Croatia's metal industry — structural steel, pressure equipment, rail and wagon building in Slavonski Brod, machine building around Zagreb and Varaždin, components for German and Italian OEMs — lists welders, fitters and machinists among the occupations HZZ exempts from the labour-market test. Filipino welders and machinists from Gulf fabrication and Asian machine shops are the supply.
The Philippines exports welders and machinists the way Germany exports machine tools. TESDA certifies welding at NC I–IV and machining at NC II–III; the Gulf's fabrication yards, petrochemical shutdowns and steel-structure shops have trained a generation in EN and ASME work; and the electronics and automotive supply chains around Manila, Cebu and Subic run CNC cells for Japanese and American OEMs. Croatian metal employers get welders who weld to a WPS and machinists who read a drawing with tolerances — and who have already worked twelve-hour shifts on someone else's schedule.
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.
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.
Metal-industry pay follows the applicable collective agreement and the company's wage groups; shift premiums are stated in the contract we file. Permits run for up to three years; Croatian A1.1 is planned for the first renewal, and shop-floor Croatian comes quickly to workers embedded in Croatian teams.
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.
Filipino welders usually hold class or ASME/AWS certificates; the EN ISO 9606 test is taken on arrival at a Croatian body, and our Makati test is designed to match it so the pass is a formality.
Yes — programmers and setters with CAM experience are available in smaller numbers; brief the control and the parts.
Two to four weeks to a tested shortlist; three to five months to arrival.
General information for employers, not legal or migration advice. Rules change; we re-verify before each hire.