18,712 permits in nine months: Filipinos are now Croatia’s third-largest group of foreign workers

While Croatia issued fewer residence-and-work permits overall in 2026, permits for Filipino citizens rose sharply – from 12,809 to 18,712 between January and September. What the Interior Ministry’s figures show, and what they do not.

Published 2026-10-13 · Source checked 2026-10-13

The Interior Ministry (MUP) issued 124,023 residence-and-work permits to third-country nationals between 1 January and 30 September 2026. Of these, 48,847 were for new employment, 49,805 were renewals and 25,371 were for seasonal work.^[1] Financije.hr calculates that the total is 8.9% lower than a year earlier.^[2]

Against that downward trend, Filipinos moved the other way. MUP lists 18,712 permits issued to Philippine citizens in the first nine months of the year, compared with 12,809 in the same period of 2025.^[1][2] Only citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina (22,565) and Serbia (19,886) received more; Nepal, which was second a year ago, is now behind the Philippines with 17,386.^[2]

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The shift was already visible in the summer. By the end of July, Filipinos had received about 15,700 permits – roughly 5,000 more than a year earlier – and became the third-largest group for the first time, Novi list reported.^[3] Adriapress, working from the same MUP data, put the July figure at 15,732, against 10,508 in July 2025 and 8,572 in July 2024: an increase of more than 83% in two years.^[4]

The employment service sees a reputation effect. Ante Lončar, director of the Croatian Employment Service (HZZ), told HRT that around 155,000 foreign workers are currently employed in Croatia and that Filipino workers “have proved to be very good workers”, which is why so many are being recruited.^[5]

A note of caution about the numbers. These are permits issued, not people present: one worker can appear more than once if a permit is renewed, and longer permits mean fewer renewals in a given year. Overall, tourism and hospitality remain by far the largest sector, with 48,156 permits (+5.1%), while construction fell by 18.5%.^[2]

What it means in practice: demand for Filipino workers is real, and that also attracts unscrupulous recruiters. Check the end date of your own permit and start a renewal early with your employer; ask for the written decision from the police administration; and never pay anyone for a ‘guaranteed’ permit or job. MUP publishes its monthly statistics under Statistika on mup.gov.hr.

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