rentenservice your new address and bank details and ask the DRV for a statement on your own case: what is paid, from which periods, and to which account - the country page for Albania and the DRV hotline handle exactly this.

The Germany-Albania double taxation agreement of 6 April 2010 settles it: pensions, payments of the statutory social insurance included, are taxable only in the state of residence. The treaty memorandum records that Albania refused to give the source state a taxing right, so once you are an Albanian tax resident, Germany steps back; the Finanzamt Neubrandenburg lists Albania among the countries where a German statutory pension is not taxed in Germany. The exception is civil-service pensions under Art. 19(2), which Germany keeps taxing.

On the Albanian side the picture is the same as for every foreign pensioner: the income tax law 29/2023 does not list pensions as a taxable category and Art. 11/a excludes compulsory-scheme income without saying "Albanian" - in practice the pension goes untaxed, while an official tax-administration clarification for foreign schemes is still pending. You become an Albanian tax resident with 183 days in the tax year, or with your permanent home or centre of vital interests here. A protocol to the treaty signed in June 2026 is not yet in force and does not mention Art. 18.

Six administrative steps carry the move; two have deadlines and one has a day count.

A retired couple renting a one-bedroom flat pays about EUR 520 a month of fixed costs in Durres and about EUR 720 in Tirana before food, at October 2026 prices; one person alone runs about EUR 650 in Durres. Rent is the lever: the coast is markedly cheaper than the capital.

Our retirement page budgets the couple line by line, the budget guide shows what EUR 50,000 to 200,000 buy on the coast, and the holiday page prices the seasons. If a car comes with you, read the car-import page first: only VAT 20% at customs, Euro 4 minimum, and six months on German plates within any twelve.