EU Blue Card (stay and work permit for highly-qualified third-country nationals)
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | »plava karta EU-a« as of 2025-03-07[9] The Act's own term, in guillemets, as recast by NN 40/2025 (the earlier text read 'EU plava karta'; art. 89(1)(3) was amended to the new form). |
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| Official name (English) | EU Blue Card (stay and work permit for highly-qualified third-country nationals) as of 2026-08-15[1] The Ministry's own English page title and its first line: 'A stay and work permit (EU Blue Card) for highly-qualified third-country nationals is at the same time a permit to temporarily stay and work in the Republic of Croatia.' |
| Legal basis | Zakon o strancima (NN 133/20, 114/22, 151/22, 40/25, 55/26), odredbe o »plavoj karti EU-a« (čl. 126., 128., 129., 133.a, 134. i 136.), u vezi s čl. 110.; Pravilnik o boravku državljana trećih zemalja, čl. 43.–45.a; prenosi Direktivu (EU) 2021/1883 as of 2026-05-27[7][9][10] |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-08-15[1][9] Art. 3(1)(20) as substituted by NN 40/2025 defines the Blue Card as a stay and work permit issued as a biometric residence card carrying the entry '»plava karta EU-a«' in the permit-type field. The Ministry says the same: 'A stay and work permit (EU Blue Card) is issued to third-country nationals in a form of a residence permit.' |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EU, EEA, EFTA as of 2026-08-15[6] 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 2026-08-15[5][8] The general condition in art. 59(1)(5) applies; the Ministry's instruction for employers lists it among the basic documentation for a Blue Card application on Form 4a, required only on a first application. |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | up to 48 months as of 2025-02-06[2] |
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| Renewable | Yes as of 2026-08-15[1] The Ministry: an application to renew is lodged at the police administration or station of the holder's place of stay not later than 30 days before the valid permit expires, and a holder who applied before expiry may stay until the decision on the application becomes enforceable. |
| Renewal duration | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Work rights | employment only as of 2026-05-27[1][10] The card is granted for highly qualified employment and the holder may work only in the jobs it was issued for and only with the employer they contracted with. Art. 129(6) as substituted by NN 55/2026 allows a change of employer for highly qualified work, and a change of occupation with the same employer, on written notice to the police administration within five working days of concluding the new contract, and the holder may start work on that contract; the card remains valid to its expiry and a certificate of the received notification is issued. The Ministry's English page still describes the older regime, in which a change of employer within the first two years required a fresh application within eight days. |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Yes as of 2026-05-27[1][10] Art. 134(3) as substituted by NN 55/2026: long-term residence may be granted to a Blue Card holder with five years of continuous lawful residence across EEA member states as a Blue Card holder, as a national highly-qualified permit holder of another EEA state, as a researcher or student in another EEA state, or as a beneficiary of international protection in another EEA state, of which at least the two years immediately before the application were spent in Croatia as a Blue Card holder. The Ministry's page states the same aggregation. The total remains five years, so no pr_years_override is recorded. |
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Requirements
| Job offer required | Yes as of 2026-08-15[1][9] |
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| Salary threshold |
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| Labour-market test | No as of 2025-03-07[3][9] Art. 98(1) exempts every permit issued under art. 110 from the labour market test, and the Ministry names the Blue Card among the art. 110 categories. No Employment Service opinion is required either. |
| Qualification requirement | degree, equivalent experience, regulated profession as of 2026-04-10[1][7][9] Art. 3(1)(17) as substituted by NN 40/2025 defines high professional qualifications for Blue Card purposes as qualifications evidenced either by higher-education qualifications or by high-level professional skills. Art. 3(1)(18): a higher-education qualification is a diploma, certificate or other proof of formal qualification issued by a body recognised as a higher-education institution in the home state, where the study lasted at least three years and corresponds to at least ISCED 2011 level 6 or EQF level 6. Art. 3(1)(19): high-level professional skills means knowledge, skills and competences acquired through professional experience at a level comparable to a higher-education qualification, and only for the occupations 'information and communications technology managers' and 'information and communications technology professionals'. Ordinance art. 43(3), added by NN 43/2026, requires the opinion of the Commission for the validation of knowledge, skills and competences acquired through work experience as the proof of high-level professional skills. The Ministry additionally requires proof of meeting the conditions to exercise a regulated profession where the contract names one. |
| Employer sponsorship | Yes as of 2026-08-15[1][5] The card is employer-tied: the employer files Form 4a with the documentation, and the employer is notified when the permit can be collected. The art. 99 employer conditions are written for permits issued on an Employment Service opinion and so do not apply to this route. |
| Job-search route | No as of 2026-08-15[1] The Blue Card requires a concluded contract of employment; it is not a job-search instrument. |
Process
| Where to apply from | either as of 2026-08-15[1][9] The Ministry: the application is made at a Croatian diplomatic mission or consular post, or at the police administration or station of the place of stay. Art. 58(3)(7) as substituted by NN 40/2025 expressly lets a third-country national who needs a visa to enter lodge a Blue Card application at a police administration or station, which is not true of ordinary work permits. |
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| Statutory processing time | Not established from a qualifying source No statutory decision period for a Blue Card application was found. Art. 91(7)'s 15-day clock is written for applications under art. 97 and this is not one; the operative Blue Card procedure article was not retrievable. |
| Fees |
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| Quota |
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Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Yes as of 2026-08-15[1][9] The Ministry: temporary stay for family reunification may be granted to a family member of a Blue Card holder under art. 64 of the Act, and it is granted for the period corresponding to the validity of the Blue Card. Art. 58(3)(7) lets those family members apply at a police administration even where they need a visa to enter, and art. 63(2)'s two-year waiting rule is written for art. 97 permits only, so it does not bite here. |
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| Eligible relations | spouse, unmarried partner, registered partner, minor child as of 2025-03-07[1][9] Art. 64(1) as applied by art. 58(3)(7), which names both the family member and the life or informal life partner of a Blue Card holder. |
| Family may apply at the same time | Not established from a qualifying source Not stated in the sources retrieved. The Ministry describes the family permit as granted for the Blue Card's validity but does not say whether the applications may be filed together. |
| Family members' work rights | full as of 2026-08-15[6] Art. 89(1)(3) as reproduced by the Ministry: a third-country national granted temporary stay for family reunification or life partnership with the holder of an EU Blue Card, or of a stay and work permit as an intra-corporate transferee, may work in Croatia without a stay and work permit or a work registration certificate. |
Your next step
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Verification
| Sources cited | 10 |
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| of which official (tier 1) | 10 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2025-02-06 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-08-15 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-22 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] Stay and work of highly-qualified third-country nationals
Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-15 - [2] Potpredsjednik i ministar Božinović predstavio prijedlog izmjena i dopuna Zakona o strancima
Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2025-02-06 · Accessed 2026-08-15 - [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 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 - [8] Zakon o strancima (Aliens Act), NN 133/2020
Narodne novine (Official Gazette of the Republic of Croatia) / Hrvatski sabor · gazette · Tier 1 · Published 2020-12-04 · Accessed 2026-08-15 · Amended by hr-zakon-o-strancima-114-22, hr-zakon-o-strancima-40-25, hr-zakon-o-strancima-55-26 - [9] 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 - [10] 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