Croatia introduced its famed Digital Nomad “visa” back in 2021. I wrote a post about it not too long ago with the original rules and requireents. You’ll note my use of quotation marks around the word visa. This is because Croatia doesn’t grant visas, it grants residence permits. Croatia issues visas for entry and exit, and this is one of them. But it doesn’t issue visas for residence and work.
The word visa was used primarily as part of the initial hype generated in 2021 when foreign nationals who otherwise would have had no chance of being able to stay in Croatia longer than 90 days got the opportunity to live here – at least for a certain period.
We’re now in late 2025, the “foreign scene” in Croatia has altered dramatically since then, and one big loophole in that previous law governing Digital Nomads in Croatia has been closed up. Let’s delve deeper into what it was and what the change actually means for budding Digital Nomads hoping to work remotely in one of Europe’s most brightly shining tourism stars.
I should preface this post with the fact that Croatian law is full of loopholes.
They might look shabby and thrown together at first glance, but 9 times out of 10, there’s a good reason they exist. Those reasons apply to the few, however, not the majority … and certainly not to Digital Nomads.
Visa hopping (or should I say ‘permit hopping’) is now a thing of the past
In short, “visa hopping” has now been tightened up. Many people who were granted the Digital Nomad permit for a period of one year were then attempting to hop onto other permits granted for other purposes in order to stay longer when they didn’t qualify to do so. There was a way of extending the Digital Nomad permit past that one year of legality, and you could stretch it for 18 months in total simply by being granted the initial one year and then applying for a six-month extension. Alternatively, you could apply for 18 months initially.
Whichever you ended up choosing, you were required to leave the country for 6 months when either the 12 or 18 month window expired before applying for another permit. As you might imagine, many weren’t bothering to do this, hopping from holding the status of Digital Nomad to being the spouse of a Digital Nomad, and then back again, and even going for the perfectly vague basis of druge svrhe (other purposes), all without ever leaving the country.
The latter has never made much sense and gives us a peek into what I touched on above regarding loopholes. The mysterious druge svrhe exists precisely to allow for individualised discretion.
Six months means six months, but you only need to be out of Croatia for half of it ….
Once your 12 or 18 month digital nomad permit expires, you need to leave Croatia and not
apply for any other permit for another 6 months, though you can return to the country as a
tourist after spending 90 days away. When you do come back, you can apply for the Digital
Nomad permit for either 12 or 18 months once again.
There is no path to permanent residence in Croatia through the Digital Nomad permit, as permanent residence implies continuous lawful residence with no gaps, which is not possible to achieve using this
method. If you’re thinking of finding a loophole as far as this is concerned, you won’t find it.
Long story short
Croatian law states that Digital Nomads are people who do not hold the citizenship of any EU/EEA country. They also cannot work for a Croatian company. Remote really does mean remote in this sense, as the company must be registered abroad, and you won’t be paying either health insurance or income tax in Croatia.
Because the monthly salary threshold is high (more than 3,000 euros per month or a lump sum of just over 39,000 euros for 12 months, or just over 59,000 euros for 18 months), Digital Nomads are given exemptions in relation to their taxation (no tax paid to Croatia) and healthcare (no need to sign up for or pay for Croatian public healthcare).
Hopping from permit to permit is a violation of this, and if you try to get around it, you’re no longer honouring the agreement you made with Croatia.
There has been an enormous influx of foreigners into Croatia over the last four or so years, and this likely also prompted some cleaning up of the infamous Law on Foreigners which has provided so much material for jokes, genuine lawsuits and frustration for decades. Croatia’s bureaucracy holds cult status and throwing the once totally disjointed Law on Foreigners into that mix has historically resulted in some rather comical (and sometimes insane) outcomes. Digital Nomads are spared the headaches of Croatia’s administration owing to their “one foot out the door” status and lack of connection with the tax, pension or healthcare system.
If these new rules are adhered to, there are few countries tha offer as much as Croatia can to those seeking a true adventure, laptop in tow.
–––––––––––
Read more about Croatia here in Dispatches’ archives.
Lauren Simmonds
Lauren Simmonds is the editor of Total Croatia News, the largest English language portal in Croatia. She lives in Zagreb, Croatia, and is a translator, content writer, interpreter and the co-author of "Croatia - A Survival Kit for Foreigners," which was published in 2022.
