Zagreb issues a quarter of Croatia's work permits — 40,170 in the first eleven months of 2025 — and, unlike the coast, hires all year: construction and reconstruction, the logistics parks around the ring road, manufacturing, ZET's buses and trams, hotels and restaurants that do not close in October, and care homes. Filipinos are the fastest-growing nationality in all of them.
Zagreb is where Croatia's year-round labour demand lives. Post-earthquake reconstruction and EU-funded infrastructure made construction the biggest employer of foreign labour until 2024; the logistics belt — Jastrebarsko, Sveta Nedelja, Velika Gorica, Sesvete, Rugvica — grew with retail and e-commerce; manufacturing in Zagreb County supplies German and Italian OEMs; ZET and the private hauliers ran out of drivers and went abroad; the hotels, restaurants and care homes of a capital city do not close in winter. The Zagreb police administration issued 40,170 permits in January–November 2025, and its files are decided by the same 90-day deadline as everywhere else.
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.
Year-round roles run on three-year permits; there is no season to plan around, so the timeline is three to five months from any month's brief. Housing in Zagreb is the constraint employers underestimate: the accommodation standard is a legal condition, rents are the highest in Croatia, and workers who can change employer after six months compare housing first.
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.
Same procedure; the exemption list has Zagreb-specific entries (bus drivers, for example). We confirm each role for the City of Zagreb and Zagreb County.
Within the 90-day statutory deadline since June 2026; clean files with exempt occupations are decided faster.
From one worker — a restaurant with four Croatian staff can employ up to forty third-country workers in exempt roles under the 2026 ratio; the practical limit is housing.
General information for employers, not legal or migration advice. Rules change; we re-verify before each hire.