Croatia permit renewal health check under NN 79/2026

A worker from a visa regime country who applies to extend temporary stay in Croatia must take a health check no more than 90 days before the application is lodged. The employer fills in the referral, a public health institute carries out the examination, and the employer pays for it. The rule comes from a Ministry of Health decision in Narodne novine 79/2026.

The 90 day window and the most common filing error

The decision was published on 21 July 2026 and took effect on the first day after publication. Point III ties the examination to the date the extension application is submitted, not to the date the current permit expires. An examination taken more than 90 days before submission does not meet the condition, so the worker is examined again and the employer pays a second time.

The error usually appears when an HR team sends a whole group of workers for examination on one day and then lodges the renewal applications in stages, following each permit's expiry date. The first applications fall inside the window and the last ones fall outside it. The safer sequence starts from the planned submission date of each individual application and counts back from there.

The steps from referral to certificate

The procedure has five steps, and each one leaves a document in the file:

1. The employer fills in the referral (Uputnica, Annex I) for a worker extending residence for employment.
2. The worker attends with the referral at the county public health institute or the City of Zagreb institute for the place of residence, or at the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ).
3. The doctor issues a confirmation of attendance (Annex IV). It serves as proof until the certificate of completed examination is issued, and the institute archives it electronically for three years.
4. Once the tests are complete, the doctor issues a health certificate (Annex II) and a certificate of completed examination (Annex III).
5. An employer that issued the referral receives a copy of the attendance confirmation and a copy of the completed examination certificate.

Where the worker already holds a Form 18a health and vaccination certificate from the first permit, it is taken into account for vaccination (Point V). Our guide to Form 18a covers that document.

What the examination covers, vaccination and cost

Point IV requires the examination to rule out active tuberculosis, Salmonella Typhi and Paratyphi carriage, HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Alongside the medical history and physical examination, the following tests are mandatory.

Catch up vaccination applies to persons up to age 35 who lack proof of the required doses. Other applicants, who are not on temporary stay for work, pay for their own examination.

Records the employer and the worker keep

The worker keeps the certificate of completed examination for the whole stay and shows it on request to State Inspectorate inspectors and Ministry of the Interior officers. The employer is advised to place the copies from step five in the worker's personnel file, with the examination date and the planned submission date, so the Point III window can be checked without asking for the originals.

The decision was issued on the proposal of HZJZ under Article 47(2)(12) of the Act on the Protection of the Population from Infectious Diseases. The full text is in Narodne novine 79/2026. Deadlines and fees for the renewal itself are covered in our guide to work permit renewal deadlines and fees, and open roles are listed on the jobs board.