Croatia invests €535,000 to support diaspora return and integration

New funding aims to bring more Croatian emigrants home

ZAGREB, 8 July 2026 (Hina) – Croatia has announced nearly €535,000 in new funding aimed at encouraging the return of Croatian emigrants and helping them successfully integrate into life and work in the country.

At a ceremony held on Wednesday, the Ministry of Demography and Immigration awarded contracts under two programmes designed to strengthen support for returning Croatians.

Almost €509,000 has been allocated to projects led by 12 towns and municipalities and one county. The funding will be used to improve housing opportunities, expand health and social services, support the inclusion of children and families in local communities, provide Croatian language learning, and develop local infrastructure.

Funding has been awarded to the towns of Pleternica, Otok, Petrinja, Daruvar, Biograd na Moru, Pakrac and Vrbovsko, the municipalities of Tompojevci, Legrad, Podstrana, Maruševec and Petrijanec, as well as Split-Dalmatia County.

Minister Ivan Šipić said the ministry remains committed to encouraging Croatians living abroad to return, describing them as an important potential for the country’s future.

A further €25,330 has been awarded through a pilot programme covering the cost of translating foreign university qualifications into Croatian. The support was granted to four Croatian returnees from Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.

The recipients include a medical doctor, a dentist, an industrial engineering graduate and a pharmacist, whose qualifications will now be easier to process as they seek to continue their careers in Croatia.

According to the ministry, this is the first time Croatia has directly provided financial support specifically for the translation of foreign higher education qualifications.

(Photo: Ministry of Demography and Immigration)

The pilot programme aims to remove one of the key administrative barriers faced by returning Croatians when seeking recognition of overseas qualifications and entering the Croatian labour market.

The ministry received 14 applications for the translation grants. Funding was available for the first ten applications within the programme’s budget, while four additional applications were submitted after the available funds had already been allocated.

Šipić said Croatia has a particular need for professionals in occupations facing labour shortages and believes programmes such as this can encourage more highly qualified members of the Croatian diaspora to return.

One of the grant recipients, Gabriela Ximena Cortes Siles, a doctor who earned her medical degree in Bolivia, said the high cost of translating official documents had prevented her from practising medicine after moving to Croatia.

She explained that translating the required documents would cost more than €6,000, making it unaffordable. While waiting to have her qualifications recognised, she has been working at the retail chain Zara.

The minister thanked local authorities involved in the programme, saying their role in creating welcoming communities would be key to helping more Croatian families return and settle across the country.