From Zadar to Dubrovnik, Dalmatia runs the Adriatic's highest-end season — five-star hotels, island resorts, restaurants that turn tables three times a night — and cannot staff it locally. Split-Dalmatia issued 16,602 permits in the first eleven months of 2025. Filipinos serve the season and work the Split and Trogir yards year-round.
Dalmatian hospitality is the most guest-facing in Croatia: luxury hotels in Dubrovnik and on Hvar and Brač, city-hotel and restaurant density in Split and Zadar, island properties reachable only by ferry, where a crew that arrives in April must last until October. English is the working language with guests, the standards are international, and the seasonal roles — housekeeping, kitchen assistants, waiters, cooks, seasonal sales staff in Dubrovnik-Neretva — are exempt from the labour-market test. Split's shipyard and the Trogir yard, the construction market of the Split conurbation and the region's logistics keep year-round demand for trades.
The route is Croatia's combined residence-and-work permit: you file one application online through the joint HZZ/MUP platform, HZZ runs the labour-market test unless the occupation is on its exemption list and gives its opinion on your eligibility, MUP decides within 90 days, and the permit runs for the contract period — up to three years, depending on the route. Before anything is filed we check the 2026 employer conditions — €100,000 turnover over the last twelve months, at least one Croatian or EEA employee for the previous year, Croatian/EEA staff at 20 % of third-country headcount (10 % for exempt occupations), no arrears, adequate accommodation.
Island and five-star properties brief earliest — September or October — because they test to the highest standard and house crews on site. Dubrovnik's season stretches into November; multi-year seasonal permits let the same crew return for three years. Year-round roles run on three-year permits with Croatian A1.1 at the first renewal.
Pay must be at least the statutory minimum — €1,050 gross a month in 2026 — or the extended sector collective agreement where one applies (construction, hospitality), and accommodation must meet the legal standard for the whole stay; we put both in the offer before the interview so nothing is renegotiated at the police counter.
Recruitment runs through our own DMW-licensed agency, Prime Search Manpower Agency Inc. in Makati (licence DMW-027-LB-11182024): your company is accredited at the Migrant Workers Office in Vienna, which has jurisdiction for Croatia, the job order is registered with the DMW, and every worker leaves Manila with a verified contract, medical clearance, pre-departure orientation and an Overseas Employment Certificate. The Philippine ban on direct hiring applies; the employer is always your company, directly — the Croatian permit is issued to you, not to an agency.
Everything here is subject to the Foreigners Act as amended (NN 40/2025, NN 55/2026), the HZZ exemption list in force and MUP practice.
Yes: a room turned to your inspection sheet, a service sequence to your standard, a cook to your menu, watched live by your managers.
Employers house island crews on site; the accommodation standard is a legal condition and we help specify it before the brief.
Exempt from the test by county entry for the season; we confirm the current dates.
General information for employers, not legal or migration advice. Rules change; we re-verify before each hire.