Stay and work permit – self-employment in a craft (sole trade) in which the third-country national holds an ownership share of at least 51 per cent
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Dozvola za boravak i rad – samozapošljavanje u obrtu u kojem državljanin treće zemlje ima vlasnički udio najmanje 51 % as of 2022-02-16[3][7] Ordinance art. 37, headed 'Državljanin treće zemlje koji se samozapošljava u obrtu'. An obrt is a sole trade or craft registered under the Crafts Act, a different legal form from a trgovačko društvo. |
|---|---|
| Official name (English) | Stay and work permit – self-employment in a craft (sole trade) in which the third-country national holds an ownership share of at least 51 per cent as of 2026-08-15[6] The Ministry's own English rendering of the art. 110 category. |
| Legal basis | Aliens Act (Zakon o strancima, NN 133/2020, 114/2022, 151/2022, 40/2025, 55/2026) art. 110, and Ordinance on the stay of third-country nationals (NN 20/2022, 155/2022, 43/2026) art. 37 (documentation) as of 2026-04-10[6][7][8][9] Ordinance art. 37 does not cross-refer to a gross-salary paragraph of art. 113, unlike art. 36 for the company limb; on the evidence retrieved the craft limb carries no salary condition, but the consolidated text of art. 113 was not available to confirm that negative. Amendment check (research-rules §3 step 2): the ordinance's amending instrument NN 43/2026 was retrieved and searched; it does not touch the documentation articles relied on here (arts. 25, 36, 37), so the 2022 text of those articles is current. |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-08-15[1][6] A stay and work permit (dozvola za boravak i rad) is the single permit that lets a third-country national stay and work in Croatia; it is issued as a biometric residence permit. |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EU, EEA, EFTA as of 2026-07-17[1][6] |
|---|---|
| Minimum age | Not established from a qualifying source No minimum age is stated for this permit in the sources retrieved. |
| Criminal-record condition | Yes as of 2026-08-15[4][5] The Ministry's instruction for permit applications lists, among the basic documentation, proof that the third-country national has not been finally convicted of criminal offences in their home country or a country where they lived for more than a year immediately before coming to Croatia, required only on a first application. The same condition appears in the general conditions for temporary stay (Aliens Act art. 59(1)(5)). |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | up to 2 years as of 2026-07-17[1][10] The Ministry of Economy states that a stay and work permit is issued for the term of the employment contract, and at most three years, or two years where it is issued without a labour market test and an opinion of the Croatian Employment Service. Permits under art. 110, including both self-employment limbs, are issued without either, so the two-year ceiling is the one recorded. The gazette states the same rule directly: art. 91(10), fourth indent, as substituted by NN 40/2025 — “– na vrijeme koje je potrebno za obavljanje posla odnosno na vrijeme na koje je sklopljen ugovor o radu, a najdulje do dvije godine dana ako se odobrava ili produljuje na temelju članka 110. ovoga Zakona”. |
|---|---|
| How the initial term is set | matches the contract |
| Renewable | Yes as of 2026-07-17[1][3] An application to extend is lodged at the latest 30 days before the permit expires, at the police administration of the holder's place of residence, which must decide before the current permit expires. No labour market test or Employment Service opinion is required for an extension for the same employer, the same occupation and the same third-country national. |
| Work rights | own activity only as of 2026-08-15[6] |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Yes as of 2026-08-15[2] The Ministry lists the stays that do not count toward the five years required for long-term residence – seasonal workers, service providers, posted workers, volunteers, trainees, intra-corporate transferees, other essential WTO-protocol personnel, frontier workers, stay granted for other purposes, secondary school education and time serving a prison sentence. Self-employment permits are not among the exclusions, so time on them counts. |
|---|
Requirements
| Minimum capital | EUR 26,544.56 as of 2022-10-03[7][9] Ordinance art. 37(1)(2) sets the same investment test as for the company limb – invoices and other evidence of investment through tangible and intangible assets of at least the statutory amount, real estate capped at 50 per cent of tangible assets, assets used exclusively in the craft and depreciable – and requires a fixed-asset list (Obrazac DI) on extension. The ordinance still states HRK 200,000; the euro figure of EUR 26,544.56 is the Act's, as converted by NN 114/2022. |
|---|---|
| Business plan required | Not established from a qualifying source[7] Not required by the documentation article for this limb; recorded as unknown rather than false. |
| Endorsement required | Not established from a qualifying source[7] No endorsement or committee assessment appears in the documentation for this limb. |
| Innovation criterion | Not established from a qualifying source[7] No innovation criterion is stated for this limb. |
| Jobs to be created | 3 as of 2022-02-16[7] Ordinance art. 37(1)(1): employment contracts and pension and health-insurance registrations for at least three Croatian citizens. Art. 37(2) waives that requirement on a first application in a newly founded craft; art. 37(3) then obliges the holder to deliver, within six months of the first permit, the craft licence or the decision registering the start of the craft, together with the three employment contracts and insurance registrations. |
| Own means requirement | Not established from a qualifying source[7] |
Process
| Where to apply from | either as of 2026-07-17[1][3] For permits issued under art. 110 the application may be lodged by the third-country national or by the employer, in person or by e-mail, at the police administration or station of the intended place of stay, the place of work, or the employer's seat. The Ministry publishes one e-mail address per police administration for this purpose. |
|---|---|
| Statutory processing time | up to 90 days as of 2026-07-17[1] The Ministry of Economy states a statutory deadline of up to 90 days from a complete application. The 2026 amendments (NN 55/2026) set the decision deadline for permit applications at a maximum of 90 days. The police administration notifies the applicant within five working days if the application needs completing. |
| Fees |
|
| Quota |
|
Physical presence
| maximum total absence | 180 days · to keep the permit as of 2025-03-07[4][10] Aliens Act art. 87(1)(5) as substituted by NN 40/2025: temporary stay granted for two years or less expires if the holder stays abroad for more than 180 days in total on multiple occasions. Where the permit is granted for one year or less the corresponding figure is 90 days. A single absence of up to 90 days for justified reasons does not end the stay if the holder notifies the competent police administration before leaving. |
|---|---|
| maximum consecutive absence | 60 days · to keep the permit as of 2025-03-07[4][10] Same provision: more than 60 days on a single occasion for a stay granted for two years or less; 30 days where the stay was granted for one year or less. |
| registration only | to keep the permit as of 2025-03-07[4][10] Art. 87(1)(3) as substituted by NN 40/2025: the holder must register their residence with the police administration within 30 days of the start of validity of the temporary stay, or within six months where a long-stay visa was needed for entry. The Ministry's English page still states the pre-amendment 30-day rule alone. |
Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Yes as of 2025-03-07[10] |
|---|---|
| Eligible relations | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Family may apply at the same time | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Family members' work rights | Not established from a qualifying source |
Your next step
Read the requirements above considering your own situation: the income multiple, the absence limits, who you can bring. Check the country record for the reference figure those amounts are calculated from, and for anything that has changed recently.
The next step is your own case. That assessment is legal work. Create profile for our assistance in this.
Profile benefits
- A 30-minute call with our consultant, who reads your profile first.
- An offer for legal support built around your case, covering the whole process.
Verification
| Sources cited | 10 |
|---|---|
| of which official (tier 1) | 10 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2022-02-16 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-08-15 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-22 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] Dozvola za boravak i rad (investor information)
Ministarstvo gospodarstva / Invest Croatia · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-07-17 · Accessed 2026-08-15 · Archived copy - [2] Long-Term Residence and Permanent stay
Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia (MUP) · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-15 · Archived copy - [3] Radne dozvole – dozvole za boravak i rad
Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia (MUP) · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-15 · Archived copy - [4] Temporary stay of third-country nationals
Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia (MUP) · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-15 · Archived copy - [5] Uputa za elektroničko podnošenje zahtjeva za dozvole za boravak i rad državljana trećih zemalja
Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia (MUP) · official guidance · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-15 - [6] Work of third-country nationals
Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia (MUP) · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-15 · Archived copy - [7] Pravilnik o boravku državljana trećih zemalja u Republici Hrvatskoj, NN 20/2022
Narodne novine / Ministarstvo unutarnjih poslova · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2022-02-16 · Accessed 2026-08-15 · Archived copy · Amended by hr-pravilnik-boravak-43-26 - [8] Pravilnik o izmjenama i dopunama Pravilnika o boravku državljana trećih zemalja, NN 43/2026
Narodne novine / Ministarstvo unutarnjih poslova · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2026-04-10 · Accessed 2026-08-15 - [9] Zakon o izmjenama Zakona o strancima, NN 114/2022 (euro conversion of statutory amounts)
Narodne novine / Hrvatski sabor · gazette · Tier 1 · Published 2022-10-03 · Accessed 2026-08-15 - [10] Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o strancima, NN 40/2025
Narodne novine / Hrvatski sabor · gazette · Tier 1 · Published 2025-03-07 · Accessed 2026-08-15