The Albania-Italy pension agreement gave them the right, but not the pension! The immigrants had been waiting for months

The pension agreement between Albania and Italy, which entered into force in July 2025, was considered one of the most important achievements for Albanian emigrants.

It gave thousands of citizens the opportunity to combine their years of work and contributions paid in both countries to benefit from the pension they are entitled to.

But for many immigrants, the path to this benefit has not been easy at all.

Several Albanians who have lived in Italy for decades spoke to the show Fiks Fare, denouncing that they had been waiting for months for answers to their pension files. They had applied immediately after the agreement came into force, but had not received any information about the progress of their requests.

One of them indicated that he had worked for 13 years in Albania and 33 years in Italy. He had submitted the documentation in July 2025 to the Italian employer, but after many months of waiting, he still did not know where his file had gone.

Another migrant said he had met the conditions for early retirement under Italian legislation, with over 42 years and 10 months of contributions. Although he had applied since July 2025 and had repeatedly made requests for information, he had not received any concrete response.

Meanwhile, another citizen, who has lived in Italy for more than 30 years, confessed that he had been forced to come to Albania several times to personally follow the procedures. Even after applying for the unification of contributions, the answer he consistently received was only one: "You have to wait."

To understand the reasons for the delays, Fiks Fare turned to the Social Security Institute. According to Loreta Shkëmbi, director of the ISSH, the agreement with Italy has brought an extraordinary volume of work to the institution.

She noted that from July 1, 2025 to date, over 7,500 requests related to the Albanian-Italian agreement have been processed. According to the ISSH, procedures often take longer due to verifications of work periods, especially for the years before 2012, when the opening of archives and re-evaluation of documentation are required.

Regarding the specific cases presented by Fiks Fare, ISSH explained that the files had been processed and the documentation had been forwarded to the Italian authorities.

Immediately after the show's interest, citizens confirmed that they had received the information and answers they had been waiting for months. Through video messages sent to the editorial office, they thanked Fiks Fare for the intervention that helped unblock the situation.

History shows that even when an international agreement guarantees a vested right, bureaucracy and administrative delays can make the path to its realization very long./TCH