Albanian mayor offers tax-free living to citizens who return home from Britain after his region saw ‘half its population’ move abroad

• Albert Halilaj said he is working with the British Embassy to tempt migrants back

An Albanian mayor is desperately trying to coax back the huge number of his citizens who have migrated to Britain by offering them tax-free living if they return.

The northern Kukes Municipality has lost almost half its population to migration since 1990, data shows, with the majority of those leaving choosing to head to the UK.

Now Mayor Albert Halilaj has had enough, and is working with the British government to, as he put it, ‘help everyone who is living in England come home’.

In an interview with The Express, he vowed that ‘everyone who comes back from England and starts a new business will not pay taxes for two years as a way to help them start a new life in Kukes.’

He added that the British Embassy is also trying to help with ‘big donations’ and that efforts are being made to train up locals in one of Albania’s poorest regions to deter them from seeking a new life in the UK.

Mayor Albert Halilaj has had enough, and is working with the British government to ‘help everyone who is living in England come home’

The northern Kukes Municipality has lost almost half its population to migration since 1990, data shows

‘We are against people going illegally to England,’ he told the newspaper. ‘But things will change, people will try to find different ways to make money.’ 

Recent polling by SwissContact found that 35 per cent of current Kukes residents wish to leave the region, and 59 per cent want to migrate to the UK.

High youth unemployment is a key reason driving them out, with the promise of lucrative jobs in London and elsewhere tempting young men in particular to make the perilous journey across Europe to Britain.

Kukes teenagers as young as 13 were among those planning to cross the English Channel on small boats to start a new life, it has been reported. 

Emigrating young men can then be recruited by criminal gangs within days of reaching the UK, with many working on cannabis farms before returning home with stacks of cash.

Those who have returned are said to flaunt their wealth and distort the local economy by driving up house prices in the Balkan nation. 

Polling has also given an insight into why members of the Kukes community want to leave. 

While a significant number (37 per cent) said it was due to youth unemployment and 35 per cent indicated poverty, but the number one issue was the high cost of living (58%). 

TikTok videos show dozens of Albanian migrants making the perilous crossing over the English Channel

Number of migrants crossing the English Channel on small boats from 2019 to 2023

The pandemic has also had seriously detrimental effects on the country’s economy, with the latest World Bank report on the region suggesting it resulted in more than one third of Albanians being pushed into poverty. 

More than a quarter of the 45,755 people who crossed the Channel in small boats last year came from Albania.

About 13,000 Albanian migrants crossed the channel in dinghies last year, compared with just 50 in 2020 and 800 in 2021. Many of them were young men. 

During the whole of 2022, 215 Albanians were sent back to the country by the Home Office. 

Many migrants come from Kukes (pictured), which is one of the poorest regions in Albania

Up to a third of people aged 16 to 29 are unemployed in Kukes, in the northeast of the country

The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said of its ‘New Perspectives’ project in Kukes that it ‘aims to provide social and economic opportunities to vulnerable communities in the north of Albania, through activities such as training to increase the employability of people who lack skills, or connecting local businesses to finance institutions.

‘The project adopts an inclusive approach to understanding and addressing key issues that influence the decisions of people and families to migrate illegally, and enhance their resilience to external pressures and empowers them to seize local economic and entrepreneurial opportunities.

‘The project also addresses the corresponding social norms, communicates positively about opportunities, facilitates (young) people making informed life choices and promotes gender equality.’

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