Croatia: New Rules on Stay for Third Country Nationals

The Croatian government has introduced several improvements for the stay and work rights of third-country nationals. First, the application for a work registration certificate is now uniformly done via the official Form 5a rather than by ad hoc processes developed by individual police stations and administrations.  This ensures greater consistency in the information and documentation of all applicants. Additionally, immigration authorities are now authorized to obtain documentation needed for the certificate from other government bodies instead of requesting ut from applicants. Though this results in fewer administrative hurdles for applicants, it can cause extended processing times; two to three weeks can be expected for the issuance of the certificate. Finally, authorities have introduced an expedited process to obtain residence permits (five days instead of two to three weeks). The price for the expedited service is EUR 60 rather than the standard EUR 32.