How is it benefited from the Italian-Albania pension agreement that begins its implementation in June?

The mutual recognition of the contributions for pensions between Albania and Italy is expected to come into force and starts implementation in June. The agreement is expected to benefit over 500,000 Albanians and a large number of Italian citizens.

In an interview with ATSH, Tresjana Elmazi, representative of Uim Albania said that the agreement benefits all those who have social security contributions in both Albania and Italy.

“Albania -Italy agreement is an agreement for all those citizens who have lived in Italy or have returned or are still there to have the opportunity, if they do not have enough years to fill in the threshold in Italy for 20 years or in Albania 15 years to receive a minimum pension, they can collect both their work experiences in both countries to benefit ‘Properata’ as a one -year -old. And another 10 years in Italy, these years come together, but the citizen will receive proportionally as much as it has made contributions to each of the countries, ”Elmazi said.

She added that “the agreement is expected to take effect a month after the exchange of acts of ratification between the two countries from June.

According to her, “For the Italian pension, we have direct access to the Italian Social Security Institute (IMS) that we can make the extraction and verification of the contributions that the person has made in Italy.

« For the Albanian part we can enter the e-Albania and do the verification. That is, we can follow them in both processes. The documentation required for Italy are Italian documents if they have had residence permits (permesso di soggiorno) as Italy has been digitized as we have after 2012. Our personal here and we do the years there for Albania.

According to her, there were many people who have shown interest in the offices of Uim Albania to learn how this agreement works.

« There are many citizens who are interested. Interest is high yes and we are ready to help them with the information that is pursuing practices because they are old ages and find it difficult, » she said.

Elmazi said two pensions would initially be received. « As for the Italian part, two pensions will be received initially, IMS will bring its share, while the SII will bring its share. Italy will do so through a transfer to the person’s bank account. If the person lives in Albania, if he has now retired in Albania he can also seek the Italian and comes to his bank account. »

The representative of Uim Albania stated in the ATSH interview that the Italian pension will not join the pension in Albania, but will be on its own. « Even the calculation will be special. That is, it will not affect the amount it receives from each of the countries. The same if the person lives in Italy. Once the retirement request is made, the person will also give the bank account so that the IMS or SII will make a retirement every month, » she said.

« At this stage they cannot start the application for reasons because the agreement has not come into force, and when the Italian IMS will take effect, it will create a special space for the agreement only, it has created it now, but it will be more applicable to enter the citizens to make the application, » she added.

« Italy has a certain amount that the pension is not taxed, that is, this will then be seen depending on the value of their pension. The Social Office of Consultancy (Patronati) has no payment, neither for Albanian pension nor for the Italian pension. Procedures, follow -up, documentation, everything we do from start to end, » Elmazi points out.

« Those who live in Italy as they are equipped with Speed ​​which is the one who enables them to enter the IMS and have simpler. While for Albanians who have returned and are a little more difficult because it may have passed a lot of time, they can only have difficulties and find it difficult to access the IMS. In Lezha we have counters where citizens can go to get information or follow the procedures ”, Elmazi points out.

“Italian nationals come to Albania because as we know the pension here they are not taxed and come to Albania because they have high pensions there and taxation is very high, they normally come here to follow all this defective procedure, deduction of taxes we pursue. All procedures then to deduct taxation, ”Elmazi said.

At the end of the interview, Elmazi also delivered a message to the citizens: “What I mean for citizens is to be ready, to start with the verification of the years now because the time is too short, there is a lot of flux and it would be good to start with the verifications of the years now that the agreement begins to be effective, to be ready and not to be delays because they have a long-term application because they have a long delay in applying pensions because Years before ’94 to 2012, but IMS also requires its time to verify the years so it is important to have all things ready before the deal begins, ”Elmazi concluded.

Italian legislation regulates the so -called « institutes of patronage », which support citizens through social services. ITAL – Institute for Tella and Assistance of Workers – has been created by Wil (Italian Labor Union), which has been operating in Italy for 70 years in the service of persons: workers, retirees, young people, immigrants, Italians in immigration.

The patronage activity is monitored by the Ministry of Labor in Italy which is also their exclusive funders. There are about 1600 headquarters and Italian contact points, scattered in Italian and world territory, available to those who need assistance in order to benefit from social and labor rights. Many Albanians in Italy are assisted annually by Ital, alongside Italian citizens and foreigners in general. Under the Sigla of UIM – the Italian Union in the world, Ital has recently opened a presence in Albania, Uim Albania. ATSH- Arbi Fortuzi/