Work

Steps

1. Search on the EURES portal and the HZZ job exchange (burza rada); public posts are also published in the Narodne novine official gazette and on the administration's centralised recruitment site.
2. Get your OIB (see HR-NIF-TOUS-001) and declare your stay (see HR-SEJOUR-TOUS-001).
3. Sign a written contract before starting. If you have not signed a contract, the employer must give you a written certificate before your first day; if they fail to do so or do not conclude a written contract within the prescribed period, the contract is deemed open-ended.
4. Check your registration: the employer must register you for compulsory pension and health insurance at the earliest 8 days before your first day and at the latest before work begins.
5. Have your qualifications assessed. For a regulated profession (list kept by the AZVO, the agency for science and higher education), recognition follows the law on regulated professions and goes through the profession's authority. For a non-regulated occupation, you can request an evaluation opinion of your qualification: from the AZVO for higher education, from the AZOO or the ASOO for general or vocational secondary education.
6. If you lose your job, register with the HZZ and submit your benefit claim within 30 days of the end of the contract.

Documents

• Identity document, OIB, certificate of registration of stay.
• Qualifications and employment certificates, with certified translation if requested.
• Form U1 from your former unemployment fund to have your periods worked in another EU country counted; U2 to keep your benefit while searching in Croatia.

Costs and timelines

• 2026 minimum wage: €1,050 gross per month full-time (EURES). Salaries are often negotiated as net: check what the offer says.
• Pay: monthly, by the 15th of the following month at the latest.
• Employee contributions: 20% of gross salary for the pension; the employer also pays 16.5% for health (EURES). Tax: see HR-IMPOTS-TOUS-001.
• Working time: 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week. Paid break of at least 30 minutes from 6 hours of work; daily rest of 12 hours and weekly rest of 24 hours. Overtime: 32 per month and 180 per year at most, paid with a premium.
• Several employers: possible up to 40 hours a week in total.
• Leave: at least 4 weeks a year (5 for minors and arduous jobs), usable after 6 months of work.
• Dismissal notice: from 2 weeks to 4 months depending on length of service; 1 month is the most common.
• Unemployment benefit (novčana naknada, labour market law): you need at least 9 months of work in the last 24 months (6 months if you are under 30 at the end of the contract), and an end of contract that is neither your fault nor your choice. The HZZ notably excludes your resignation (except immediate termination caused by the employer's conduct), a written termination agreement (except collective dismissal proposed by the employer) and failure at the probationary period. Register with the HZZ and submit your claim within 30 days of the end of the contract (or of the end of the sick leave or parental leave that follows).
• Amount: calculated on the average of your gross salary over the 3 calendar months before the end of the contract. You receive 60% for the first 90 days, 35% from the 91st to the 180th day, then 30%.
• Ceilings in force in October 2026: €1,014.30 per month for the first 90 days, €579.60 from the 91st to the 180th day, €507.15 thereafter. Floor for full-time: 50% of the net minimum wage, i.e. at least €429.38 per month (reference net minimum wage: €858.75).
• Duration according to your total length of service: 90 days from 9 months to 2 years of work; then 120 days (more than 2 years), 150 (more than 3), 180 (more than 4), 210 (more than 5), 240 (more than 6), 270 (more than 7), 300 (more than 8), 330 (more than 9), 360 (more than 10), 390 (more than 15), 420 (more than 20) and 450 days (more than 25 years). With 32 years of work and less than 5 years from retirement, the benefit runs until you take up a job again or retire.
• Periods worked elsewhere in Europe: your years in the EU, the EEA and Switzerland count, on presentation of form U1 (which also states your gross salary for the last 3 full months). Without a U1, the HZZ requests it itself from the foreign body, and it takes longer.
• U2: you keep the benefit from your former country for at least 3 months (up to 6 depending on that country) if you register with the HZZ within 7 days.
• Recognition of a regulated profession: acknowledgement of receipt within 1 month, decision in principle within 3 months.

Common pitfalls

• Starting without a written contract or registration. Check that the employer has registered you before your first day: they must give you a copy of the registration.
• Confusing gross and net. Offers often state a net figure; the legal minimum is a gross one.
• Resigning before claiming the benefit. A resignation in principle deprives you of unemployment benefit.
• Letting the 30 days pass. The benefit claim must follow closely after the end of the contract.
• Arriving without your U1. Ask your unemployment fund for it before leaving your former country: without it, the HZZ has to request it from abroad and your file drags on.
• Counting on 60% of your salary. The ceiling (€1,014.30 per month for the first 90 days) quickly limits the benefit if your salary was high.
• Seasonal work on the coast. Many contracts are fixed-term for the summer: read the end date and the housing conditions.

What changes by country of origin

• EU, EEA and Swiss citizens: no work permit; declaration of stay beyond 3 months. Your periods of work in these countries count towards the Croatian unemployment benefit (form U1).
• British citizens (Scots included): third-country national residence and work permit needed, except for rights acquired before 01/01/2021 (see HR-SEJOUR-TOUS-001). For forms U1 and U2, ask the HZZ.