For the second consecutive year, Croatia records a drop in issued work permits, with the largest decline in construction. While fewer Nepalese workers are arriving, Filipinos are increasingly in demand, and tourism remains a stable pillar of foreign labor.
After record employment of foreign labor in 2024, Croatia is experiencing a decline in the number of issued work permits for the second year in a row. The Ministry of the Interior (MUP) announced that by the end of July this year, approximately 106,000 permits allowing residence and work were approved for foreign workers. This is about 9,000 fewer than in the same period last year, and as many as 25,000 fewer compared to the record year of 2024, when around 131,000 permits were issued in the first seven months.
Of this year's total, 41,716 permits were issued for new employment, an almost identical number, 41,388, for extensions of existing permits, while 23,291 permits were for seasonal workers. These trends indicate a certain consolidation of the labor market following the entry into force of the new Aliens Act, which tightened the conditions for obtaining work permits with the aim of introducing order and ensuring better conditions for foreign workers.
The largest drop in employment this year was recorded among workers from Nepal. During the first seven months, around 14,500 work permits were issued for them, representing a decrease of 6,000 compared to the same period last year. This has moved Nepalese workers from second place last year to fourth place. At the same time, the largest increase was recorded among workers from the Philippines, who were granted about 5,000 more permits than the previous year. With approximately 15,700 issued permits, Filipinos are now the third largest group of foreign workers in Croatia.
At the top of the list remain workers from Bosnia and Herzegovina with nearly 20,000 permits, while citizens of Serbia were issued around 18,000. They are followed by North Macedonia with just under 10,000 permits, India with about 6,000, Uzbekistan with 4,500, Kosovo with 3,800, Egypt with 2,000, and Albania with around 1,800. Compared to last year, in addition to Nepalese workers, a decrease in the number of permits was also observed for workers from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, India, Bangladesh, and Egypt.
The most dramatic fluctuations are seen in construction. During the first seven months of 2024, employers in this sector managed to obtain around 44,000 work permits for foreign workers. Last year, that number in the same period decreased to approximately 33,000, while this year it fell to only 27,000. This indicates that the construction sector has lost 17,000 work permits in just two years, which is almost 40 percent, and this could also signal a slowdown in construction activity.
In contrast, tourism and hospitality, the second major pillar of foreign employment, show stability. This year, approximately 43,700 work permits were issued, which is about 2,000 more than last year and only about 400 fewer compared to the record year of 2024. Foreign workers in Croatian tourism have become a constant, but with their increasing numbers, the importance of protecting their labor rights also grows.
The Union of Tourism and Services of Croatia (STUH), the only professional union in tourism, continues this year to inform foreign workers about working conditions and the role of unions. A new collective agreement with employers was signed at the end of March and has been applied since May 1. One of the key innovations is an increase in minimum wages in hospitality by 25 to 28 percent, aligned with the growth of the minimum wage in Croatia.
However, challenges remain. Domestic workers, in addition to their regular jobs, often have to mentor and train foreign colleagues, which represents an additional burden.
"This is a fairly significant burden for our workers, so, for example, in collective bargaining we sought a kind of compensation for mentoring, which, however, did not pass,"said Roberto Erman, STUH union representative for Istria and Kvarner.
Erman also highlighted the issue of abolishing the "permanent seasonal worker" measure, which allowed seasonal workers to return to the same employer.
"It's a shame that this measure was abolished because it ensured the return of seasonal workers to the same company. Today, employers invest additional effort in finding models to somehow retain seasonal workers until the next pre-season, and it is visible on the ground that quality employees are now most often hired permanently,"Erman explained for Novi list.
