EURES in Croatia

There are signs indicating a scam, such as:

• the conditions offered are far better that the usual ones for the same type of work;
• there are differences between the contact details in the offer and the ones on the website of the company the person presenting the offer allegedly represents;
• the visual identity of the offer differs from the visual identity of the alleged employer;
• the alleged employer did not advertise the position you are offered on their website, etc.

There are online tools that can help you determine whether you are being scammed. Enter in the search engine the name of the company and/or the person claiming to be a contact person along with the word ‘scam’ and analyse the results. You can also use some of the websites dealing with scams, such as: scamwarners.com, scambook.com, callercenter.com.

If you are still not sure whether the foreign employer’s offer is credible, please contact the nearest EURES Adviser.

There are often situations where ‘intermediaries’ from Croatia offer recruitment and placement services abroad (in the EU or outside the EU). Such ‘intermediaries’ often ask for small amounts of money which they justify by the need to obtain a work permit, medical certificate, insurance, etc. Most often, once the requested amount has been paid, the contact person stops responding to attempts to get in touch. Similar situations happen with vacancy notices for work on oil platforms, where, at best, the ‘intermediary’ sends a list of oil companies in a specific area after receiving payment from the customer. As a general rule, offers where a customer is asked for money in advance are not real job offers. By entering in the search engine the name of the intermediary or the ‘agency’ they represent, along with the words ‘scam’, ‘fraud’ or the like, one can often find texts containing negative experiences of persons that have previously been deceived.

Only authorised persons/business operators may provide recruitment and placement services legally. You can check whether a business is registered for an employment-related activity in the Court Register. The Labour Inspection of the State Inspectorate is the competent authority in the event of suspicion of unauthorised performance of recruitment and placement activities, as well as in other cases of violation of labour and employment regulations.

• you can search for job vacancies on the webpage EURES job vacancies (EURES vacancy notices) or on the EURES Portal
• you can create a free user account on the EURES Portal and create your own CV, making yourself more competitive on the European labour market
• the Portal provides information on living and working conditions in each Member State (this information is only available in the language of the respective Member State, as well as in English, French and German)
• if you are a beneficiary of unemployment benefits in Croatia and you are going to another Member State to look for a job, check the information on export of benefits and inform your employment counsellor about your intention to move

• whether they are offering an employment contract (employment relationship with the employer), business cooperation (where a self-employed person provides services) or another form of work
• duration of the contract and conditions for terminating the contract
• the amount of gross and approximate net salary; whether the salary is paid weekly or monthly; how much overtime work, night work, work on Sundays and public holidays are paid; types of insurance covered by the contract (pension plan, health insurance, unemployment insurance), who is liable to pay taxes and contributions (employee or employer); information on tax rates and other deductions can be found on the EURES Portal, in the Living and Working section
• working and non-working days of the week, days of annual leave and possibility to take annual leave
• whether accommodation/meals are provided by the employer; if yes, under what conditions (free of charge or with compensation, and in what amount)
• whether the employer reimburses the cost of transport from Croatia to the country of destination and the daily travel expenses, and in what amount
• distance from place of work to the foreseen accommodation, if organised accommodation is provided
• you can check the compliance of the conditions offered with the rules and practices in the country of destination in the Living and Working section of the EURES Portal
• if a work permit is required, under what conditions and what documentation is necessary for obtaining it

• make precise arrangements with your employer regarding the date of arrival
• check with the Tax Administration how foreign income is declared (double taxation is avoided by means of bilateral agreements)
• prepare the necessary documents: apply for the European Health Insurance Card if you are going to another country to look for work, and if you have previously reached an agreement with your employer and are leaving to commence work, make sure to obtain information on the procedure of deregistration from the Croatian Health Insurance Fund
• if you are leaving Croatia temporarily for a period of more than one year but you do not intend to emigrate permanently, you do not have to deregister your place of residence, but you do have to inform the competent police administration/station about your temporary stay abroad
• obtain contact information from a EURES Adviser from the country/region of destination in case of additional questions or potential problems (EURES Advisers are not legal counsels, but can help you by referring you to the relevant services to protect your rights)
• in case of administrative difficulties with public services in other Member States, which might put your rights as an EU citizen at risk, contact the SOLVIT network using the online form
• check information on the country of destination in the Living and Working section of the EURES Portal

• prepare all documents relating to the past employment (contract, dismissal decision, pay slips, insurance deregistrations, etc.)
• contact the nearest public employment service in the Member State where you worked and check the possibility of applying for unemployment benefits (the rules that apply to the nationals of that Member State apply to you as well)
• if you have previously worked in Croatia and have not exercised the right to benefits, note this as well, and attach a PD U1 form if you have brought it from Croatia. As a general rule, the application to exercise the right to benefits needs to be submitted in the country of last employment. If you do not have a PD U1 form from Croatia, and you have previously worked in Croatia, you can request the form at the email address U1@hzz.hr (the request form can be found here)
• if you do not want to make use of benefits, or you are not entitled to them due to periods of insurance being too short, ask the employment service in the country of work to issue a PD U1 form (a form which records all periods of insurance in the country you are leaving which can be counted when exercising the right to receive benefits in the Republic of Croatia).

Once you find a vacancy notice for a job that suits you and for which you are eligible, you apply as indicated in the text of the notice. The most common way to apply is by sending an email to the employer, but applications are sometimes collected by a EURES Adviser. It is important to apply in the requested manner, as you may be disqualified from the further selection procedure if you apply by other means, to another person or after the application deadline.

To increase your chances of finding a job in the EU/EEA, you can register on the EURES Portal and publish your CV there. This allows you to be contacted by registered employers as well as EURES Advisers from other Member States who have information on the needs for workers of your profile.

If you are registered with the Croatian Employment Service, you should make sure to inform your main employment counsellor of your interest in working abroad so that it can be recorded in your professional job search plan.

Vacancy notices are most often published in the language required for the employment, which is mainly the language of the country of work or another language used for the performance of the work. For vacancy notices published in a language unknown to you, if you think it is possible for the employer to consider a person who speaks, for example, English or another language you speak, use some of the translation tools to familiarise yourself with the details of the notice. If it is stated in the notice that recruitment of people who do not speak the language of the country of work is possible, do not hesitate to send your application in one of the required languages that you speak.

No, EURES does not organise educational activities and does not cover education costs. For information on the educational activities offered by the Croatian Employment Service, check with your main employment counsellor and follow the website www.hzz.hr on a regular basis to be informed about opportunities available to you in a timely manner.

Under certain conditions, there is a possibility of co-financing language learning, attending an interview, moving or having your qualifications recognised through targeted mobility schemes.

It is up to you to decide in which language you want to upload your CV; however, you will certainly have more opportunities if you upload the CV in the language of your country of interest, i.e. in the language that you can use in your work. The EURES Portal offers the possibility to publish CVs in more than one language.

Competent authorities of member states that have maintained the regime of work permits for Croatian citizens decide independently, based on checks of the situation and needs in the local labor market, on the employer’s request for issuing a work permit to a Croatian citizen. If the possibility of appeal existed, the employer would be informed about it by the service that refused to issue the work permit.

EURES does not participate in qualification recognition procedures, but as this is often a prerequisite for mobility (or an obstacle to it), interested candidates are referred to relevant sources of information. In particular, information on regulated professions and authorities competent for the recognition of qualifications can be found in the Regulated Professions Database, as well as through National Contact Points for the Recognition of Qualifications. For aggregated information on education systems and recognition of foreign qualifications, please also consult the ENIC-NARIC Portal.

There is no list of employers either in Croatia or in other Member States of the European Union who would receive workers on a continuous basis. When they have a need for workers, employers publish job vacancies on job search portals. Persons interested in working abroad should regularly consult job search portals, such as the EURES Portal or the category EURES oglasi (EURES vacancy notices) on this website, contact employers of their interest using spontaneous applications, or register on the EURES Portal and publish their CV there so that employers can contact them as well.

As a general rule, EURES Advisers provide information on the sources of vacancy notices that candidates search for themselves. One way of making your CV available to EURES Advisers is to register and publish the CV on the EURES Portal. It is important that the CV is well-written and regularly updated, as this increases your chances of being found by EURES Advisers and registered employers.

Information on the labour markets of individual Member States can be found on the EURES Portal, Living and Working section (select the country of destination and the category Labour market information: the information provided is available only in the language of the country concerned and in English, French and German).

Many countries do not have defined lists of shortage occupations that would apply to the entire country, but it is possible that shortages exist in specific areas (e.g. due to industries present there) or during certain periods of the year (due to seasonal jobs).

Lack of knowledge of languages is one of the biggest obstacles when looking for a job abroad and in getting a quality job, as well as the biggest risk factor for being scammed and entering into undeclared work or an employment relationship with working conditions which are not compliant with the regulations. Even though, from a formal perspective, employment without the knowledge of languages is possible in most professions that do not require licensing prior to recruitment (as is the case for doctors, architects, etc.), in practice, lack of knowledge of languages can prove to be an obstacle already in the stage of job search and contacting employers.

We suggest learning at least the basics of a language before you start looking for a job. Having a thorough knowledge of English may in some cases be sufficient at the stage of job search (for example in the IT, science and agriculture sectors in Scandinavian countries).

Citizens of the European Union may continue to live in the United Kingdom after 30 June 2021 if they submit an application before that date to obtain the so-called settled status. The settled status will be granted to persons who have been registered as residing in the United Kingdom for at least five years at the time of submitting the application. If the period of previous residence in the United Kingdom is less than five years, the applicant will be granted the so-called pre-settled status, which continues to ensure the right to live and work as well as access to social rights. After a full period of five years, it is necessary to apply for the settled status.

Further information on preconditions, the procedure and documentation can be found here and here. Use the opportunity to get timely information by registering your email with the Home Office UK. The source of all Brexit-related information can be found here.