How to Move to Croatia to Work with a Business Visa

If you are interested moving overseas to Croatia to live and work under a business visa you should look into the conditions and requirements that must be met in order for you to do so. In Croatia, foreign nationals can only legally work in Croatia with valid business visa if they also have a valid work permit in most cases. There are of course some exceptions to this.

A business visa is typically only required over a regular employment visa in two instances. One instance is if you are a foreign national and will be working under an existing agreement for technical assignments for a period less than a year. The other instance is If you are looking into establishing a business presence or if you will be acting as the director of an existing business. With this second instance you are not required to have a work permit with your business visa.

You can submit your application for your business visa at your local Croatian consulate or embassy. You should know though that once you enter Croatia with a valid business visa you will still have to undergo some things to insure that you meet all of the necessary requirements. The Ministry of Labor gets involved for what is called a resolution, which is where the desirability of your skills is confirmed. The immigration department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs also gets involved as they have to validate your business visa upon arrival in the country once you check it at a police station.

To apply for a business visa, you will need a completed application, a resolution from the Ministry of Labor, a valid passport, a rental agreement with your landlord, the ID card of the landlord and proof of the landlord's ownership of the living quarters from the land registry. You must present all of this proof within 24 hours of arriving in Croatia by visiting a local police station.

If you will be working for a Croatian company you will not need the resolution but you will need some additional items. You will need two excerpts for the Croatian company from the court register, the decision from the founder on your appointment as the director of the company and a letter from the founder address to the Croatian embassy or consulate in your home country.

Business visas are valid for a period no longer than one year, but they can be renewed.

When you arrive in Croatia you will need to visit a local police station to register with the Ministry of Internal Affairs within 24 hours of arriving. This registration process will take an hour or two. There you will submit an application for an extended residency permit, which you should receive within two or three weeks. Once you have received your extended residency permit you can then apply for your work permit if one is required of you.