stay and work permit for seasonal work
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | dozvola za boravak i rad za sezonski rad as of 2026-04-10[4][5] The Act's and the ordinance's own term throughout art. 104 and ordinance arts. 46 and 51. |
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| Official name (English) | stay and work permit for seasonal work as of 2026-08-15[3] Rendered from the Ministry's own English usage: 'seasonal employment in agriculture, forestry, hospitality industry and tourism', 'a stay and work permit for seasonal work'. |
| Legal basis | Zakon o strancima (NN 133/20, 114/22, 151/22, 40/25, 55/26), čl. 104. u vezi s čl. 59., 91. st. 10., 97. i 107.; Pravilnik o boravku državljana trećih zemalja, čl. 46. i 51. as of 2026-05-27[4][5][6] Art. 104(1) as substituted by NN 40/2025 applies the general conditions of arts. 59 and 97 and carves out the accommodation condition in art. 103.f, which art. 104 then governs itself. NN 55/2026 added paragraphs 12 to 19 (the multi-season permit). Ordinance art. 46 sets the documentation and art. 51 the written information the police administration must give the worker. |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2025-03-07[5] Art. 91(6) as substituted by NN 40/2025: for seasonal work of up to 90 days the permit is issued as the certificate under art. 91(3) first indent and the worker may start work on the day it is handed over, and no residence card is required (art. 104(4)). For the nine-month form, and now for the multi-season form for the current work period, a residence card under art. 168 is required (art. 104(18)). |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EU, EEA, EFTA as of 2026-08-15[3] Nationals of EEA member states and their family members may work in Croatia without a stay and work permit or a work registration certificate; the Ministry treats the Swiss Confederation the same way throughout the work chapter. The sources do not use bloc names themselves. |
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| 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 2025-03-07[5] Art. 104(5)(6), added by NN 40/2025: the seasonal worker must have proof of no final conviction in the home state or a state of residence of more than one year immediately before arrival, which need not be produced again if no more than nine months have passed since the previous seasonal permit expired. |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | up to 9 months as of 2026-04-10[4][5] Art. 104(3) as substituted by NN 40/2025: a seasonal worker may work on a permit for up to 90 days or up to nine months. Art. 91(10) third indent issues the permit for the term of the seasonal employment contract, at most 90 days or up to nine months under art. 104. NN 55/2026 added a multi-season form: art. 104(12) allows a permit valid for up to three years for the same employer and the same user in the same or a related occupation, inside which the worker may still work only 90 days or nine months a year, in the work periods named in the certificate, and must leave Croatia after them (art. 104(15)). A permit issued for 90-day periods cannot later be stretched to nine months (art. 104(17)). |
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| How the initial term is set | matches the contract |
| Renewable | Yes as of 2026-04-10[2][4] Ordinance art. 51(2) as substituted by NN 43/2026, among the written information the police administration must give the seasonal worker: within the nine months a year the permit may be extended once with the same employer and once with another employer. The application to extend is lodged at the latest 15 days before expiry, or by the employer through the prescribed platform where the worker worked up to 90 days and continues with the same employer. |
| Renewal duration | Not established from a qualifying source Not stated as a separate term; the nine-month annual ceiling is the operative limit. |
| Maximum total duration | up to 9 months as of 2026-04-10[4][5] Nine months of work in any year is the ceiling on this route, after which the worker must leave Croatia (ordinance art. 51(2) third indent; art. 104(15)). |
| Work rights | own activity only as of 2026-04-10[3][4] Ordinance art. 51(2): the worker may work only in the jobs named in the certificate and only for the employer named in it; where the employer is a temporary employment agency, for that agency and the users named, and a change of user needs a fresh positive Employment Service opinion. Art. 107(6), added by NN 55/2026, ends the seasonal permit on the day the employment relationship ends. |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Not established from a qualifying source |
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Requirements
| Job offer required | Yes as of 2026-04-10[4][5] Ordinance art. 46(1): the employment contract is attached to the application, together with proof of appropriate accommodation. For the multi-season permit art. 104(13) requires either a fixed-term contract for permanent seasonal work stating the intention to conclude contracts in following seasons and the work periods, or an open-ended contract for permanent seasonal work stating the work periods. |
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| Salary threshold |
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| Labour-market test | Yes as of 2025-03-07[2][5] Art. 104(2) as substituted by NN 40/2025: for a seasonal worker in agriculture, forestry, hospitality and tourism for up to 90 days no labour market test and no Employment Service opinion is needed, and an employer continuously employing the same seasonal worker for longer than 90 days must obtain the nine-month permit. Outside that carve-out the test applies unless the occupation is on the shortage list, in which case only the Employment Service opinion is required. |
| Qualification requirement | none as of 2025-03-07[5] Art. 104 imposes no qualification condition of its own. Where the occupation is a simple one on the shortage list, art. 97(5) expressly dispenses with proof of work experience or completed education. |
| Employer sponsorship | Yes as of 2026-04-10[4][5] |
| Job-search route | No as of 2025-03-07[5] A contract-tied seasonal permit; not a job-search instrument. Ordinance art. 51(2) does let the holder apply for a non-seasonal permit or temporary stay before the seasonal permit expires and remain in Croatia until that application is decided. |
Process
| Where to apply from | either as of 2026-08-15[2][5] For seasonal work of up to 90 days in agriculture, forestry, hospitality and tourism the employer files through the Croatian Employment Service / Ministry platform; for the nine-month form the same platform is used where the occupation is on the shortage list, otherwise a labour market test comes first. The general lodging rules of art. 58 apply to the worker. |
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| Statutory processing time | Not established from a qualifying source No decision period is stated for a first seasonal permit in the sources retrieved. The Ministry states one for extensions: an application to extend a seasonal permit is lodged at the latest 15 days before expiry and is decided within three days of a complete application. |
| Fees |
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| Quota |
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Physical presence
| registration only | to keep the permit as of 2026-04-10[4] Ordinance art. 51(2): the seasonal worker must notify the police administration of any change of appropriate accommodation within eight days, and of any change of place of stay and address of residence within three days. |
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Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | No as of 2025-03-07[1][5] Art. 63(4) as substituted by NN 40/2025: temporary stay for family reunification or life partnership will not be granted to the family member or life partner of a third-country national who holds a stay and work permit for seasonal work under art. 104. The Ministry's English page states the same exclusion. |
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| Eligible relations | Not established from a qualifying source as of 2025-03-07[5] No relation qualifies; the exclusion in art. 63(4) is by sponsor category, not by relation. |
| Family members' work rights | none as of 2025-03-07[5] No dependants may be admitted on this route, so no dependant work right arises. |
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.
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Verification
| Sources cited | 6 |
|---|---|
| of which official (tier 1) | 6 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2025-03-07 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-08-15 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-22 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] Temporary stay for the purpose of family reunification
Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-15 - [2] 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 - [3] 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 - [4] 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 - [5] 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 - [6] Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o strancima, NN 55/2026
Narodne novine / Hrvatski sabor · gazette · Tier 1 · Published 2026-05-27 · Accessed 2026-08-15