Former New York City mayor Eric Adams obtains Albanian citizenship

Former New York City mayor Eric Adams has obtained citizenship and a passport from Albania, according to reports on Friday from the Balkan country which received effusive compliments from him during a visit months earlier.

The Albania Daily News first reported that Adams had requested both and was granted them by a special decree from the republic’s president, Bajram Begaj. Euronews Albania also reported the same development, and it was evidently chronicled in the nation’s official government journal.

“I decree granting citizenship … upon … Eric Leroy Adams,” read an English translation of the journal entry, signed by Begaj. “This decree shall enter into force immediately and shall be published in [the] official gazette.”

Adams did not immediately comment on Friday on the Albanian citizenship he appeared to have newly gained. But he had previously earned news headlines by travelling to Albania for four days in October toward the end of his time as mayor of one of the world’s largest, most important cities.

During the trip, Adams and Edi Rama, Albania’s prime minister, spoke of collaborating more strongly in the fields of tourism and technology.

Adams also said he would champion a direct flight from New York to Albania, as the Associated Press noted. And he lavished compliments on Albania’s capital, Tirana.

“You’re seeing a thriving community and city moving in the right direction,” Adams remarked at the time.

A former New York police department (NYPD) captain, Adams was in office as the city’s mayor from the start of 2022 to the end of 2025.

The Democrat bowed out of seeking his party’s nomination while running for re-election amid a federal corruption case that was ultimately dismissed after an extraordinary intervention from Donald Trump’s administration. He tried campaigning as an independent but then dropped out of the mayoral contest, endorsed former New York state governor Andrew Cuomo and attacked the progressive Democratic nominee, Zohran Mamdani.

Adams at one point seemingly suggested – without explanation – that Mamdani’s election would make a terror attack in New York more likely.

“I don’t know what is wrong with people,” Adams said at a campaign event where he endorsed Cuomo. Citing recent instances of terrorism in Europe and Africa, Adams added: “You see what’s playing out in other countries because of Islamic extremism.”

Mamdani ultimately defeated Cuomo decisively in November, and he succeeded Adams to become New York City’s first Muslim mayor.

In March, Mamdani’s administration moved to stop representing Adams in a lawsuit that alleges the ex-mayor sexually assaulted a woman more than three decades earlier. The suit was filed while Adams was still mayor under a state law that extended the time limit to bring sexual assault lawsuits.

Adams has vehemently denied the allegations made against him in the lawsuit. The plaintiff, who has publicly identified herself as Lorna Beach-Mathura, claims he demanded a sexual favor in exchange for his help in advancing her career while they worked together in New York City’s transit police bureau in 1993.

The Associated Press contributed reporting