How to Call Albania and Kosovo From the US: Country Codes +355 and +383

The Albania country code is +355, and Kosovo’s is +383. To call either country from the United States you dial 011 (the US international exit prefix), then the country code, then the local number without its leading zero: for example 011 355 4 2259571 reaches the numbering department of Albania’s telecoms regulator in Tirana, and 011 383 38 212 345 reaches Kosovo’s regulator in Prishtina. Both formats are published by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) from the national numbering plans filed by the two regulators.

This page explains how Albanian and Kosovar numbers are built, how to dial them from the US, how to dial the US from there, and how to tell a mobile number from a landline. It uses only the ITU numbering plan communications, the two regulators (AKEP in Albania, ARKEP in Kosovo) and a Czech regulator’s notice on Kosovo’s code. It does not cover prices or carrier plans, which change often and depend on your provider.

Quick Facts

• Albania: country code +355. Mobile numbers start with 6 and have nine digits after the code; landlines have eight (Tirana numbers start with 4).
• Kosovo: country code +383, assigned by the ITU in December 2016, phased in from early 2017 and fully implemented on January 15, 2019. Mobile numbers start with 4 and have eight digits after the code; Prishtina landlines start with 38.
• From the US: 011 + country code + number. The US international prefix is 011, per the ITU’s list of dialling procedures.
• From Albania or Kosovo to the US: 00 + 1 + the ten-digit US number. The international prefix in both countries is 00.
• Inside Albania: dial the full number with a leading 0 (Albania has used one national numbering region, with no area codes to switch, since 2017).
• Emergency: 112 works in both countries.

On This Page

• Dialing Formats at a Glance
• How Albanian Phone Numbers Work (+355)
• How Kosovo Phone Numbers Work (+383)
• Calling Albania and Kosovo From the US, Step by Step
• Calling the US From Albania or Kosovo
• Mobile or Landline? How to Tell
• Common Mistakes
• Frequently Asked Questions

Dialing Formats at a Glance

The table shows the digits to dial in each direction. “X” stands for any digit. The example numbers are the published contact numbers of the two regulators, taken from their ITU filings, so you can see how a real number looks in each format.

How Albanian Phone Numbers Work (+355)

Albania’s numbering plan is administered by the Electronic and Postal Communications Authority, AKEP, which publishes the plan and the list of allocated numbers on its website. AKEP notified the ITU on February 13, 2017 that Albania had moved to a new National Numbering Plan. The main change was that the old system of 12 regional areas became a single national region, so a caller anywhere in Albania now dials the full number with the prefix 0, and there is no longer any need to think about which area you are calling from. Calling from abroad did not change: international prefix, then 355, then the national number.

The plan sets these structures:

• Mobile numbers begin with 62 to 69 and are nine digits long (6X followed by seven more digits). Written internationally that is +355 6X XXX XXXX; inside Albania you dial 06X XXX XXXX.
• Tirana landlines begin with 4 and are eight digits long: +355 4 XXX XXXX, dialed as 04 XXX XXXX inside the country.
• Other landlines also have eight digits. They start with a two-digit code (22 to 25, 27 to 29, 32 to 35, 37 to 39, 42 to 45, 47 to 49, 52 to 55, 57 to 59, 82 to 85, 87 to 89) followed by six digits, or a three-digit code (in the ranges 210 to 219, 260 to 299, 310 to 319, 360 to 399, 510 to 519, 560 to 599, 810 to 819, 860 to 899) followed by five digits.
• Special numbers: 800 XXXX numbers are free to the caller (“green numbers”), 808 numbers are low-tariff, and 900 numbers are premium-rate services where the provider takes part of the charge. 112 is the emergency number, alongside 125 to 129.

Number portability has been in place for landline and mobile numbers since 2010, according to the same filing, so the first digits of a mobile number no longer reliably tell you which operator the person uses.

How Kosovo Phone Numbers Work (+383)

Kosovo received its own country code relatively recently. The Czech regulator ČTÚ records that the ITU assigned +383 to Kosovo in ITU Operational Bulletin No. 1114 of December 15, 2016, and that the code was fully implemented for fixed and mobile lines on January 15, 2019, after which Kosovo’s regulator asked all operators worldwide to route calls to Kosovo through +383 only. Before the new code, Kosovo landlines were reached through +381, the code Serbia uses, and mobile networks used Monaco’s +377 or Slovenia’s +386, as the Associated Press reported on the day the code was assigned. The new code began service in early 2017, starting with landlines (Wikipedia).

Kosovo’s Regulatory Authority of Electronic and Postal Communications, ARKEP, filed the national numbering plan with the ITU on October 31, 2019. The ITU document carries the standard footnote that the designation “Kosovo” is without prejudice to positions on status and in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1244 and the ICJ opinion. The plan sets out:

• Number length: national numbers are eight or nine digits after the country code.
• Landlines use regional codes: 38 Prishtina, 28 Mitrovica, 29 Prizren, 39 Peja (eight-digit numbers), and 280 Gjilan, 290 Ferizaj, 390 Gjakova (eight or nine digits).
• Mobile numbers begin with 4 and are eight digits long. The filing allocates 43, 48 and 49 to IPKO Telecommunications, 44, 45 and 46 to Telecom of Kosovo, and a block within 47 to the operator mts d.o.o., with 41 and 42 unallocated at the time of filing. Written internationally: +383 4X XXX XXX.
• Emergency and social numbers: 112 (emergency), 192 (police), 193 (fire), 194 (medical), plus the European 116 XXX helpline range, which was allocated but not yet assigned when the plan was filed.

Unlike Albania, Kosovo has not published a real-time number portability database in its ITU filing (the entry reads “N/A”), so the mobile prefixes above are a reasonable, though not guaranteed, guide to the operator.

Calling Albania and Kosovo From the US, Step by Step

The ITU’s list of dialling procedures gives the United States an international prefix of 011 and a national prefix of 1, with country code 1 and ten-digit numbers. So from any US phone:

1. Dial 011, the exit code that tells the network the call is international.
2. Dial the country code: 355 for Albania or 383 for Kosovo.
3. Dial the national number without its leading 0. An Albanian mobile written locally as 06X XXX XXXX becomes 6X XXX XXXX; a Prishtina landline written as 038 XXX XXX becomes 38 XXX XXX.

On a smartphone you can type a plus sign in place of 011; the plus sign is the international symbol for “insert this country’s exit code here”, and it makes the same number work whether you are dialing from the US, Albania or anywhere else. If you are dialing from a landline or an office system, use 011 in full.

Count the digits before you press call. A correct Albanian mobile number in international form has twelve digits after the plus sign (355 plus nine); a correct Kosovo mobile has eleven (383 plus eight); a Tirana landline has eleven (355, 4, then seven).

Calling the US From Albania or Kosovo

Both countries use 00 as the international prefix, as shown in the ITU dialling procedures for Albania; Kosovo, which is not in that 2011 list, uses the same 00 prefix. To call a US number, dial 00, then 1, then the three-digit area code and seven-digit number: 00 1 XXX XXX XXXX. On a mobile, +1 XXX XXX XXXX does the same job.

If you are visiting and want to call a local number from a local SIM, dial it as written, including the leading 0. A call between Albania and Kosovo is international: 00 383 or 00 355 first.

Mobile or Landline? How to Tell

In Albania the first digit after the country code tells you everything: 6 means mobile, 4 means Tirana landline, anything else means a landline somewhere else in the country. In Kosovo, 4 means mobile and 2 or 3 means landline (28, 29, 38, 39 and the three-digit codes 280, 290, 390).

The Albanian consulates in the US publish their numbers in US format; it is the numbers on the other side of the ocean, family, hotels, tour operators, that follow the +355 and +383 formats.

Common Mistakes

• Keeping the leading zero. 011 355 04 … will not connect. Drop the 0 after the country code.
• Using an old Kosovo code. Since January 15, 2019 Kosovo numbers are reached only through +383. Update any older contacts.
• Adding an Albanian area code that no longer exists. Albania has had a single numbering region since 2017; the number is the number, wherever the person lives.
• Confusing Albania and Kosovo. They have separate country codes, +355 and +383, and a call between them is international. See Albanian vs Kosovan if the distinction is new to you.
• Dialing 1 before 011. The US national prefix 1 is for domestic long distance; international calls start with 011 (or the plus sign).

For the words you will need once someone picks up, see how to say hello in Albanian and our list of common Albanian phrases.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the country code for Albania?

Albania’s country code is +355. From the United States you dial 011 355 followed by the national number without its leading zero, so an Albanian mobile is 011 355 6X XXX XXXX and a Tirana landline is 011 355 4 XXX XXXX. The format comes from the national numbering plan that Albania’s regulator AKEP filed with the ITU in 2017.

What is the country code for Kosovo?

Kosovo’s country code is +383. The ITU assigned it in December 2016 and it has been fully in use for fixed and mobile lines since January 15, 2019. From the US, dial 011 383 and then the eight-digit national number: 011 383 4X XXX XXX for a mobile, 011 383 38 XXX XXX for a Prishtina landline.

How do I call an Albanian cell phone from the USA?

Dial 011, then 355, then the mobile number without the leading 0. Albanian mobile numbers start with 6 and have nine digits, so the full sequence is 011 355 6X XXX XXXX, twelve digits after the exit code. On a smartphone you can save the contact as +355 6X XXX XXXX and it will dial correctly from any country.

How do I call the US from Albania?

Dial 00, then 1, then the ten-digit US number, for example 00 1 212 XXX XXXX. Both Albania and Kosovo use 00 as the international prefix, according to the ITU’s dialling procedures list for Albania and Kosovo’s standard dialing format. On a mobile phone, +1 followed by the ten digits works the same way.

Do Albanian phone numbers have area codes?

Not in the old sense. Since AKEP’s 2017 numbering plan, Albania has had a single numbering region instead of 12, so every call inside the country is dialed as the full number with a leading 0. Landline numbers still begin with a code that reflects the locality (4 for Tirana, 2X, 3X, 5X or 8X elsewhere), but you never need to add or drop it.

Is 112 the emergency number in Albania and Kosovo?

Yes. Both numbering plans list 112 as the emergency number. Albania’s plan also reserves 125 to 129 as emergency numbers, and Kosovo’s plan lists 192 for police, 193 for fire and 194 for medical emergencies. These are national numbers and cannot be dialed from abroad.

Sources

• ITU: Albania (country code +355), National Numbering Plan communicated by AKEP, 13 February 2017
• ITU: Kosovo (country code +383), National Numbering Plan communicated by ARKEP, 31 October 2019
• ITU: Dialling procedures (international prefix, national prefix and national significant number), position on 15 December 2011
• AKEP: Numeration plan (Albania)
• Czech Telecommunication Office (ČTÚ): Country code for Kosovo
• Associated Press via WHDH: Kosovo gets UN recognition in phone country code of its own (December 15, 2016)
• Wikipedia: Telephone numbers in Kosovo

Related Reading

• Albanian Consulates in the US
• How to Care for Aging Parents From Abroad
• How Much Money Immigrants Send Home
• Tirana Travel Guide
• Kosovo Travel Guide
• Albanian vs Kosovan

Author: Dardanë Halimi

Dardanë Halimi is a writer and communications professional with an M.A. in Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication from James Madison University. Her work focuses on storytelling, digital content, higher education, and strategic communication, with experience writing for academic, nonprofit, and marketing organizations in both the United States and Kosovo.