Ever since Maggie and I decided to spend the winter in Croatia, we have had to endure the bureaucratic hassle of that decision. This post is for any cruisers who might be thinking of doing the same and might be considered a little dry for anyone else.
When we entered the country back at the beginning of August, the cost to cruise the Dalmatian Coast worked out to around 2200 kunas. That entitled us to keep the boat in Croatian waters for one year. Visitors are automatically granted tourist visas for three months. One can apply to extend that visa for up to six months, but there is a significant cost. After the extended visa expires, if you leave the country and immediately re-enter, you can get another three month visitor visa. That gives you a year in the country. After that, one must leave Croatia for at least three months before one can return.
Now back to the costs of the six month visa extension. In terms of cash, it will cost about 600 kunas per person, which you pay at the end of the application process and which we were not informed about at the beginning. It will take around 4 to 6 weeks to complete the process, but we were still able to cross borders after our three month visa expired and while the process was ongoing. The soft "cost" of the process is the frustration of dealing with a senseless bureaucracy. There are several requirements in the application process that takes place in the local police station: passports; a three month tourist visa; an invoice proving that you have paid for residence during the extended visa period; a bank account containing 2000 kunas per month of extended stay; Croatian national health insurance for each month of stay; a 20 kuna fee; and an interview with the police. Everything had to be in Croatian (officially translated if in a foreign language) and in duplicate, and there was no photocopier available for use by the public - we were told about it after we produced single copies of everything and then had to go out to make copies. To open a bank account, you first have to obtain an OIB from a different government office, with its own requirements, then you can open an account and transfer the money.
The insurance costs 70 euros per month, but you don't actually pay for it until the end of the process, i.e. you are supposed to go to the insurance office after you get your visa stamp in your passport *wink, wink*. However you still have to go to the insurance office and register for the insurance and obtain a statement that you did so. Since the police station does not handle cash, the 20 kuna fee is paid by means of a stamp that you purchase from the news stand and which you are told about after you present your bundle of documents for processing.
One other problem that we encountered was due to the fact that we hauled out for a six month period that would see the boat launched again March 31, 2013. Since our contract is to that date, our paid-up residency ends on that date and we have to leave the country. If we return immediately and get another 3 months, that 3 month period will end June 30 at which point we would have to leave for 3 months before we could return. But July is one of the better months for cruising in Dalmatia so Maggie and I will have to be out of Croatia for the month of April so that when we return we can stay until the end of July. That will cost us another month's fee in the marina and a month-long trip to Canada. By the beginning of August we will have sailed north through Croatian water and moved on into Slovenia or Italy. After what we have seen so far, we don't want to have to rush through Dalmatia.
After 6 weeks and 5 trips through Bosnia (500 km. each way owing to the fact that the local office in the village couldn't manage the extension process even though the Dubrovnik office assured us that any police station in Croatia could do it) we finally have our visas. I only hope it will be worth all the trouble.
Now just imagine what I have to go through to apply for citizenship.
Branko
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