Dobar Dan,
A little background, I'm a 27 year old guy of Indian/Spanish decent from the Caribbean. A little island called Trinidad. I know most of you probably never heard of it. I'm a mechanical engineer and english is my native language.
I've always dreamed of living in Europe and I'll admit when I was younger, Croatia never crossed my mind. Now I can't get it out of my mind lol. In April of this year I visited your beautiful country and stayed in Osijek city. Why Osijek? Well because my girlfriend lives there. I stayed for 3 months. Needless to say I fell in love with the city and with the culture and way of life. And the people, my god before I came there I was so worried about my skin color. You hear alot of stories in the west, of Europe and racism. I have light brownish skin so I was nervous about how I was going to be perceived. The people of Osijek, everyone I met was so warm and friendly. I got some stares and some people I talked to said they mistook me for a Romani gypsy or Turkish and noone knew about Trinidad lol. Other than I felt just like any other person. It was the best 3 months of my life.
I didn't need a visa to visit. Similar to the Schengen states I was allowed to stay according to the 90/180 rule. So after those 3 months I had to leave. When I return I want to stay of longer.I want to live there and I need some advice in doing so.
Can I return this time without a letter of invitation since I already visited? And if I want to stay longer what's the best way for someone like me to do so.
I think a work permit is out of the question at the moment because I know my credentials won't mean anything in Croatia and I know that I probably won't find a job there anytime soon without speaking fluent Croatian.
I don't have any family with Croatian or European ties.
I've heard starting a business and applying for a visa that way is a nightmare.
Neither my girlfriend nor me are thinking marriage at the moment and I wouldn't ever want to do it just for that reason.
Some mention purchasing real estate is a viable route.
My only option seems to be applying for a temporary residence visa which would allow me to stay for a year? I've read also though that they give these out at the local MUP's discretion so you are at their mercy basically.
I have a little bit of money saved up from my jobs here. Enough to pay for HZZO and have about 4500 kuna per month for a year which from what I saw was enough for Osijek. My plan was to go there and live with that but I would eventually need to find a job.
Learning Croatian is hard but I've learned more in the 3 months I was there than I did in 2 years trying online. Although alot of people I met there seemed to just to practice their English on me haha. I still was learning little by little everyday.
I guess what I'm asking is it possible? Do you have any extra advice. Everyone back home has been telling me let it go. That I'm dreaming. But I'm willing to tough it out to achieve this. It's been my dream for the last couple of years and after coming to Croatia and tasting it, I know that this is where I want to live. I know everything isn't all a bed of roses and that visiting isn't the same as living there but can you offer any advice? Hvala.
