ZAGREB, 16 Feb 2022 - Tens of thousands of young people from South America, mainly descendants of Croatian expats, would like to immigrate in Croatia, the Večernji List (VL) reported on Wednesday.
However, a lack of knowledge of the Croatian language, as well as the lack of programmes to facilitate their integration into Croatian society, seem to be main barriers for the arrivals of young South Americans, according to the daily newspaper.
Croatia ranks high in the European Union (EU) in terms of the quotas of imported foreign workers outside the EU per number of inhabitants in the country, and the daily newspaper raises the question whether Croatia is ready to attract foreign students, researchers and foreigners with the Croatian roots.
In the EU the ratio of the imported foreign workers outside the Union per 1,000 inhabitants was 7, and in Croatia this ratio was 12 per 1,000 before the pandemic, the newspaper notes.
In 2021, there were 81,000 foreigners from third countries who were given status of temporary residents in Croatia.
In this context, the daily newspaper highlights the need of Croatia to attract also students, undergraduates and descendants of Croatian emigrants and not only less educated workers, criticising the state administration for not making this process easier.
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