Eric Adams did not stay a private citizen of just one country for long. A hundred days after stepping down as New York City mayor on January 1, 2026, he has picked up a new credential: Albanian citizenship, complete with a freshly issued passport granted by special presidential decree.
The move was formalized on Friday and stitched a striking international twist into the former mayor’s post–City Hall chapter.
According to Euronews Albania, the decree was signed by President Bajram Begaj and states that Adams received citizenship "upon his request." Albanian authorities have not publicly released further explanation about why or how the decision was made.
How The Citizenship Was Formalized
Albanian media report that the presidential decree will appear in the country’s Official Gazette and cites Law 113/2020, the legal framework that locks the move into place under Albanian law, as noted by Lajmi.net.
Adams first traveled to Albania in October 2025 for a four-day visit. Coverage at the time said the Albanian government picked up the tab for his lodging and ground transportation, while New York City taxpayers covered his flights to and from the country. That trip was detailed by Spectrum News.
Legal Context And Lingering Investigations
Adams is no longer battling the federal indictment that loomed over his final mayoral campaign. A federal judge dismissed the case with prejudice in April 2025, and the court laid out its reasoning in a 78-page opinion. The court's opinion is publicly available.
That does not mean everyone from his orbit is in the clear. Several figures tied to his administration remain under scrutiny, and Gothamist reports that former senior adviser Ingrid Lewis-Martin is due back in court on bribery and money laundering charges. Meanwhile, a restaurateur close to Adams, Zhan "Johnny" Petrosyants, was indicted this month on alleged health care and insurance fraud, a case covered under the banner of an alleged health care scam.
Campaign Finance Questions
Back home, Adams’s 2021 mayoral campaign is still under the microscope. The city’s Campaign Finance Board is auditing that race, and a draft audit could require him to repay roughly $10 million in public matching funds, according to The City. That unresolved review, paired with the recent indictments involving people in his political circle, keeps questions swirling about fundraising, influence and how his campaigns were run.
What New Yorkers Should Watch
Adams has spent years cultivating ties with Albania and with New York’s Albanian community. Mayoral transcripts show that during an October 2025 appearance he talked up trade and tourism and even floated hopes for a direct flight between New York and Tirana. Those remarks are documented in City Hall transcripts.
Albanian outlets say the citizenship decree was issued at Adams’s request, a symbolic nod to those ties that also lands at a delicate moment. While he celebrates a new passport and a new political identity abroad, the legal and financial questions rooted in his time at City Hall are still very much a work in progress.
