Croatian employers appeal to improve and speed up the processes for hiring foreigners, because without them we can forget about economic growth. People and the quality of the workforce are the most valuable state resource, said Josip Zaher, president of the Chamber of Zagreb, from the conference of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce organized on the topic "Employing foreign workers through agencies: needs, challenges, solutions."

"As far as the workforce is concerned, the water has 'reached the throat', and without it, Croatia will not be able to achieve the current rates of economic growth." A large number of domestic workers have moved out, and we are not very interesting to foreigners. According to the data presented by Zarko Katic, State Secretary in the Ministry of the Interior, slightly less than 130.000 residence and work permits have been issued to date, and it is expected that by the end of the year that number will be 150.000. However, Katic pointed out, of the total number of issued permits, only 27.780 have been extended.

Therefore, Croatia is only a stepping stone for foreign workers to go to the richer countries in the west and north of Europe. The sectors that show the greatest need are still the same – construction, manufacturing and tourism, but, Katic says, almost all sectors, including trade and transport, now show a need, analyzes H1 Croatia. Among the 10 countries whose citizens have been issued the most residence and work permits in Croatia, there are as many as six that have a visa regime with our country. And that visa regime prolongs the issuance of permits for years.