A sharp jump in returnees using I Choose Croatia measure

In the beginning of 2022 the Croatian government started the “Biram Hrvatsku/I Choose Croatia” measure for attracting Croatians in the diaspora to move to Croatia. Returnees who were eligible for this measure could receive up to 27000 euros.

This measure was received negatively and laughed at after the first year’s results only had 136 successful applicants, far off the thousands the government said it would attract when it launched this campaign. Of the 136 successful applicants for 2022 111 were returnees and 25 were for internal migration to less developed areas of Croatia.

In the first six months of 2023 there were another 74 applications approved. From the start of the program in Januuary 2022 until June 2023 there were 204 successful applications of which 165 were returnees and 39 for internal migration. Most or the the returnees were from Germany (120), Austria, Ireland, Switzerland and slovenia. Most returnees were 30-50 years of age (113 or 68,5%) and 18-30 (39 or 23,6%). The majority were returnees with secondary education (144 or 70.6%), followed by those with higher education (42 or 20.6%) and least were those with only primary education (18 or 8.8%).

The second half of 2023 (including up to 23.1.24) saw the measure gain traction with another 175 new successful applications. That was for a total to date of 379 applications of which 323 were returnees and 56 were for internal migration. Most of the returnees were in the building and construction sector and came from Germany.

This year the measure is close to having as many successul applications in one year as it has had in the first two years combined, and currently has a 100% increase on the 2023 total. So far this year there has been over 350 successful applications, bringing the total so far to 729.

Up to the middle of June there were 488 successful applications of which 428 were returnees and 60 for internal migration. This means over 240 applications were receieved in the last few months or more than two thirds of the 2024 total.

Through this program hundreds of new jobs have also been created bringing the total employed through this measure to 1,100 people.

The numbers are no where near what was promised. However, they are no longer something to be totally laughed at as this program looks like it could be gaining momentum.