Croatia issued around 106,000 residence and work permits to foreign workers in the first seven months of 2026, with workers from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia remaining the largest groups. The number of foreign workers in Croatia has nevertheless declined for a second consecutive year following the employment boom that peaked in 2024.
By the end of July, Croatia had issued around 9,000 fewer permits than during the same period in 2025 and approximately 25,000 fewer than in the record year of 2024, when about 131,000 permits were issued during the first seven months. Of this year’s total, 41,716 permits were for new employment, 41,388 were renewals and 23,291 were issued to seasonal workers.
Bosnia, Serbia and the Philippines Lead the List
Workers from Bosnia and Herzegovina remain the largest group, with almost 20,000 permits issued by the end of July. Serbian citizens rank second with around 18,000 permits, followed by workers from the Philippines with approximately 15,700 and Nepal with around 14,500.
Workers from Macedonia are also among the largest groups of foreign workers in Croatia, with slightly fewer than 10,000 permits issued during the first seven months. They are followed by workers from India with around 6,000 permits, Uzbekistan with 4,500, Kosovo with 3,800, Egypt with 2,000 and Albania with approximately 1,800.
Earlier figures covering the first five months of the year showed that 80,780 residence and work permits had been issued to citizens of non-EU countries. Among them were 6,849 Macedonian citizens.
At that stage, Bosnia and Herzegovina accounted for 14,799 permits, Serbia for 12,911, the Philippines for 12,622 and Nepal for 11,441. India accounted for 4,969 permits, while workers from Uzbekistan, Kosovo, Egypt and Albania were also among the major groups.
Serbian workers have recorded particularly strong growth over the past decade. Only 379 Serbian citizens worked in Croatia in 2016, rising to 767 in 2017, 13,579 in 2021 and 19,127 in 2022.
The number reached 24,028 in 2023 and a record 27,988 in 2024 before declining to 24,278 in 2025. Compared with five years earlier, the number of workers arriving from Serbia had increased by 78%, while their inflow rises as much as threefold between March and July because of the tourism season.
Nepal Records the Largest Decline
The sharpest fall this year has been recorded among workers from Nepal. Around 14,500 permits were issued to Nepali citizens in the first seven months, approximately 6,000 fewer than during the same period last year, pushing Nepal from second to fourth place among foreign-worker groups.
The Philippines recorded the strongest increase, with around 5,000 more permits issued than a year earlier. With approximately 15,700 permits, Filipino workers are now the third-largest group in Croatia.
Compared with last year, declines were also recorded among workers from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, India, Bangladesh and Egypt.
Croatia’s demand for foreign labor extends across tourism, hospitality, construction, transport, manufacturing and logistics. The reports state that hotels, restaurants, construction companies and other businesses have increasingly relied on workers from abroad because the domestic labor market cannot meet their needs.
Foreign workers who previously came mainly for three or four summer months are increasingly staying throughout the year, while many employers begin recruiting for the following season during the winter. Among the jobs specifically identified as being in demand are cooks, pizza makers, waiters, receptionists, housekeepers, bricklayers, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, truck drivers, warehouse workers and employees in food production and manufacturing.
