Croatia · Digital nomad
Temporary Stay for Digital Nomads
Open and expanded by the 2024-25 Aliens Act amendments, which extended maximum duration to 18 months. The income threshold is indexed annually to the prior year's average net salary and rose to EUR 3,622.50/month in March 2026 — it will move again around March 2027.
This is the only digital nomad permit in the EU with a genuine statutory tax exemption rather than a marketing claim: Article 9(1)(26) of the Personal Income Tax Act exempts income earned for an employer not registered in Croatia, which defeats the 183-day residence trigger for that income. You can sit in Croatia for the full 18 months and pay no Croatian income tax on qualifying foreign income. Compare Slovenia, where the identical-looking permit carries no exemption at all.
Qualifying routes
2.5x the prior year's average monthly net salary, plus roughly 10% (about EUR 145) per accompanying family member; evidenced by 6 months of bank statements or payslips
EUR 43,470 for a 12-month stay, or EUR 65,205 for 18 months, held in an account
The facts
- Qualifying figure
- €3.6k
- Total landed cost
- Government fees of roughly EUR 90-190 depending on nationality (EUR 46.45 permit, EUR 31.85 biometric card, EUR 9.29 admin; visa nationals add EUR 55.74 plus EUR 93.00 for the D visa)
- Timeline
- 1–3 months — Applied at a Croatian consulate or, for visa-free nationals, at a police administration in Croatia
- Physical presence
- No minimum stay mandated
- Family
- spousecommon-law partner of 3+ years, or shorter with a childclose family members — each applies separately under family reunification
- Permanent residency
- None in practice. The 18-month cap and 6-month cooling-off are structurally incompatible with the 5-year long-term residence clock. See watch-outs — we could not locate the operative statutory exclusion and MUP's page is silent.
- Citizenship
- None via this route
- Language test
- n/a
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- non-EU/EEA national working remotely for an employer not registered in Croatia, or self-employed through a foreign company6 months of income evidencehealth insurance and Croatian addressclean criminal recorddocuments in Croatian or English via a sworn translator
- The exemption is foreign-source only. Any Croatian-source income — a local client, local work — is taxed normally and taints that portion.
- The exemption is a domestic Croatian rule. It does not make you tax resident nowhere, and it does not stop your home country asserting residence. It creates a genuine gap only if you have already broken residence elsewhere. This needs treaty analysis, not a brochure.
- Hard 18-month ceiling with a 6-month cooling-off before reapplying. This is a sabbatical, not a settlement.
- The time almost certainly does not count toward long-term residence or citizenship. Every secondary source says so and the structure makes it near-impossible, but MUP's official page is silent and we could not isolate the exclusion in the Aliens Act. Get written confirmation if this matters to you.
- The income threshold indexes every spring. EUR 3,622.50 is a 2026 figure and will rise — check MUP at the application date rather than relying on any published guide.
- Family members apply separately under family reunification rather than as dependants on your permit, which adds cost and process.