The Armed Forces of the Republic of Albania have started recruiting professional soldiers and sailors, the Minister of Defence Niko Peleshi announced Monday.

The news was made public by Peleshi through a post on Facebook, where he emphasizes that the conditions of treatment and payment in these positions are like never before.

"The Armed Forces have started recruiting professional soldiers / sailors, offering payment terms and treatment like never before. Take a look at the criteria", wrote Minister Peleshi on Facebook.

How an active soldier / sailor is recruited in the Armed Forces:
In the conditions of a higher professionalism of the Armed Forces and an increasing commitment to fulfilling the tasks in defense of the country and in the interest of the Alliance, the recruitment of soldiers with the highest possible profile is essential for the Armed Forces. The armies of NATO countries pay great attention to this problem, in particular the instruments of their selection and motivation. The recruitment of soldiers / sailors has a significant impact on the future of the Armed Forces. For this reason it is required to recruit citizens with a quality profile, physically and healthily capable and with a high cultural level. Such a thing can be achieved through the perfection of the system of selection and motivation.

Recruitment to become an active soldier / sailor in the Armed Forces should provide equal opportunities to all Albanian citizens for non-discrimination on the grounds of race, ethnicity, color, gender, religion, place of residence, as well as salary, benefits and other compensations, according to the peculiarities of military service.

Soldier / sailor selection procedures will be transparent and documented. To increase transparency, procedures, criteria, guidelines, test regulations and the final list of test results will be published on the official website of the Armed Forces and the way of conducting testing and evaluation through the automated system will be improved.

To start the recruitment process the interested party must meet a set of criteria and documents. Citizens seeking to apply for active duty soldiers / sailors in the Armed Forces must apply directly to the admissions office of the Personnel Recruitment Center, which follows the testing and selection procedures with candidates who have been deemed medically fit.

The application form for active soldiers / sailors in the Armed Forces and the documentation needed by the applicant are the application form and the admission form (year 2018).
Citizens' Physical Preparation Test for Admission to the Armed Forces (Annex A, year 2018)
codes according to specialties (Anex B, year 2018),
self-declaration form for health status (Anex C, year 2018)

The document "Procedures and criteria for recruitment of active soldiers / sailors in the Armed Forces" has been approved by the Minister of Defense: Instruction no. 9 dated 31/12/2018 and defines the principles, objectives, standards, responsibilities, procedures and implementation of criteria for the recruitment of active soldiers / sailors.

General criteria for recruiting active soldiers / sailors
To be recruited in the Armed Forces as a soldier / sailor, Albanian citizens must meet the following criteria:
- be an Albanian citizen;
- not to have been convicted by a court for criminal offenses;
- not to be prosecuted;
- not to be in the process of criminal trial by the court;
- to have a pure moral figure;
- not have problems with deportation;
- not to have problems with drugs and alcohol;
- not to be a suspect, undesirable, identified and implicated by law enforcement agencies for illegal or criminal activities;
- the minimum age for recruitment is 18 years. At the time of enlistment active soldier / sailor, must not have reached the age of 27 years. Exceptions are only citizens who will be titled active soldier / sailor, who will be medical personnel of the Armed Forces and who at the time of enlistment must not have reached the age of 32;
- have completed pre-university or higher education in or outside the country;
- have a body height over 165 for men and over 160 cm for women;
- be declared the winner at the end of the competition;
- to have performed the health examination and to have been assessed fit for active soldier / sailor by the Military Medical Commission.
- have resulted without problems during the verification of the security condition performed by the responsible structures.
Soldier / Marine application procedure
a) Citizens wishing to serve in the Armed Forces as active soldiers / sailors, will apply directly to the Personnel Recruitment Center.
b) Applicants complete
application form (download application form) and
acceptance form (download the acceptance form) of the documentation and receive the notification for the necessary documents, recruitment quotas, specialties, recruitment regions, deadline for submission to the Recruitment Center for the continuation of the admission process, testing and selection etc.
c) Testing procedures, criteria, rules (physical testing, intellectual testing, psychological testing) are made public on the website of the Ministry of Defense, not less than 150 days before the start date of the Basic Individual Training.
Candidate registration, necessary documentation:
The documentation that will be submitted by the candidates in the registration phase is:
- written request, in which the identity of the applicant is submitted, family status (married, single), the reasons for which he wants to become an active soldier / sailor, not less than two options for the unit or ward in which he would like to serve. Skills, work experience, his tendencies in certain fields, (application form);
- photocopy of identity card;
- family certificate, 1 piece, which is generated online by QPR in cooperation with DMBNJ & SH, on the government portal e-albania, according to the legal acts in force;
- two photographs measuring 4 × 6 cm and two photographs measuring 9 × 12 cm;
- photocopy of notarized pre-university education diploma and state matura certificate certified by the regional / district education directorate or notarized higher education;
- diploma, evidence, certificate for professional skills (if any), for driving, for knowledge of foreign languages, notarized;
- medical report issued by the forensic commission (KML) of the health center of the candidate's residence accompanied by a report or certificate from the family doctor stating that the candidate is healthy, has no infectious diseases and mental health in his personal history of life.
- medical examinations for infectious agents (Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, HIV / AIDS, Syphilis) and blood type issued by the National Blood Transfusion Center and / or blood banks or Public Health directorates in the districts where they reside.
- at the time of application, at the admission office at the Personnel-Recruitment Center, candidates must complete the application form for active soldier / sailor and the self-declaration form for health status (Annex C), attached to this instruction.
Documentation to be submitted by qualified candidates upon completion of testing.
If the candidate is declared a winner within 2 (two) weeks must bring to QPR the following documentation:
- criminal record;
- certificate from the prosecution;
- court certificate;
- medical report issued by the Military Forensic Commission of the Military Medical Unit, at the end of the examinations.

The Personnel Recruitment Center, in cooperation with the structures that have access to the e-albania portal, should provide the documentation, which can be downloaded online through the government portal “e-albania”, according to the legal acts and bylaws in force. Candidates should provide the required documentation in cases when, for technical reasons, it can not be downloaded through the portal.
The Personnel Recruitment Center follows the testing and selection procedures only with the candidates who have submitted the documentation according to letter "a".