This paper examines Albanian migrants' labour market adaptation in Greece through comparing and contrasting their work and life experiences under the Albanian socialist past and the current Greek capitalist milieu. Migration from one to the other presents migrants with challenges and experiences previously unknown to them. Such an approach is necessary when researching migration from Albania and former socialist countries more broadly, where work experiences and realities were structured around totally different concepts and philosophies from those in the capitalist world. Through comparing experiences of Albanian migrants from rural and urban areas I also unravel how migration reconstructs social status and class. Where there was a hierarchical structure in Albania in the past, in Greece they are all Alvanos (Albanian migrants).