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Indian man recounts inhumane conditions in Tirana: How the company deceived us, his friend attempted suicide...
2026-01-29 09:12:42 / EKONOMI&SOCIALE
To understand the reality of foreign workers in Albania, moving from theory to practice, Inside Story managed to speak with one of the people who openly expresses his dissatisfaction with the work he has found in our country.
He is a young man from India, who was convinced to come to our country by chance through an advertisement from a recruitment agency.
"I am from India. One day I saw a company on Linkedin, a company called WFDM. I applied to WFDM for a job in Albania. They gave me a job and I came here," said the whistleblower from India.
The young Indian's contract runs until 2025, but for security reasons, he does not want to reveal his full identity, fearing retaliation from the company.
He says that when he first learned about our country, he knew nothing, but started searching Google for where it was.
Albania and which were the areas with the most economic opportunities in our country.
"I looked up the location, for Tirana, Elbasan, and all of them. I saw which is the most populated place in Albania and what the population of Albania was," said the whistleblower from India.
After initial interviews and research, since he urgently needed work due to the difficult conditions in his country, the Indian accepted and came to Albania with high hopes.
He thought he would find good pay and favorable conditions for accommodation, food, and everything else.
"I applied to the company. They gave me a work permit for this job, a job as a delivery driver," said the whistleblower from India.
When he was still in India, the recruiting company had promised him free accommodation and free food, in fact according to the rules of the Albanian state.
"This is my contract, my salary is 500 euros. I work 40 hours a week, 8 hours a day. If you want to work overtime, you can. If you want to work overtime. The agency promised me a salary of 500 euros. I came here, I worked hard, I worked overtime every day, doing extra hours," said the whistleblower from India.
Up until this point, everything seemed normal. But, in fact, according to Albanian legislation, host companies must guarantee some very important conditions to employees before bringing them in.
"To hire a foreign worker, the employer must offer accommodation and food. If not, extra payment. Regular contracts with Albanian workers, no discrimination. It must be a business that pays its obligations, it is not allowed if you are not a regular taxpayer, you cannot apply," said lawyer Xhina Veizi.
"Accommodation, sleeping, and electricity must be included in the contracts, and these are often neglected and not followed by Albanian employers. This has led to increased dissatisfaction and a lack of expected performance," said employment expert Arbër Xhihani.
In fact, it seems that such promises remain only in preliminary conversations with workers interested in the job, as the reality is completely different from what is promised. The moment the workers start work and come to Albania, they are directly faced with a different reality.
"They told me when I did the first interview, I will give you free food. You work for me, but the food is free. But I always pay, I go to the market, buy vegetables and everything, I go home and cook them. They don't give me free food. Secondly, the accommodation, like my house, the company would give me for free. But I pay 15 thousand lekë every month, 150 euros per month. Also 4 thousand lekë for electricity," said the whistleblower from India.
The scandal deepens even further when we learn that the Indian, in addition to not receiving the promised treatment, is also having other money withheld from his basic salary of 500 euros. This goes to pay for the rental house and the electricity of the apartment where they are accommodated.
The accommodation statement provided by Inside Story states that the apartment is rented for a 1-year period and details of the villa where they are accommodated. In fact, there is a trick here too. The worker confesses that from the moment of accommodation there is a problem with the apartment where they live.
"At home, we are 17 people in a villa. One small room, 3 people stay. We have 3 bathrooms. There are only 2 kitchens," said the complainant from India.
The situation is not good at all for the Indian who declares the difficulties of living in a shared environment with so many people. To prove that his words are true, he has also made available to us a video that shows the reality of the Indians recruited by the agency in question.
Electricity problems are frequent, as there are many people in the same environment, the line cannot handle household appliances. Based on the words of the Indian, they have requested new heaters for the house from the agency but have been faced with their arrogance that they do not even deign to return the answer.
"The heater is no good, if you don't like it, you can buy it for yourself," he said.
He even points out that the group's conversations and messages coming from the company are arrogant and dismissive, not considering their requests.
"Currently, for foreign workers coming to Albania, it's like modern slavery. It's like modern slavery," said lawyer Xhina Veizi.
"My friend attempted suicide," said the whistleblower from India./ Inside Story
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