The number of work permits granted to foreign nationals by the Croatian authorities is continuing to decline, partly due to the introduction of stricter employment rules.
According to the most recent figures from the Ministry of Interior of Croatia, the country granted 83,300 work permits in the first five months of 2025. This represents an 11 per cent drop compared to the same period last year, Schengen.News reports.
The number of granted permits was lower than last year in April, too. However, despite such figures, this trend has not been considered unexpected in any way by the Croatian businessman Petar Lovrić.
As Total Croatia explains, Lovrić said that the newly released figures by the ministry show that the estimates made two years ago, saying that the country needs half a million workers, are exaggerated.
He further highlighted that taking into account the current growth dynamics, the job market of Croatia needs to employ only around 120,000 to 130,000 foreign workers.
First and foremost, it turns out that the estimates made two years ago that Croatia would need half a million workers were unrealistic and exaggerated. For an economy like Croatia’s and with the type of growth dynamics it has, the market objectively needs to employ around 120,000 to 130,000 foreign workers.
Locals Are Now Taking Up More Jobs
Lovrić gave a number of reasons why Croatia is seeing a drop in the number of granted work permits, with one of them being the increased interest among locals to take up jobs in sectors dominated by foreign workers.
According to Lovrić, the increase in wages has helped Croatia to make certain jobs that were previously only taken up by foreign workers attractive for locals, too. Another reason, he said, is the new Law on Foreigners.
Regarding seasonal workers, the recent data have shown that Croatia has also seen a drop in seasonal work permits.
Ministry figures revealed that only around 7,500 nationals were granted a work permit in the first five months of 2025 for seasonal employment purposes.
The main beneficiaries of Croatia’s work permits since the beginning of this year until the end of May were Nepalese. They were granted a total of 17,100 work permits.
Just like Croatia, a number of other EU member states also keep on granting work permits to foreign workers amid labour shortages in different industries.