Is the Republic of Croatia investing 11 million euros to teach foreign workers the Croatian language? No, that's not true: The precise sum allocated from the Croatian budget for teaching Croatian to foreign workers remains undisclosed, and at the time of writing, there was no official documentation on the matter.
The claim appeared in a TikTok video (archived here) published by @radiotaifuncroatia (archived here) on February 16, 2024, under the title, translated from Croatian to English by Lead Stories staff:
Croatia is investing 11 000 000€ into teaching the Croatian language to foreigners
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed February 21 13:04:47 2024 UTC)
Based on data from the Croatian Ministry of the Interior, the monthly statistics report on issued residence and work permits (archived here) revealed that a total of 172,499 permits were given in 2023. Of these, 112,981 permits were allocated for new employment, while the remainder comprised permit renewals and seasonal work.
The most significant number of residence and work permits was issued to citizens of the following countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina (38,236), Serbia (24,028), Nepal (23,493), India (15,627), North Macedonia (13,412), Philippines (10,999), Kosovo (9,922), Bangladesh (8,749), Turkey (5,067) and Albania (4,244). Due to the language barrier hindering the integration of foreign workers into Croatian society, there have been discussions at the governmental level regarding the implementation of paid, structured, and organized Croatian language learning programs for them.
At the time of writing, the only officially confirmed information is that the government plans to invest in teaching Croatian to foreign workers, with funding sourced from the European budget. This initiative is included in the amended National Recovery and Resilience Plan, specifically its supplement (archived here), which received final approval from the EU on December 8, 2023. In December 2023, the government announced (archived here) that foreign workers holding a three-year work permit would be eligible to receive 500 euro vouchers for Croatian language courses. However, the program start date remained unknown at the time of writing.
It is confirmed that the City of Zagreb will be the first in Croatia to organize and finance Croatian language courses for foreign workers through its budget. The allocated amount for 2024 is 150,000 euros (archived here), expected to cover around 500 foreign workers.
A search on Google using the phrase "11 Million Euros For Teaching Croatian To Foreign Workers" (archived here) on February 23, 2024, did not yield any sources corroborating the claim in the TikTok video. In the meantime, at the beginning of March 2024, the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (archived here), in cooperation with private institution Edward Bernays Polytechnic (archived here), announced the Welcome to Croatia program (archived here), to integrate foreign workers into society and the business community. The program is intended for employers and agencies that employ foreign workers, offering education for foreign workers, and is scheduled to start in April 2024 in six Croatian cities.
