Unwanted migratory flows from Albania serve as a justification for external interventions aimed at regulating migration ‘from within’. Over the last years the exertions of a number of international organizations have led to a situation of deadlock. Overriding vested interests seem to block a national ownership: Albanian government is not yet empowered to assume full control over its migration policy. While remaining in anxiety for new emigration waves, the international stakeholders share a general mistrust in local institutions to regulate migration in an effective manner.