Border checks

What are border checks?

Border checks consist of measures and actions taken by the border police in line with the State Border Control Act, Schengen Borders Code and other regulations, exclusively for the purpose of controlling intended crossings of the external border or immediately following crossings of the external border.

The police carry out border checks during external border crossings (entry and exit). This includes checks of vehicles, persons and objects in their possession.


Border checks on the external borders

The Republic of Croatia started to fully apply the Schengen regime on January 1st 2023 on all internal land and sea borders and from March 26th 2023 at air borders.

This means that border checks on all internal land, air and sea borders of the Republic of Croatia were abolished. More specifically, there are no more border checks on the borders with the Republic of Slovenia, Hungary and the Italian Republic.

The amendments to the Schengen Borders Code that entered into force on April 7th 2017 changed the way that border checks are conducted.

Accordingly, all passengers who are crossing the border of the Republic of Croatia are systematically checked on the external border upon entry and exit.
 
Checks of persons who enjoy the right of free movement under the Union law cover the following:
 

  • identity and citizenship
  • validity of their travel document
  • checks against relevant databases.


Third-country nationals are subject to thorough checks upon entry and exit. These, in addition to the above mentioned systematic checks, also entail additional checks, including the calculation of the time previously spent in the entire Schengen area, as of January 1st 2023.

Third-country nationals on short-term stay cannot stay in the Schengen area for more than 90 days in any 180-day period, which entails considering the 180-day period preceding each day of stay.

This means that, starting from January 1st 2023, the time spent by third-country nationals in the Schengen area within the previous 180-day period will also be calculated at the time of their entry in the Republic of Croatia.

In addition to the above, border checks of third-country nationals are carried out to check the following:
 

  • whether they are in possession of a valid travel document entitling the holder to cross the border satisfying the following criteria:
    • its validity extends at least three months after the intended date of departure from the territory of the Member States; in a justified case of emergency, this obligation may be waived;
    • it has been issued within the previous 10 years;whether they are in possession of a valid visa, if required pursuant to Council Regulation (EC) No 539/2001, except where they hold a valid residence permit or a valid long-stay visa;
  • that they justify the purpose and conditions of the intended stay, and they have sufficient means of subsistence, both for the duration of the intended stay and for the return to their country of origin or transit to a third country into which they are certain to be admitted, or are in a position to acquire such means lawfully;
  • that they are not persons for whom an alert has been issued in the SIS for the purposes of refusing entry;
  • that they are not considered to be a threat to public policy, internal security, public health or the international relations of any of the Member States, in particular where no alert has been issued in Member States’ national databases for the purposes of refusing entry on the same grounds;
  • entry and exit stamp in the travel document;
  • the point of departure and the destination;
  • that the person, his or her means of transport and the objects he or she is transporting are not likely to jeopardise the public policy, internal security, public health or international relations of any of the Member States;
  • when exiting, whether the person has exceeded the maximum duration of authorised stay in the Schengen area.
 

At the Schengen territory, including the territory of Republic of Croatia EES - Entry / Exit System and ETIAS - European Travel Information and Authorisation System will be established.

EES - Entry / Exit System has entered into progressive operation on October 12th 2025 and according to current plan ETIAS will enter into operation by the end of 2026.

Both of the mentioned systems are referring to third country nationals but their purpose differs. 

Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 is establishing an Entry/Exit System (EES) to register entry and exit data and refusal of entry data of third-country nationals crossing the external borders of the Member States.

The EES is established to further improve the management of external borders, in particular to check whether the provisions on the permitted period of stay on the territory of the Member States are being respected.

Implementation of EES will exclude the obligation of using stamps at border crossings. The EES will automatically record and storage the date, time and place of entry and exit of third-country nationals crossing the borders of the Member States and calculated the duration of the authorised stay.

Personal and document data, as now, together with fingerprints and photograph of the person will be also stored in the EES.
Children under the age of 12 are exempt from the requirement to give fingerprints.

For the mentioned procedure, there is no fee.
 
The Regulation (EU) 2018/1240 establishes a "European Travel Information and Authorisation System" (ETIAS) for third-country nationals exempt from the requirement to be in possession of a visa when crossing the external borders enabling consideration of whether the presence of those third-country nationals in the territory of the Member States would pose a security, illegal immigration or a high epidemic risk.

For this purpose, a travel authorisation and the conditions and procedures to issue or refuse it will be introduced.

A travel authorisation shall not confer an automatic right of entry or stay.

Applicants will submit an application by filling in the online application form via the dedicated public website or via the app for mobile devices sufficiently in advance of any intended travel.

For this procedure fee is foreseen. The fee exemption are children under 18 and persons over 70 years old. 
 

Third countries

Within the meaning of the Schengen acquis, a third-country national is any person who is not a Union citizen within the meaning of Article 20(1) TFEU (a Union citizen is any person who holds the citizenship of a Member State), or who is not a family member of a Union citizen exercising his or her right to free movement, or who is not a third-country national or his or her family member, whatever their nationality, who, under agreements between the Union and its Member States, on the one hand, and those third countries, on the other hand, enjoys rights of free movement equivalent to those of Union citizens.

Third-country nationals may enter the Republic of Croatia in accordance with the conditions laid down by the visa system of the Republic of Croatia.

We also advise you to visit the website of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs for Travel Information.
 
 
 


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Updated: October 15th 2025

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