On 15 May 2026, the Croatian Parliament (Sabor) passed a new Aliens Act introducing special visas for professional drivers from the countries of the region, among them Bosnia and Herzegovina. The BiH Minister of Communications and Transport, Edin Forto, said the adoption was important for the thousands of BiH drivers who cross the border every day to carry out international freight transport. The new arrangement is intended to remove the long-standing problem of limited stay in the Schengen Area, which has burdened domestic hauliers in operational planning and driver shift scheduling.
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What the New Act Brings
According to a statement by the BiH Ministry of Communications and Transport, the newly adopted Croatian Aliens Act opens the possibility of introducing special visas tailored to professional drivers from regional countries who work in international road transport. In a public statement, Minister Forto stressed that this is "important news for the thousands of professional drivers from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region who, due to the nature of their work, cross borders every day." The text of the Act was adopted in the Croatian Sabor, while its implementation falls under the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia, which administers the rules on the stay of foreigners in Croatia.
The essence of the new arrangement is recognising the specific nature of the professional driver's work as a category that is not tourist in nature and whose border crossings cannot be treated under the rules that apply to the ordinary stay of a foreigner in the Schengen Area. Schengen rules for third-country nationals, including BiH, set a limit of at most 90 days within any 180-day period. In practice this limit has made it difficult to plan schedules for drivers performing continuous international runs, who often have to spend the larger part of a month in transit through Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Italy and the rest of the EU. The exact deadline and the mechanism for issuing the visas will be defined by secondary legislation.
Who Is Affected
This directly concerns professional drivers in international road freight transport, primarily those who hold a valid CPC card and run trips through Croatia and the rest of the EU. Specifically, it places at the forefront the owners and employees of forwarding, transport and logistics companies in BiH that operate under the CMR Convention system and drive:
- truck combinations (tractor units with semi-trailers),
- solo trucks of N3 category,
- combinations transporting dangerous goods (ADR) or temperature-controlled cargo.
According to figures cited by the BiH Ministry of Communications and Transport in recent months, this involves thousands of drivers who cross borders every day. The exact number of users of the new visa category will depend on the implementing acts of the Republic of Croatia, but the assumption is that it will cover all holders of professional qualification documents for drivers in international transport, regardless of whether they are employed by a BiH company or work as self-employed hauliers.
The arrangement also indirectly affects:
- BiH transport and forwarding companies which, due to Schengen restrictions, had to maintain a larger fleet and a larger number of drivers than would be operationally necessary,
- the domestic economy and supply chain, since restrictions on driver throughput directly drive up the cost of transporting goods,
- hauliers from other regional countries (Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia), given that the Croatian Act does not distinguish BiH from the other third countries of the region.
Owners of freight vehicles operating exclusively in domestic transport within BiH should not see direct benefits from this legislation, as it concerns entry into and movement within the Republic of Croatia and the EU.
Timeline of the Adoption
The arrangement for drivers is the result of several months of work at multiple levels, which took place before the Act was finally adopted.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Spring 2026 | Launch of the BiH Council of Ministers working group on the stay of professional drivers in the Schengen Area |
| 07.05.2026 | Fourth meeting of the working group at the BiH Ministry of Communications and Transport; information introduced on the amendments to the Croatian Aliens Act, then in the adoption procedure |
| 15.05.2026 | The Croatian Sabor adopts the Aliens Act with provisions on special visas for drivers |
The working group at the BiH Ministry of Communications and Transport included representatives of the BiH Ministry of Security, the BiH Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH, the "Logistika BiH" consortium, the Chamber of Economy of the Federation of BiH, the BiH Indirect Taxation Authority, the BiH Border Police, the Chamber of Economy of Brčko District BiH and the Association of International Forwarders. The meetings also included continuous communication with the responsible ministries of the Republic of Croatia, which Minister Forto cited in public communication as the key precondition for reaching a sustainable solution.
The text of the Act itself went through the standard procedure in the Croatian Sabor, which included provisions on the specific visa category for professional drivers from third countries in the amendments to the existing legislation on foreigners.
When It Will Apply
The Act was passed on 15.05.2026, but the date of entry into force and the start of issuing the new visas depend on the implementing acts of the Republic of Croatia and on the publication of the legal text in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Croatia. In a statement on the occasion of the adoption, Minister Forto expressed the expectation that the Act will be implemented in the coming weeks rather than months, because drivers from BiH and the entire region "have been waiting too long for a solution."
The standard procedure in the Republic of Croatia provides that an act enters into force on the eighth day after publication in the Official Gazette, unless the act itself sets a different deadline. The period between adoption in the Sabor and the start of practical application of the driver visas additionally depends on the by-laws governing the visa format, the documentation submitted with the application and the jurisdiction of consular missions. The exact mechanism for issuing the visas, the costs and the administrative procedures will be known once those implementing regulations are adopted.
What Owners and Drivers Should Do
At the moment the Act was adopted in the Croatian Sabor, there is no obligation on an individual driver or transport company to take any action. The right to the new visa category becomes active only once the Act enters into force and once implementing acts are issued by which the Republic of Croatia prescribes application forms and the list of required documentation.
The concrete steps owners of freight vehicles and transport companies can take already now come down to a preparatory administrative check:
- verify that the CPC certificate (proof of professional competence) and the driver tachograph card are valid for all engaged drivers,
- verify that the driving licence with the C/CE category is valid for the entire period planned in the coming months,
- prepare documentation on employment or self-employment, including the driver's employment status certificate,
- monitor official announcements by the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia and the BiH embassy in Zagreb regarding the conditions for submitting applications for the new visa category.
In a public address, Minister Forto stated that the arrangement is the result of coordination with domestic hauliers and the responsible institutions. In other words, communication channels with the Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH, the Chamber of Economy of the Federation of BiH and the "Logistika BiH" Consortium remain the main places for hauliers to receive timely, updated information on the operational application of the new visa category.
As for the basic registration and technical condition of vehicles in BiH, the new Croatian act does not change domestic regulations. The obligations of regular registration, technical inspection and meeting Euro emission standards for vehicles in international transport are defined through separate BiH regulations and the regulations of the countries through which transport is performed.
Background of the Problem
Domestic hauliers, forwarders and the "Logistika BiH" Consortium have warned for years that the "90 days in 180 days" rule for the stay of third-country nationals in the Schengen Area produces a concrete operational problem. A professional driver running continuous trips through the EU uses on average almost the entire permitted stay quota. The consequence has been that hauliers had to hire more drivers for the same amount of work and introduce a more complex rotation schedule, which drove up costs. Ultimately, those costs fall on the end consumer, because transport costs always feed into the price of goods.
In the public communication of Minister Forto and the working group of the BiH Council of Ministers, the focus throughout the spring was on institutional communication with the Republic of Croatia as a Schengen member that borders BiH and through which the largest share of freight transit between BiH and the rest of the EU passes. Croatia's approach as the first state to introduce a special visa category for professional drivers from the region therefore also carries precedent value.
What This Means for Future Legislation in BiH
From the domestic driver's standpoint, the new Croatian Aliens Act is a solution for one part of the operational problem, but not for everything. BiH remains a third country in relation to the Schengen Area, which means that for stays in other Schengen member states the standard rules continue to apply. If a professional driver from BiH obtains a Croatian visa in the special category, one limiting factor is removed, while the question of stays in Austria, Italy, Slovenia or Germany remains in the domain of the regular Schengen rules.
For the part of the work covering the rest of the EU, hauliers must continue to follow updates to secondary legislation in the countries through which they run trips. BiH's responsible institutions, as the BiH Ministry of Communications and Transport has emphasised in recent months, plan to continue negotiations on similar arrangements with other EU member states, which would gradually reduce the operational burden the administrative boundary between third countries and Schengen places on companies in international road transport.
In addition to the Croatian arrangement, the working group of the BiH Council of Ministers has also opened questions of excise duty refunds, forwarding procedures, procedures at entry into BiH and by-laws affecting the daily work of hauliers. This means that additional regulations and by-laws relating to professional drivers can be expected in the coming period, although no concrete dates have been publicly announced so far.
Frequently Asked Questions
When will the issuance of the new visas for professional drivers begin?
The exact date has not been announced. The Act was passed on 15.05.2026 in the Croatian Sabor, and the practical application of the visas depends on the publication of the Act in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Croatia and on the adoption of implementing acts by the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia. Minister Forto expressed the expectation that the implementation will take place within the coming weeks.
Does the new visa abolish the "90 days in 180 days" rule for all Schengen countries?
No. The Croatian special-category visa applies to stay in the Republic of Croatia. Stay in other Schengen member states remains subject to the EU rules for third-country nationals, until those countries also introduce special visa categories or until broader EU-level solutions emerge for the same category of workers.
Who is entitled to the new visa category?
According to the public information published by the BiH Ministry of Communications and Transport, this concerns professional drivers from regional countries who perform international road transport. The specific conditions and documentation will be prescribed by implementing acts of the Republic of Croatia, which had not yet been adopted at the time the Act was passed.
Does a driver need to apply for the new visa immediately?
No. At the moment of the Act's adoption in the Croatian Sabor, there is no formal procedure for submitting an application. Acceptance of applications opens after the Act enters into force and the implementing acts are published.
Does the change affect vehicle registration or technical inspection in BiH?
No. The new Croatian Aliens Act does not change domestic regulations on vehicle registration, technical inspection, insurance policies or emission standards in BiH. The obligations of owners of freight vehicles within the domestic system remain unchanged.
Sources
- Minister Forto: Solution for professional drivers adopted - BiH Ministry of Communications and Transport, 15.05.2026.
- Minister Forto: Relief measures for drivers from BiH under consideration - BiH Ministry of Communications and Transport, 07.05.2026.
- Foreigners in Croatia - information on the stay of foreign nationals in the Republic of Croatia - Government of the Republic of Croatia / e-Građani portal, accessed 16.05.2026.
- Croatian Sabor - legislative procedure and sessions - Croatian Sabor, accessed 16.05.2026.