Many people come to Croatia in search of employment. However, if you are not from the European Union, specific rules must be followed.
1. Find a Job
First, you need to find a job. You can do this on our website pick.jobs where you can find many job opportunities. And also contact information such as email addresses or phone numbers to inquire whether an employer is willing to hire a foreign worker. If they are, there are certain procedures that the employer must follow to hire you.
2. Labor Market Test
The employer must contact the Croatian Employment Service (Hrvatski zavod za zapošljavanje) to conduct a labor market test. This test is required to employ third-country nationals, per Article 98 of the Foreigners Act (Zakon o strancima). The market test is not needed when extending a work permit for the same third-country national who is already working for the employer.
3. Request for a Work Permit
If the labor market test shows that there are no suitable domestic workers available, the Croatian Employment Service will notify the employer. The employer then has 90 days to submit a request for a residence and work permit for a specific worker. After this, the Croatian Employment Service will issue an opinion regarding the residence and work permit for the third-country national.
The Croatian Employment Service will verify the requirements for employment, while the Ministry of the Interior (Ministarstvo unutarnjih poslova), through the competent police administration or police station, will check the requirements for the residence of the third-country national.