Temporary Stay of Foreigners

An application for temporary stay is submitted at a diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Croatia. Third-country nationals who are not required to have a visa to enter the Republic of Croatia may also apply for temporary stay at a police administration or police station according to their intended place of stay, their employer’s head office or their place of work.
 
Exceptionally, third-country nationals who are required to have a visa to enter the Republic of Croatia may also apply for temporary stay at a police administration/police station if they are: close family members of a Croatian citizen; life partners or informal life partners of a Croatian citizen; if they are arriving for the purpose of studying at a university at undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate level, scientific researchers arriving on the basis of a hosting agreement (including their close family members); submitting an application for temporary stay on humanitarian grounds; family members of an EU Blue Card holder.
 
Purposes of temporary stay

Temporary stay may be granted to third-country nationals who intend to stay or who are staying in the Republic of Croatia for the following purposes: family reunification, secondary school education and university studies, scientific research, humanitarian grounds, life partnership, work, work of posted workers, stay of persons with long-term residence in another EEA Member State, other purposes, stay of digital nomads.

Temporary stay for the purpose of work is granted as a stay and work permit. Third-country nationals may submit another application for temporary stay for other purposes or for the purpose of stay of digital nomads only after six months have passed from the expiry of temporary stay that was granted for other purposes or for the purpose of stay of digital nomads.
 
Conditions for granting temporary stay

Third-country nationals will be granted temporary stay if they: prove the purpose of their temporary stay, have a valid travel document, have funds to support themselves, have health insurance, when applying for temporary stay for the first time, enclose proof that they have not been convicted by a final ruling of any criminal offences in their home country or a country where they resided for more than one year immediately prior to arriving in the Republic of Croatia, unless they are posted workers, students, scientific researchers, or intra-corporate transferees utilizing mobility, arriving from another EEA Member State, have not been banned entry and stay in the Republic of Croatia and no alert has been issued in SIS for the purpose of banning their entry, and are not considered threat for public policy, national security or public health.
 
Withdrawing a temporary stay permit

The Ministry of Interior shall withdraw a temporary stay permit for a third-country national through a police administration or a police station if: 1. the conditions for granting temporary stay cease to exist; 2. he has been forbidden to enter into the Republic of Croatia and stay in the Republic of Croatia, or if an alert has been issued in SIS for the purpose of forbidding his entry; 3. he fails to register his temporary residence with a police administration or a police station within 30 days from having been granted temporary stay or issued with a long-term visa; 4. he cancels his temporary residence in the Republic of Croatia upon his own request; 5. he stays abroad for a total of more than 90 days on multiple occasions or more than 30 days on a single occasion since the day he was granted temporary stay in the duration of up to one year; 6. he stays abroad for a total of more than 180 days on multiple occasions or more than 60 days on a single occasion since the day he was granted temporary stay in the duration of up to two years; 7. he has been staying in the Republic of Croatia contrary to the purpose of his temporary stay permit; 8. spouses or common law partners, or life or informal life partners do not live in a real marital or common law partnership, or a genuine life partnership or informal life partnership, and temporary stay was granted for the purpose of family reunification or life partnership. Exceptionally, points 5 and 6 shall not apply to researchers and students if they are staying in another EEA Member State on the basis of short-term or long-term mobility, or to third-country nationals who have been granted a stay and work permit and who have been posted to work in another EEA Member State. By way of derogation from points 5 and 6, a temporary stay permit shall not be withdrawn for a third-country national who stays outside of the Republic of Croatia for up to 90 days on a single occasion for justified reasons if, prior to leaving the Republic of Croatia, he notifies the competent police administration or police station thereof. Should exceptional circumstances occur after his departure from the Republic of Croatia, third-country nationals shall notify a diplomatic mission or a consular post of the Republic of Croatia within 30 days from the occurrence of these circumstances.
 
Duration of temporary stay

Temporary stay is granted for a period of up to one year. The period of validity of a travel document has to be at least 3 months longer than the period of validity of a temporary stay permit. If the application is approved, an alien is issued a biometric residence permit. If the application is submitted at a diplomatic mission or consular post, aliens will be notified that a decision relating to the application has been issued, instructing them to appear at the competent police administration or police station to provide biometric data required for their residence permit. Aliens have to report their temporary residence address at the competent police administration or police station not later than three days from their entry into the Republic of Croatia.
 
For detailed information regarding temporary stay in the Republic of Croatia, please refer to the web site of the competent authority - Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Croatia.
 
 
TEMPORARY STAY FOR THE PURPOSE OF FAMILY REUNIFICATION
 
Temporary stay for the purpose of family reunification may be granted to third-country nationals who meet the general conditions required to be granted temporary stay and who are close family members of: a Croatian national; a third-country national who has been granted permanent stay; a third-country national who has been granted temporary stay; a third-country national who has been granted long-term residence; a third-country national who has been granted protection in line with the provisions of special legislation governing international protection.

ATTENTION: A close family member of a third-country national staying in the Republic of Croatia based on a valid stay and work permit granted for a period of one year in line with Article 97 of the Aliens Act may be granted temporary stay for the purpose of family reunification only if a third-country national with whom family reunification in the Republic of Croatia is requested has already been granted temporary stay for at least 1 year.

Temporary stay for the purpose of family reunification will not be granted to a family member of a third-country national who has been granted a stay and work permit for seasonal work, who has been granted temporary stay for other purposes, and who is a service provider or posted worker.
 
Within the meaning of the Aliens Act, the following categories of aliens are considered as close family members: a spouse, a common law partner, a minor child common to spouses and common law partners, life partners or informal life partners, and a minor child of each of them, their minor jointly adopted child, or a minor child adopted by either of them who is not married, as well as a minor child of a life or informal life partner or his minor adopted child who is not married; parents or adoptive parents of a minor child who is a Croatian citizen, third-country national who has been granted long-term residence or permanent stay, asylum or subsidiary protection.

The following must be submitted as proof of marriage:
 
- extract from the marriage register. 
 
The following documents must be submitted as proof of common law partnership:
 
- extract from the birth register for a child common to both partners or a decision of the competent authority on the adoption of the child, or
 
- extract from the birth register or a single status certificate, or an extract from the register of common law partnerships, a statement made by the common law partners on their life together, statements made by witnesses about the existence and the duration of the common law partnership, proof of living together in a shared household in the Republic of Croatia or abroad for at least three years immediately prior to submitting the application, or some other proof indicating to the existence of a common law partnership and the intention to continue living together.
 
The following documents must be submitted as proof of a parent-child relationship:
 
– extract from the birth register or a decision of the competent authority on the adoption of the child.
 
Exceptionally, any other relative may also be regarded as a close family member of a Croatian national, a third country national who has been granted temporary or permanent stay or long-term residence and a third country national who has been granted asylum status, if there are special personal or serious humanitarian reasons for family reunification in the Republic of Croatia.
 
 
TEMPORARY STAY OF DIGITAL NOMADS
 
A digital nomad is considered a third-country national (this means a non-EU/EEA/Swiss citizen) who is employed or performs work through communication technology for a company or his own company that is not registered in the Republic of Croatia and does not perform work or provide services to employers in the Republic of Croatia.
 
Temporary stay is granted for up to a year (or less) and it cannot be extended. A new application for regulating a stay of digital nomads can be submitted 6 months after the expiry of the previously granted temporary stay of digital nomads.
 
Applications should be submitted online. You will receive automatic confirmation that we have received your application and will then hear later from your case worker who will review the application and may request further documentation. Once you are informed that your temporary stay was granted, you have to contact the Embassy or the accredited Visa Application Centre to obtain a visa to enter the Republic of Croatia. You will have to apply for a Category D visa.
NB: Third-country nationals are obligated to register their temporary residence address at a police administration or police station within 30 days from being granted temporary stay or obtaining the Category D visa, or otherwise their temporary stay will be revoked.
 
For detailed information regarding temporary stay of digital nomads please refer to the web site of the competent authority - Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Croatia.