April the 22nd, 2026 – New rules aimed at foreign workers from third countries in Croatia are due to come into force as of next week. Here’s a breakdown of everything they’ll need to do.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, a new regulation from the Interior Ministry (MUP) will soon come into force. According to it, foreign workers from third countries will only be able to obtain work permits to work in Croatia after they present proof of their health status, a health card (medical record) and an up to date vaccination status.
The new rules for foreign workers will be valid as of next week, and foreign workers who have not been vaccinated in accordance with the Croatian vaccination programme will have to get vaccinated, Novi list reports. Likewise, their local employer will have to present proof of adequate accommodation and proof of the paid salary for these workers, which will be proven by an employment contract and a mandatory lease agreement.
As such, foreign workers, as stipulated by the new regulation coming next week, will have to be accommodated in housing units with at least fourteen square metres of space per person and six square metres for each additional worker. This means that a maximum of eight workers will be able to be accommodated in a 56 square metre apartment.
They will have to have a separate toilet, a kitchen with a working refrigerator and stove, the ability to ventilate the entire space, furniture, a ceiling height that allows for unhindered movement, and separate accommodation for men and women, unless they’re related. These provisions of the new regulations speak about the conditions that some foreign workers have to cope with across Croatia at the moment, crammed into spaces without basic hygiene conditions, in inhumane living conditions that are unacceptable.
In the future, the rent for accommodation will be allowed to amount to a maximum of 30% of the worker’s net salary, with a mandatory rental contract that will state both the price of accommodation and the number of people living in the space.
The current situation regarding the rights of foreign workers from third countries in Croatia is shown by the fact that a staggering and shameful 10,765 cases of violations of the Law on Foreigners have been identified so far and 1.2 million euros in fines have been collected from unscrupulous employers. These employers were most often operating in the construction, catering/hospitality and taxi services.
For undeclared work, that is, work without registering for pension and health insurance, employers across Croatia paid another 3.2 million euros in fines. According to data from MUP, 105,231 foreign workers from third countries currently have valid work permits in Croatia, most of them from neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina (10,208), followed by the Philippines (9,804), Nepal (8,429) and Serbia (7,473).
In the first quarter of this year alone, around 47,000 such permits were issued, with their overall number having decreased by more than 23% compared to previous years.
