In August 2021, queues formed at Albania's application offices for biometric identity cards and passports. The Interior Ministry announced Saturday opening at offices across the country because citizens living abroad were returning for the summer and renewing identity documents in large numbers. Offices including those in Tirana were told to serve applicants from 8 a.m. until the last citizen in line.
Many of those waiting were emigrants or other citizens resident abroad, trying to complete the process during a limited visit home. An expired passport or ID card could disrupt work, travel and dealings with public authorities after they left again. Saturday opening was therefore more than longer business hours: it was a response to the collision between the summer return and the state's processing capacity.
Because the queues formed during the pandemic, officials urged applicants to reserve a time and number through the e-Albania portal. The solution was to move visible waiting outside an office into an online sequence. The wait for one identity document reveals how people who live elsewhere remain tied to the administrative clock of home.