Nearshoring software development to Kosovo for Swiss, German and Austrian companies

For companies in Switzerland, Germany and Austria, Kosovo offers a nearshore team on exactly the same clock, a short direct flight away, working in English. The practical questions are less about distance and more about data protection and contracts: Kosovo is outside the EU and has no adequacy decision from either the EU or Switzerland, so personal data transfers need Standard Contractual Clauses.

This article walks through what a DACH company should check before working with a software team in Kosovo: time zone overlap, travel, language, data protection under the Swiss FADP and the GDPR, contract and IP basics, and a communication rhythm that keeps a distributed project on track.

Time zone: full overlap, not partial

Kosovo is on Central European Time, UTC+1 in winter and UTC+2 in summer, on the same switch dates as Zurich, Berlin and Vienna. There is no offset to manage. A 9:00 stand-up in Zurich is a 9:00 stand-up in Prishtina, and your whole working day overlaps with the team's.

That matters more than it sounds. With an offshore team several hours away, questions asked in the afternoon are answered the next morning, and a simple clarification can cost a day. With full overlap, a blocked engineer can ask your product owner and get an answer within the hour.

Travel and language

Short, direct travel

Kosovo's Civil Aviation Authority reports that Prishtina airport handled about 4.6 million passengers in 2025, and that Basel, Zurich and Düsseldorf were the destinations with the most passengers. In practice, Swiss and southern German clients usually have direct options, while others connect through a major hub. Check current schedules for your city, as routes change by season.

Since 1 January 2024, Kosovo passport holders can enter the Schengen area, which includes Switzerland, without a visa for stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period. EU citizens can also travel to Kosovo without a visa. Short on-site visits in either direction, such as a kick-off workshop at your office, are simple to arrange. Longer on-site work is a different matter and needs proper advice on permits.

We recommend at least one in-person session at the start of a larger project. A day spent together mapping the process or the product saves weeks of back and forth later.

English as the working language

English is the working language of software teams in Prishtina, and it is what we use for specifications, tickets, code and meetings. For most DACH companies whose engineering teams already work in English, nothing changes.

There is also a personal link between Kosovo and the region. The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs notes that Albanian is among the most frequently spoken non-national languages in Switzerland, alongside English and Portuguese. Many people in Kosovo know the DACH countries through family, which often helps with business culture and expectations. Do not count on German as the working language, though: if you need German-language documentation or user-facing copy, put that in the scope explicitly.

Data protection: FADP, GDPR and a non-EU vendor

This is the part to get right before any personal data is shared.

Kosovo has no adequacy decision

Kosovo has its own Law No. 06/L-082 on Protection of Personal Data, which has applied since 13 February 2019, transposes the GDPR and is supervised by the Information and Privacy Agency. That is a good sign for how a local vendor will treat data, but it does not make transfers automatic.

Kosovo is not on the European Commission's list of adequacy decisions. It is also not on the Swiss list of states with adequate protection in Annex 1 of the Data Protection Ordinance, which since the revised FADP took effect on 1 September 2023 is decided by the Federal Council.

What that means in practice

When a Kosovo vendor can access personal data from the EU or Switzerland, for example by working on a production database or receiving customer exports, that access is a transfer to a third country. You need an appropriate safeguard:

• Under the GDPR: the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses, adopted on 4 June 2021. For a typical vendor relationship you use the controller-to-processor module.
• Under the Swiss FADP: the FDPIC recognises the EU SCCs, with adaptations for Swiss law, such as naming the FDPIC as the supervisory authority for transfers under the FADP. Since 1 September 2023, using recognised clauses no longer has to be reported to the FDPIC.
• A data processing agreement: the SCCs do not replace your processor agreement under Article 28 GDPR or its FADP equivalent. You need both.
• A transfer assessment: the SCCs require the parties to assess whether the laws of the importing country could prevent compliance, and to document that assessment. Ask your data protection adviser or DPO to run it.

This is general information, not legal advice. Have your own counsel or DPO approve the final set-up.

Reduce the data you transfer

The strongest control is to need fewer transfers in the first place. We recommend:

1. Build and test with synthetic or anonymised data wherever possible.
2. Host production in your own cloud account, in a region you choose.
3. Give the vendor least-privilege access, logged, and remove it at the end of the engagement.
4. Keep exports of personal data out of email and chat.

If the vendor never sees real personal data, much of the compliance work becomes simpler.

Contract and IP basics

Many DACH companies prefer a contract under their own law, with a court in their own country. Agree this explicitly, along with:

• Assignment of all intellectual property in code, designs and documentation to you.
• Confidentiality obligations and a separate NDA before the first detailed conversation.
• An inventory of open-source licences used in the deliverables.
• Acceptance criteria per phase and a process for change requests.
• Warranty, support and response times after go-live.
• Exit terms: code, infrastructure credentials and documentation handed over if the relationship ends.
• The data processing agreement and SCCs, as annexes.

Kosovo's Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU, in force since 1 April 2016, includes commitments on intellectual property standards. In practice your strongest protection is still the contract and owning the repository from day one. At Silicode, all IP transfers to the client under a written agreement, as set out on our Kosovo page.

A communication rhythm that works

Same time zone removes the hardest problem, but a distributed project still needs structure. This is the rhythm we recommend:

1. Weekly planning of 30 to 60 minutes with your product owner: priorities, open questions, decisions.
2. Short daily check-ins inside the delivery team, with your side invited but not required.
3. A demo of working software at the end of each iteration, in your environment, not slides.
4. One shared backlog that both sides can see, with every decision written in the ticket.
5. A monthly steering conversation about budget, scope and risks, with the people who sign off.
6. Named decision-makers on both sides, so nothing waits for a meeting.

If your organisation works in German internally, decide early who translates requirements into English tickets. It is usually the product owner.

Checklist before you sign

• Is the vendor's working language and documentation language agreed?
• Will the vendor access personal data, and if so, are the SCCs, DPA and transfer assessment in place?
• Is production hosted in an account you own?
• Does the contract assign all IP to you and name the governing law?
• Do you own the code repository from the first commit?
• Is there a kick-off session in person, and a weekly rhythm with named decision-makers?

Frequently asked questions

Does Kosovo have an EU or Swiss adequacy decision?

No. Kosovo is not on the European Commission's adequacy list or on the Swiss list in Annex 1 of the Data Protection Ordinance. Transfers of personal data therefore need safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses.

Can we use the same SCCs for Swiss and EU data?

Usually yes. The FDPIC recognises the EU SCCs for transfers under the Swiss FADP, provided they are adapted to Swiss law where needed. Your DPO or counsel should approve the exact wording.

Will our team need to work in English?

Yes, in most cases. English is the working language of software teams in Kosovo. If you need German content in the product or documentation, include it in the scope.

How do we start without a big commitment?

Start with a short call, then a written scope and estimate, then a discovery phase before development. For technical questions such as architecture or build-versus-buy, a technical consulting engagement is a smaller first step.

For the wider picture, read our guide to software development in Kosovo, or see how an early-stage PropTech startup went from pitch deck to funded MVP with us as its engineering team. When you are ready, book a call or request a quote.