Kosovo
Min. wage
(x12 payments)
€500 /mo
About the minimum wage
Employer tax
Annual leave
20 days
Learn about annual leave
Notice period
30-60 days (by tenure)
Termination and notice info
Updated
Oct 2026
The default and most common employment relationship in Kosovo; continues until terminated by either party with proper notice and lawful grounds, or by retirement, death, or other legal cause. Must be in writing and registered, and provides full statutory protections.
Fixed-term (definite-period) contracts may be used for specific projects, seasonal work, or temporary needs and can be renewed, but the cumulative total duration for the same employee/employer may not exceed 10 years - if it does, the contract is deemed indefinite by operation of law. If the employer intends not to renew, it must notify the employee at least 30 days before expiry; failure to give this notice automatically extends the contract by 30 days with full pay.
Standard full-time hours are 40/week with a 30-minute daily break, minimum 12 hours' rest between shifts, and at least 24 continuous hours of weekly rest. Overtime is capped at 8 additional hours when required and is compensated at a premium: approx. 120% of normal pay for ordinary extra/day shifts, 130% for night work, and 150% for weekend and public-holiday work.
Employers may set a probationary period of up to six months. During probation, either party may terminate the contract with 7 days' notice, without the need for severance or the fuller cause-based justification required after probation ends.
Kosovo's Labour Law does not require a 13th or 14th month salary/bonus. Any such payment is a matter of individual employment contract, company policy, or collective agreement rather than a statutory obligation.
No broad general job-title licensing regime exists for private-sector roles, but certain regulated professions (e.g., law, medicine, engineering, accounting/audit) require membership in the relevant professional chamber/license in Kosovo. Non-Kosovo/non-EU foreign nationals generally require a work and residence permit before being legally employed.
Mandatory employer pension contribution: 5% of gross salary paid into the Kosovo Pension Savings Trust (KPST). Employers may voluntarily contribute up to an additional 15% (total up to 20%) if agreed. No other compulsory employer social-insurance levy currently applies.
Mandatory employee pension contribution: 5% of gross salary withheld and paid into the KPST (deductible from taxable income). Employees may voluntarily contribute up to an additional 15%. Personal income tax is withheld separately on top of this.
In addition to statutory leave, employees are entitled to the following statutory benefits:
Kosovo's mandatory social security system currently consists solely of a defined-contribution pension scheme administered by the Kosovo Pension Savings Trust (KPST).
Kosovo does not operate a dedicated, separate state workers' compensation insurance fund.
Kosovo does not impose a general statutory severance requirement for ordinary individual dismissals.
Kosovo's Labour Law does not mandate a 13th (or 14th) month salary or year-end bonus.
P.S. our team speaks multiple languages and we'd love to chat in your preferred language if requested.
Your employee's hours, time off, holidays, bonuses, and commissions are automatically calculated into payroll. RemoFirst will invoice you in either US Dollars (USD), Euros (EUR), British Pounds (GBP), Canadian Dollars (CAD), Australian Dollars (AUD), or Singapore Dollars (SGD) around the 15th of each month to make sure your employees are paid on time. To make it even easier, you can summarize your entire global team's salaries to aggregate them into one payment (instead of many individual payments).
Unlike full-time employees, contractors work on projects with multiple companies at a given time and are technically self-employed. Full-time employees are solely focused on their employer and usually receive benefits (such as health insurance, equity or stock options, and time off) as an additional form of compensation. While it can be cheaper to work with international contractors instead of paying benefits to a full-time employee, you run the risk of misclassification. It's recommended to work with an EOR for contractor onboarding and payments, so you can know that your international contractors are paid compliantly and on time.
Whenever the employee or employer has a question about, or anything else related to international employment, they can speak with our customer support team to get answers from our team of experts.
