Ministry of the Interior Announces Details of Legal Changes for Importing Foreign Workers and Employer Supervision

The legal changes being prepared with the aim of improving conditions for importing foreign labor will also strengthen the supervision of employers by setting new conditions such as introducing a ratio between the number of domestic and foreign workers.

In Croatia, last year, 172,499 residence and work permits were issued to citizens of third countries, and the interdepartmental group, which includes representatives of trade unions and employers, is working on changes to legal regulations to bring order to the system of importing foreign labor.

The announced changes should better regulate and supervise employers, but quality controls of the labor force imported by employers are also being introduced.

– Along with many other changes, we want to highlight those that better regulate and supervise the employment of foreign labor for the purpose of protecting foreign workers, but also enabling their employment by employers who genuinely need this labor, especially qualified labor – emphasizes the Ministry of the Interior in response to Hina.

Ministry of the Interior: We will exclude those who abuse the system

The Ministry of the Interior emphasizes that in the future, the conditions for issuing work permits will be tightened by introducing new conditions for obtaining a positive opinion from the Croatian Employment Service. According to the Foreigners Act, a positive opinion from the CES is the basis on which the Ministry of the Interior issues work permits.

Additionally, they will check employers and the working conditions they offer to ensure that they are compliant employers. The Ministry of the Interior also states that it will strengthen the supervision of employers to detect those who “abuse the system” and thus create unfair market competition, with the aim of excluding such employers from the employment system.

They also provide examples, stating that it is proposed that employers be given an additional obligation to provide proof of competencies for workers in deficit occupations to avoid importing workers who do not possess the knowledge and skills of a specific deficit occupation.

The introduction of limitations on the number of applications for work permits per employer is also planned, in accordance with the size of the employer and their real employment needs. This aims to avoid situations where certain companies submit a large number of applications for work permits, especially those legal entities that are specifically established for the purpose of importing labor, they emphasize.

At least one permanently employed domestic worker for a minimum of one year

In addition, employers will be required to maintain a certain ratio of employed domestic and foreign workers.

Furthermore, a condition for issuing a positive opinion from the CES will be that employers seeking a work permit for foreign workers have one employed domestic worker (a citizen of Croatia, the EEA, or Switzerland) full-time for at least one year. This condition existed previously but was shorter – companies were required to have one domestic employee for at least six months.

Additionally, checks on employer debts are being tightened. Until now, one of the conditions for a positive opinion was that employers have no debts related to income tax and contributions for mandatory insurance, and now the settled obligations of employers regarding all public levies will be checked.

Moreover, companies wishing to import labor will have to have a minimum amount of monthly turnover. It is proposed that a minimum turnover of 10,000 euros for legal entities per month over a period of 6 months and 15,000 euros for individuals be set as a condition for issuing work permits.

Ministry of the Interior has provided more specific data on work permits

According to earlier announcements, one of the proposals is to extend the validity of work permits from one to three years, as well as to extend seasonal work permits for certain occupations from 6 to 9 months.

They also want to introduce changes whereby citizens of third countries, when changing employers, will not have to obtain a new residence and work permit, but only new employers will have to request a positive opinion from the CES for those workers, emphasized the State Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior, Žarko Katić, in mid-last year.

The Ministry of the Interior has also provided more specific data on the number of active work permits last year. Although in 2023 a total of 172,499 residence and work permits were issued to citizens of third countries, on the last day of last year, the number of foreign workers with a valid work permit was lower by 50 thousand, or 117,549.

They explain this by the fact that foreign workers in Croatia can change jobs, so during the year, the body can issue multiple residence and work permits for the same person. It should also be added that of the total number of issued permits, over 18,000 were for seasonal jobs, which were issued with a duration of 6 months.