Can your company hire from the Philippines? Croatia's 2026 employer conditions

The conditions, one by one

• Turnover. A legal entity must show at least €100,000 of turnover in the twelve months before the month of application; a sole trader €40,000. The 2025 rule was €10,000 a month over six months — the 2026 amendment doubled the period and the threshold in effect.
• Liquidity. No blocked account for more than 30 consecutive days in the last six months.
• One domestic employee. At least one Croatian or EEA citizen employed full-time, continuously, for the twelve months before the application. A newly founded company cannot file in its first year.
• The ratio. For occupations subject to the labour-market test, Croatian/EEA full-time employees must number at least 20 % of the third-country workers employed — one domestic employee for every five foreign ones. For occupations on the HZZ exemption list the ratio is 10 %, one to ten. Both replace the 2025 rule of one to six and one to twelve.
• Clean record. No tax or contribution arrears in the Tax Administration's records; no conviction for serious labour or social-security offences, undeclared work or trafficking; a registered business activity that matches the job offered.
• Accommodation. Adequate standard for the whole stay — space, sanitation, safety — with any change reported to the police within 15 days; rent, where charged, reasonable against net pay and never deducted automatically.
• Pay. At least the statutory minimum (€1,050 gross in 2026) or the extended collective agreement for the sector, whichever is higher.

The conditions that follow the permit

• Language. From the first renewal after one year the worker must show Croatian at A1.1; the employer bears the cost of the exam. Seasonal workers and speakers of South Slavic languages are exempt.
• Mobility. Workers may change employer after six months; the new employer notifies within three days and HZZ opines within five. Retention is therefore earned in the first half-year.
• Loss of employment. A worker whose contract ends has three months to find a new employer (six with a permit of two years or more) before the permit is revoked.
• Fines. Employing a third-country national without a valid permit costs a legal entity €5,000–€20,000 per case; the 2025 moratorium on the new fines ended on 1 January 2026, and the labour inspectorate can close premises temporarily.

A worked example

A hotel company with 40 Croatian employees, €6 million turnover and no arrears wants 30 Filipino chambermaids, waiters and cooks for a coastal property. All three occupations are on the exemption list in the relevant counties, so the ratio is 10 %: 40 domestic employees support up to 400 third-country workers — the hotel is nowhere near the limit. A newly founded construction company with two Croatian employees and eight months of trading fails the twelve-month domestic-employee test and cannot file until it has been employing for a year, whatever its order book.

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.

The Philippine side

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.

Frequently asked questions

• We are a new company — can we file?

  Not until you have employed at least one Croatian or EEA citizen full-time for twelve months and can show twelve months of turnover above the threshold. We say so before you spend money on sourcing.

• Does the ratio count part-time staff?

  No — the law counts full-time Croatian/EEA employees against third-country workers. Agency or posted workers do not count as your domestic staff.

• Who checks the conditions?

  MUP, from Tax Administration and pension-insurance records, at every application and renewal. We pre-check the same records with you.