EOR onboarding in Albania, step by step to the first payslip

EOR onboarding in Albania follows a fixed order: agree the terms, put them into a written Labour Code contract, declare the hire to the tax authority before day one, then pay at the end of the first month and report that pay to DPT. None of these can be skipped or reordered, so the start date is really decided by how quickly the first two are settled.

Laid out as a list, the run looks like this:

• Your candidate accepts a gross monthly salary in lek, a job title, a place of work and a start date.
• The EOR drafts an Albanian employment contract that covers every item Article 21 of the Labour Code requires.
• Both sides sign. For a foreign national who needs a permit, the permit application starts here.
• The EOR declares the new employee to DPT electronically, at least one day before the first working day.
• Day one: equipment arrives, the probation period begins and the employee’s leave starts to accrue.
• At the end of the first month, net salary goes to the employee’s Albanian bank account with a payslip.
• The EOR files that month’s listëpagesa and settles tax and contributions with DPT; the deadline is the 20th.

If you have not yet read how the two contracts in the arrangement fit together, start with the plain-English explainer on the EOR model in Albania; this article stays with the calendar. At Employer of Record Albania we run the sequence below for every hire, whether the person sits in Tirana, Elbasan or Vlorë.

Most onboarding delays come from terms that were left vague in the offer and then have to be renegotiated when the contract is drafted. Albanian law expects specific answers, so it pays to have them in writing before the candidate says yes.

Salary is the obvious one. Quote it as a gross monthly figure in lek, because that is how the contract, the payslip and the DPT filing all express it. The figure cannot be below the 2026 minimum wage of ALL 50,000, about €543.60. If you are thinking in euros, convert at a stated rate and then fix the lek amount; the employee is paid in lek unless the contract says otherwise.

Next comes the contract type. An indefinite contract (me afat të pacaktuar) is the default under Article 140. A fixed term needs a real, objective justification, for example a project that genuinely ends after twelve months, and if a fixed-term contract simply carries on after its end date it becomes indefinite.

Probation (periudhë prove) can last up to three months and can be shortened or dropped in writing. Five days’ notice is all either party needs to give while it lasts. Decide also whether the role is office-based or telework, what equipment the employee gets and whether any bonus is promised, because each of these becomes a contract clause.

The contract is the centre of the whole process, and Article 21 fixes its minimum content. It must name the parties and the place of work, describe the job, say when work begins (and, if the contract is temporary, when it ends), and state paid leave, the notice period, each pay element and when it is paid, normal weekly hours, any collective agreement, the probation period and the disciplinary procedure.

Normal hours are capped at 40 a week and eight a day, and overtime has to be paid at a premium of at least 25%, so the hours clause and the salary clause need to agree with each other. Annual leave cannot be set below 22 working days. Notice after probation follows the Article 143 scale, starting at two weeks for up to six months of service, and the contract can repeat that scale or improve on it for the employee.

Two clauses deserve attention from companies that build software or products. Article 135 hands the employer any invention that comes out of the duties written into the contract, but for computer programs Article 136 only gives the employer use within the contract’s purpose, so an express assignment of rights is sensible. A non-compete (ndalimi i konkurrencës), if you want one, needs a written clause, a cap of one year and a payment to the employee of at least 75% of salary for every month the restriction runs.

Ideally everyone signs before the first working day. If that slips, Article 21(4) gives the employer seven days from the start of work to sign, but starting someone without a signed contract is a poor way to begin and makes the DPT declaration harder to get right.

A good start date is a working day that leaves at least one clear day for the DPT new-hire declaration and does not fall on a public holiday or a substitute day off. The second point catches people out more than the first.

Albania’s 2026 calendar has 15 holiday dates, and when a holiday falls on a weekend the day off moves to the next working day under Article 87(4). Late autumn is busy. Alphabet Day on Sunday 22 November moves to Monday 23 November; Flag and Independence Day on Saturday 28 November moves to Monday 30 November; Liberation Day on Sunday 29 November moves to Tuesday 1 December; and National Youth Day is Tuesday 8 December. A start on Tuesday 1 December 2026 would therefore put day one on a paid day off.

Starting on the first working day of a month keeps the first payslip simple, because the employee is paid for a full month. A mid-month start is fine as well; the first salary is then calculated for the days in employment, and leave for the first year accrues pro rata.

The declaration itself is short work for the EOR, but it has a legal deadline, and it needs the employee’s personal details and the signed contract. Sending those across a week before the start date leaves room for a missing document without moving day one.

If the person you want to hire is a foreign national who needs permission to live and work in Albania, the onboarding plan gains a permit step, and day one cannot come before the permit allows it. Albanian citizens skip this section entirely.

What they need is a leje unike, Albania’s single document for living and working there, set up by Law No. 79/2021 on Foreigners. Two bodies are involved. AKPA, the employment and skills agency, approves the job; the Ministry of Interior decides the permit itself on an e-Albania application. Expect to upload the signed Labour Code contract, the passport, a photograph and evidence of where the person will live. The Ministry of Interior procedure page lists the documents in full.

The fee scales with how long the permit runs. A one-year permit costs ALL 8,000; two years, ALL 9,000; three years, ALL 10,000. Renewing costs ALL 4,000. Council of Ministers Decision 240, adopted on 1 April 2026, brought in a provisional permit: the applicant has it one working day after filing, it lasts a month and it is extended while the file is pending. The biometric card comes no more than 30 days later.

Two shortcuts that look tempting do not fit. The digital nomad permit covers remote work done for a foreign employer or foreign clients and does not allow work for an Albanian employer, so an EOR hire needs the employee permit instead. EU citizens staying longer than three months, on the other hand, now register online for a free five-year Registration Certificate rather than applying for a permit. Our article on remote workers and the unique permit goes into the categories in more depth.

The first payslip arrives at the end of the first month of work, paid by bank transfer, and the EOR then reports it on the next listëpagesa. Article 116 sets end-of-month payment for monthly salaries, Article 118 requires payment through the banking system, and a written payslip must accompany each payment.

Here is how that plays out for a start on Monday 2 November 2026. Arben joins as a support engineer in Durrës on ALL 90,000 gross a month. His November salary is paid at the end of November, after the two substitute holidays on 23 and 30 November, which are paid days off and do not reduce his salary. The listëpagesa for November, with his income tax and both sides’ contributions, must be filed and paid by 20 December 2026.

His payslip shows the deductions. Employee social and health insurance at 11.2% come to ALL 10,080, income tax at 13% of the amount over ALL 30,000 is ALL 7,800, and his net pay is ALL 72,120, about €784.08. The employer side adds 16.7%, ALL 15,030, which appears on your invoice next to his gross pay and the EOR fee.

If payment is ever late, Article 120 adds interest of at least 10% a year, which is one reason the payroll calendar is fixed early. For what repeats from month two onwards, see how the listëpagesa and DPT filings run.

Leave starts building from day one. In the first year it accrues pro rata, so Arben, joining on 2 November, earns two months’ share of the 22-day entitlement by 31 December, a little under four working days. Anything he has not used by then can still be taken until the end of March 2027, the end of the first quarter, under Article 93. Days off for sickness count as working time for this purpose, so a week with a medical certificate does not shrink his leave.

Probation runs in the background throughout. Use it: set two or three concrete goals in the first week and review them before the three months end, because after probation the five-day notice period gives way to the Article 143 scale.

Q01What is the earliest a new hire can start with an EOR in Albania?+

A.The legal minimum is set by the DPT declaration, which must be made at least one day before the first working day, and by having a signed contract. In practice the start date depends on how quickly salary, role and contract terms are agreed, and on any permit.

Q02Can my new employee start before the contract is signed?+

A.Article 21(4) of the Labour Code gives the employer seven days from the start of work to sign the written contract. It is far better to sign first, because the contract terms feed the DPT declaration and the first payroll.

Q03When does an Albanian employee receive their first salary?+

A.At the end of the first month worked, by bank transfer, with a payslip. That month’s figures then go on the listëpagesa, and DPT must have the filing and the money by the 20th.

Q04Does a hire from outside Albania need a permit before day one?+

A.A foreign national who needs permission to work must hold a unique permit for employment first. AKPA approves the job, the application is filed on e-Albania, and under the April 2026 rules the applicant receives a provisional permit one working day after filing.

Q05Is the probation period automatic in an Albanian contract?+

A.Probation applies for up to three months and can be shortened or removed in writing. The contract should state it, since Article 21 lists probation among the terms the written contract must cover.