[java] Data was not saved: object references an unsaved transient instance - save the transient instance before flushing

I had the same problem. In my case it arises, because the lookup-table "country" has an existing record with countryId==0 and a primitive primary key and I try to save a User with a countryID==0. Change the primary key of country to Integer. Now Hibernate can identify new records.

For the recommendation of using wrapper classes as primary key see this stackoverflow question