Croatia has become the fastest-growing EU destination for Filipino workers — about 15,700 residence-and-work permits in the first seven months of 2026, up 5,000 on the year while every other large nationality fell. This page is the route from brief to first shift, with the 2026 rules that decide whether your company can file at all.
MUP issued 16,195 residence-and-work permits to Philippine nationals in January–November 2025, the fourth-largest nationality after Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nepal and Serbia. In January–July 2026 Filipinos moved to third place with about 15,700 permits — up 5,000 on the same period of 2025 — while Nepali numbers fell by 6,000 and Bosnian, Serbian and Indian numbers also declined. Tourism and hospitality held at 43,700 permits; construction fell to 27,000 from 44,000 two years earlier. Croatian employers are choosing Filipinos for the same reasons Gulf and Central European employers did: English, service culture, trade certificates and low attrition.
The Philippine side has caught up with the demand. The Migrant Workers Office in Vienna took over Croatia in October 2024 (before that the nearest office was Milan, seven hours from Zagreb), and on 14 October 2025 the Department of Migrant Workers and the Croatian Ministry of Labour agreed the employer-pays principle, a government-to-government pilot for 435 hospitality jobs and cooperation on pre-departure and post-arrival orientation. Recruitment from the Philippines to Croatia is now a mapped, verified corridor — and the public side is in it: the pilot is being implemented with the Croatian public employment authorities for the tourism sector, with the Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts briefing its members on how employers take part.
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.
Accommodation is a legal condition, not a perk: adequate standard for the whole stay, changes reported to the police within 15 days, no automatic deductions from wages beyond what the law allows. Workers may change employer after six months (2026 rule) — retention is decided by pay, housing and how the first month goes, and our aftercare is built around that month.
Sourcing from Prime Search's candidate base — 1.4 million followers on Facebook — and practical trade tests at the Makati facilities: a cook cooks, a welder welds, a chambermaid turns a room, a driver drives. You see the test live or recorded, interview the shortlist and select. Nobody is presented who has not passed the test for your role.
Croatian is not a condition of the first permit. Since 2026 a worker must show Croatian at A1.1 at the first renewal after one year — the employer bears the exam cost, seasonal workers are exempt — so we start basic Croatian in Manila before departure and English carries the first months on site.
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. The 2026 ratio rule is about proportions, not minimum numbers — a company with five Croatian employees can employ up to 25 third-country workers in tested occupations or 50 in exempt ones.
Three to five months: two to four weeks to a tested shortlist, 15 days for HZZ where required, up to 90 days at MUP, then the visa D and departure formalities. Plan seasonal hires from October for an April start.
No. The permit is issued to your company as employer; we run selection in Manila through our DMW-licensed agency and prepare your MUP file. Where a Croatian intermediary is involved, the law requires that the employer meets all the conditions anyway.
Yes, and in the euro area since 2023. The permit is national, the visa D is Croatian, and travel within the area is simple once the card is issued.
General information for employers, not legal or migration advice. Rules change; we re-verify before each hire.