In a telephone interview on 20 February 1996, an official of the embassy of Albania in Washington provided the following information. Albanian citizens who have passports are not required to register their place of residence with the authorities. However, those Albanian citizens who do not possess passports are required to register their place of residence with the authorities in order to obtain passports. If Albanian citizens who have passports move to other cities, they have the option of having their passport modified to indicate the new place of residence. Since March 1992 there have been no restrictions upon internal movement in Albania, and Albanian citizens are able to move from one place of residence or city in Albania to another place of residence or city without having to obtain permission from the authorities.

Information on the enforcement of the above-mentioned requirement that Albanian citizens who do not possess passports must register their place of residence with the authorities could not be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB.

In a telephone interview on 19 February 1996, a research analyst who specializes in Albania and Macedonia at Prague's Open Media Research Institute (OMRI), a research enterprise dedicated to the study of the former Soviet Union and east-central and southeastern Europe, stated that Albanian citizens do not require official permission to move from one place to another.

Country Reports 1994 states that "there are no longer any restrictions on freedom of movement within the country" (1995, 725).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1994. 1995. United States Department of State. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.

Embassy of Albania, Washington, DC. 20 February 1996. Telephone interview with official.

Open Media Research Institute (OMRI), Prague. 19 February 1996. Telephone interview with research analyst.

DIRB country file on Albania.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Reports. Daily.

News from Helsinki Watch [New York]. Monthly.

Oral sources.

RFE/RL Research Reports [Munich]. Weekly.

Transition: Events and Issues in the Former Soviet Union and East-Central and Southeastern Europe [Prague]. Bi-monthly.

Uncaptive Minds [new York]. Quarterly.