Extending your residence permit? The mandatory health check, step by step – and who pays the €261

Filipinos and other visa-regime nationals who renew a temporary residence permit in Croatia must now bring proof of a health examination done in the last 90 days. The employer issues the referral and normally pays; the basic package costs €261 at every public health institute. What the check involves and how to plan it.

Published 2026-10-14 · Source checked 2026-10-14

If you are a Filipino worker in Croatia and your temporary residence permit is coming up for renewal, there is now one more document to arrange. Under an April 2026 amendment to the rulebook on the residence of third-country nationals, citizens of countries whose nationals need a visa – the Philippines among them – must attach proof of a completed health examination when they apply to extend temporary residence, if they have lived in Croatia for less than three years.^[1] The Ministry of Health then set out exactly what the examination covers in a decision published on 21 July.^[2][3]

HRT’s main news programme returned to the rule this week, noting that it applies to citizens of India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Philippines and Egypt among others, at a time when about 124,000 residence-and-work permits had been issued in the first nine months of the year.^[4] Regional portals picked up the report, with Zadar’s 023.hr and stijena.info focusing on the cost and the paperwork.^[5][6]

Also read:Permits & Residence18,712 permits in nine months: Filipinos are now Croatia’s third-largest group of foreign workers

Timing matters. The examination must be done in the 90 days before you submit the extension request, and the certificate may not be older than 90 days on the day you apply.^[1][2] Doing it too early means doing it again; leaving it too late can hold up your file at the police administration.

The process starts with your employer. The employer fills in an official referral form (uputnica), books the appointment with the public health institute (zavod za javno zdravstvo) of the county where you live, and receives the invoice after the examination.^[2][3] In Zagreb the examinations are also done by the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ) at Rockefellerova 2, second floor.^[3]

The examination itself has a fixed core: a medical history interview and a check of your vaccination record, a physical examination, a chest X-ray, a stool test for typhoid and paratyphoid bacteria, and blood tests for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C.^[2] If you already have recent results – a chest X-ray, for example – bring them, because the institute may then skip repeating that test.^[3] The certificate usually arrives within a few days.^[3]

According to HRT, the price of the basic package is the same at every public health institute in the country: €261. That figure comes from a single interview with the director of the Međimurje County institute and was repeated by other outlets from HRT’s report.^[4] The rules say the employer pays for the examination; the cost of any catch-up vaccination is covered by the national health insurance fund HZZO, HRT reported.^[4]

There is also a vaccination step. Anyone up to 35 years old who cannot show proof of the prescribed doses against measles, polio, diphtheria and tetanus is given catch-up shots, and people working in health care or social care are also vaccinated against hepatitis B.^[2] Keep your vaccination card or any records from the Philippines; they can save you injections.

One group should check its own situation carefully. The HZJZ says that people extending their stay who entered Croatia before the April 2026 rule took effect must undergo the same examination “at their own expense”, according to the price list of their local institute, and that – by agreement with the Interior Ministry – the certificate then replaces Form 18a. It gives a dedicated e-mail address, [email protected], for questions about this and about pregnant women and other at-risk groups.^[3]

Do not confuse this check with Form 18a itself. New arrivals obtain that health and vaccination certificate in their home country before coming to Croatia, with their first permit application; the examination described here is a separate procedure done in Croatia when a permit is extended.^[1][7]

In practice: about four months before your permit expires, ask your employer when they plan to file the extension and when they will issue the referral. Keep a copy of the certificate yourself. Rules and fees can change, and every case is different – check the details of your own case with your employer, the local public health institute or your police administration before you rely on this guide.

Read next

Work & PayYour Croatian pension contributions: why a Croatia–Philippines agreement matters, and what to do until it existsCroatia & PoliticsA state-of-the-nation speech and a bid to remove the prime minister: what happened in the Sabor, explained