A state secretary in the Foreign Ministry, Ivica Buconjic, said the one of the conditions for foreigners to receive the permanent residence status in Croatia would be knowledge of the Croatian langue and the Latin script - under a draft bill on foreigners which the government forwarded to parliament on Thursday, after it adjusted it to EU guidelines.
The new bill defines the stay of foreigners in Croatia as short-term (up to 90 days), temporary and permanent. One of the novelties which the new law would bring is that foreigners to whom temporary residence was granted to a period of four years for the purpose of linking families is that the temporary residence status to a period of four years could be granted without a specific purpose.
A business permit would no longer automatically mean the granting of the temporary residence status.
Under the new law, foreigners whose permanent residence status has expired must leave Croatia.
The government plans to allocate some three million kuna for the implementation of the new law in 2008, and additional four million kuna for the implementation of the law in 2009 and 2010.
Deputies supported the government-sponsored bill, although some of the Opposition parties proposed that the new law be discussed in one more reading.