How to hire employees in Kosovo without setting up a local entity
Why companies hire in Kosovo
Kosovo offers a young, English-speaking workforce, competitive salary levels and European time zone alignment. It is increasingly used by UK and EU companies to build customer support, sales and operations teams.
Two common approaches
1. Open a local entity
Setting up a Kosovo company gives you full control but can take months, requires local accounting, and only makes sense at scale.
2. Use an Employer of Record (EOR)
An EOR like Elara employs staff on your behalf. You skip the entity, the local accountant and the regulatory overhead.
How EOR hiring works, step by step
- Define the role, salary and start date.
- The EOR issues a Kosovo-compliant employment contract.
- The employee signs and starts working for your team.
- The EOR runs monthly payroll and handles taxes and pension contributions.
- You receive a single monthly invoice, in advance.
Typical timeline
It depends on signing the agreement, paying the deposit, and the person’s notice period with their current employer. Once those are in place, we set up the contract, payroll and registrations quickly. Need to find someone? We send you screened CVs within 24 hours.
What it costs
Elara’s fee is €350 per employee, per month, on top of gross salary. Employment costs, including the employer pension contribution (5% of gross salary), are passed through at cost with no mark-up. There is a one-off setup fee of €2,000 per client and no offboarding fees. A refundable deposit is paid before the first payroll; it is not a fee. Candidate sourcing and screening are included. Larger team? Talk to us. No VAT applicable. See indicative salary ranges in our Kosovo Salary Guide.
Compliance considerations
Employment in Kosovo requires written contracts, paid annual leave, public holidays and pension contributions. A specialist EOR handles all of this. See our overview of Kosovo employment law.
When to choose EOR vs entity
- Hiring 1–20 people: EOR is usually the simplest option.
- Long-term, large operation (50+): consider an entity, but many companies stay on EOR much longer.
Hire in Kosovo with Elara
30 minutes to talk through the roles, budget and timing for your team in Kosovo.
Book a team planning callFrom €350 per employee, per month. Candidate sourcing and screening included. Office space, equipment and other services available, quoted separately.