Need some advice asap.

Just need to get it off my chest to say Croatian bureaucracy is a hunk of festering piece of shit, sorry but I don’t know how you guys survive dealing with them for even a moment. It’s been an absolute nightmare.

I posted briefly before about how to apply for this :
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadians/international-experience-canada/work-travel-croatia.html

After lining up for hours and getting sent around multiple people who didn’t know fucking shit about what I was talking about. After much waiting, going there multiple times, being rejected and agony, I was finally told to just send all my documents to an email they gave me. I confirmed this with the people working with foreigners in Croatia and another person (I think he is an immigration officer they referred me to but can’t be certain that was lost in translation but he is the only person in the entire place that dealt with this) who is pretty much the only person who seems to know anything about this, even then they didn’t seem to be sure so it made me come out feeling uneasy and still anxious. Even called Croatian embassy who said I was lying basically and said they never heard of this visa. (The most unprofessional embassy I ever spoke to )

Thing is my 90 day limit in Croatia is coming to an end soon and I’ve heard nothing back, not even a confirmation from that email saying they received my documents even when I asked. Those other people at the foreign immigration office all told me rest assured, as soon as I send in my application I can just stay in Croatia beyond my limit and it will be legal and I won’t be in trouble. I kept asking If they are sure but since their English wasn’t really that great, I couldn’t be sure still. They also said they have no idea how long it will take or when they’d even get back to me but assumed like 1-2 months.

The information/instruction they told me to send were absolute shit, it was not specific enough especially with what kind of police criminal records check they needed (there are several kinds which vary vastly in price and some are quick for me to get others could take months or even up to a year and very expensive), they didn’t specify exactly what kind of documents to send so I had to just send whatever I had to this random email. it’s been complete silence since I sent the email some weeks ago

Now I am just kind of freaking out as the clock ticks and I’m in Croatia as a foreigner because I don’t really know what to do. I want to trust what they told me that it’s fine to stay beyond my legal limit but it’s a huge risk for me. I only have their words telling me this and I can’t trust the bureaucracy here anymore because everyone seems to have different information or don’t know wtf they are doing.

My concern is what if I still hear nothing back or it ended up in their spam box all this time and months go by and when time comes for me to go back to my home country, I will be red flagged. I wouldn’t have any proof other than the email and saying that those people told me it was ok for me to do this. I don’t know what would happen to me at that point because I would be very clear that I am staying past the limit but I have some commitments here now so can’t leave just yet

Any advice ?? Who else should I contact if I already spoke to the highest point of contact ? I was thinking of speaking to the airport as well on their protocols or if they are even aware of this because I don’t want to be totally fucked over with this.

25 comments

  2. Ah, Croatian bureaucracy. It’s all part of the authentic experience LOL

    You could go to Canadian embassy and get somebody to help you get an answer or speed things up. Or show up at MUP and ask them to check your status. bring somebody who speaks Croatian with you.

  4. Man i am a law intern and my boss, who is obviously, a lawyer, said to me there is no amount of preparation that can save you from the hells of bureaucracy, you just have to push through it with sheer willpower. I mean, when a lawyer tells you something like that, one can really grasp the true state of bureaucratic hell that is Croatia

  6. First thing, let me ask you – if I understood right, you applied for a temporary stay permit? Is that right? If that is right, if you made an application, you don’t have to worry about your 90 days expiring, you have the right to stay in the country until there is a final solution about your application, positive or negative doesn’t matter. It can last as long as it lasts, you are free to be here until then. You don’t have to trust their word for it, that is the law (Foreigners Law 58.4.)

  7. So you met your very first “uhljeb”. Unfortunately you need to know their job more than they do.

    Wish you good luck!

  9. As a native Croatian, we have the same issues when basically trying to renew documents. All the people who have no job skills had to be put somewhere, and public services seemed the easiest… We feel your pain, but someone needs to help us, so we could help you…

  10. I don’t think anyone will bother you,let alone force you to leave the country. Things here are not as strict like in US/CA when it comes to visitors

  12. Listen dude. Go back to that office that told you as long as you sent the info you can stay, and give them a paper to stamp and sign the statement that they told you.

    If they dont want to stamp it, means they are either unsure about it or dont know shit.

    Then make a fuss about it. If they stamp and sign the statement that as long as youve sent the documents you can stay beyond limit, then you can chill.

    Fck Croatia dude. Shitty ass country.

  15. Oh i feel this post deep within my soul. The government services feed us with sought info through the smallest of dropper. Basically, customer service is non existent. They receive documents from us and whether they are processed or not is non of their concern. They expect you to know every step of the process and they could care less if you call or not about the finished process because 90% of the time they have no idea what is going on and they don’t have any paperwork request or paperwork execution documented conveniently and at hands reach. it’s really fucking ridiculous.

    Good luck pal. I hope this beuroucracy bullshit didn’t completely ruin your stay here.

  17. This sub isn’t the best place to post this question since most people here are Croatian so they mostly don’t know the specifics of applying for Croatian residency.

    You’ll have much better luck posting in a Facebook group for “expats” in Croatia (I personally hate the term “expat”, but that’s how the groups are named).

    You can also contact your country’s embassy in Croatia for guidance. They will be more helpful than Croatia’s embassy in your country.

    You might also have an easier time if you hire someone in Croatia to help you. There are “private investigators” who are mostly former police officers and some of them can help guide you through the process for a reasonable fee.

  18. If you’re running low on time you could always nip over to another country in the EU and use the 90 days there as Croatia still isn’t in the Schengen zone.

  19. Now imagine when all is said and done, you have all the papers in the right order, place, with the right and original signatures… The lady at the shelter tell you to pay 75 kunas in biljegs (something like tax)

  20. I learned one thing and that is if someone tells you something also have them tell you that in writing via mail..

  21. I am so sorry this is happening to you. We simply don’t have the solution for you here since this is a “business as usual” here in Croatia. Nobody knows anything, nobody is professional. To deal with bureaocracy, many people in Croatia resort to having “an insider” in the office of an institution we need services from. A friend, relative, friend of a friend that works there. Only by some personal connections you can expect shit to be done. This is my only advice for you. Ask your SO, their parents, relatives, friend of a friend if they have someone at that office and ask them for help.

    The reason for this systematic problem on the country level is, I believe, that a big percentage of people are working in the government sector, who are hard to fire or employ elswere. Because some “Gerthrude” who can’t open an email works there for 35 years, where is she gonna find another job? All her life she was just stamping papers. Their syndicate is the strongest in the country, the state is afraid of them, cuz if they go on a stike then the whole country is in a blockade.

    I am sorry you have to deal with this and you learnt the dark side of our country. And I believe this country should reconsider its stance on immigration and make it easier for foreigners to move in, especially if they come from a developed, non problematic country like yours. I hope this gets behind you and you enjoy your stay here.

  22. a shot in the dark here, but do you maybe have someone who speaks Croatian who can come with you and help you out? Talking from experience, it goes much faster if you do. Also being aggressive, rude or anything similar is more likely to make everything more difficult.

  24. there isn’t really a single thing in life that makes me anxious except dealing with bureaucracy in this country. we probably have the most convoluted, designed to be annoying system on the entire fucking globe. investors routinely dodge us because of it. ABC (anything but croatia) etc.

    i feel nothing but sympathy for you. even if everything goes smooth you’ll still waste days going from one office to the next with middle aged women yelling at you for doing things wrong when nobody explained how to do anything to you in the first place.

  25. This is one of the reasons we discourage foreigners to come here and why many Croats left the country in the first place.

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