- The application for acquiring Croatian citizenship by naturalisation must be submitted in person at a police administration or a police station, according to the location of granted temporary or permanent stay. Exceptionally, in case of persons with a disability, the application can be submitted by their legal representative or authorised person. If the applicant does not have granted temporary or permanent stay in the Republic of Croatia, the application for acquiring Croatian citizenship by naturalisation is submitted at a diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Croatia.
The procedure for acquiring Croatian citizenship is carried out by the Ministry of the Interior at its headquarters.
Foreign nationals become Croatian citizens on the day of the delivery of a positive decision.
Upon the delivery of a positive decision, the applicant is entered into the Register of Citizens at the competent registry office.
The certificate of citizenship is issued at the competent
registry office.
- The following documents must be enclosed in addition to the required application form for acquiring Croatian citizenship and its questionnaire:
- Curriculum vitae
- Extract from the birth register *1 , and, if the person is married, an extract from the marriage register*2
- Certificate of citizenship
- Police certificate issued by a competent foreign authority of the applicant’s country of citizenship and the country of his or her permanent residence, an original or a duly certified copy with Croatian translation, issued within the last 6 months
- Certified copy of a valid identity document
- If the application is also submitted for underage children, the child’s extract from the birth register*1 must also be enclosed as well as proof of citizenship and a written consent of the other parent*3
- Depending on the grounds for acquiring Croatian citizenship, other documents need to be submitted as well, such as:
- Those belonging to the Croatian people must provide documents which prove their previous declaration of nationality in legal transactions – e.g. an original or a certified copy of employment records, military records, certificates, student’s course and grade books, extract from the birth register, extract from the marriage register, and other. Other proof of belonging to the Croatian people includes providing evidence of protecting the rights and promoting the interests of the Croatian people as well as evidence of active participation in Croatian cultural, science and sports organisations abroad. Those whose parents belong to the Croatian people may enclose proof of their parents’ declaration of nationality with the application.
- Emigrants – documents proving their emigration from the territory of the Republic of Croatia. Descendants of emigrants should also prove that they are related to the emigrant. If the emigrants or their ancestors emigrated from the territory of former countries to which the territory of the present Republic of Croatia belonged at the time of their emigration, they need to prove the time of their emigration and their belonging to the Croatian people.
Foreign public documents which are enclosed with the signed application form for acquiring Croatian citizenship (e.g. birth certificate, marriage certificate and similar) must previously be legalised, unless otherwise specified by bilateral and multilateral international agreements. The Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents has simplified the legalisation procedure among the contracting parties, requiring the public document to be certified only once by a competent authority of the country on whose territory it was issued.
If there is no bilateral or multilateral agreement between the Republic of Croatia and another country, which would abolish or facilitate legalisation, and the other country is not a signatory to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, public documents that are issued abroad can be used in the Republic of Croatia only if they have been legalized in accordance with the laws of the issuing country and if they have been legalized by apostille at the Croatian diplomatic mission or consular post in that country (accompanied by translation into the Croatian language), or if they have been legalized by apostille at the diplomatic mission of that country in the Republic of Croatia and at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, after being legalized in accordance with the laws of the issuing country. If the Republic of Croatia does not have a diplomatic mission or consular post in the country that issued the document and that country does not have a diplomatic mission or consular post in the Republic of Croatia, legalization is done in a third country in which both countries have a diplomatic mission or consular post. This is done in the following way: after the document has been certified by the competent authorities of the issuing country, it is legalized by apostille at the country’s diplomatic mission or consular post in a third country, then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the third country and finally, the diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Croatia in that third country.
In case of a positive decision, an administrative fee is charged in the Republic of Croatia amounting to HRK 1,050.00 – 139,36 EUR (fixed exchange rate 7,53450). A consular fee is charged at a diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Croatia abroad.
If the application is submitted in the Republic of Croatia, the amount of the administrative fee specified in the reference number is paid at a post office/FINA office/bank by a general payment slip indicating:
- Recipient: Državni proračun Republike Hrvatske
- Account number: HR1210010051863000160; Reference number: HR64-5002-713
- An official issuing decisions fills in other information on the slip. An administrative fee in the amount of HRK 105.00 - 13,94 EUR (fixed exchange rate 7,53450) is charged for a copy of the decision on admission to Croatian citizenship.
Application for the Termination of Croatian Citizenship
INFORMATION ON THE PROCEDURE
An application for the termination of Croatian citizenship can be submitted by Croatian citizens if, apart from having Croatian citizenship, they also have foreign citizenship or a foreign country guarantees to grant them admission to their citizenship on the condition that they terminate Croatian citizenship. Their Croatian citizenship can be terminated if they fulfil the requirements prescribed by law.
The application for the termination of Croatian citizenship must be submitted in person at a police administration or a police station, according to the location of permanent or temporary residence. Exceptionally, in case of persons with a disability, the application can be submitted by their legal representative or authorised person. The application for the termination of Croatian citizenship may also be submitted at a diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Croatia.
The following documents must be enclosed in addition to the required application form for the termination of Croatian citizenship and its questionnaire:
- Curriculum vitae
- Extract from the birth register
- Certified copy of a valid identity document
- If the application is also submitted for underage children, an extract from the child’s birth register has to be enclosed*1, as well as a certified copy of the identity document, if they hold one, extract from the marriage register of the child’s legal representative*2 (if the application for release is only being submitted by one of the parents, it is also necessary to enclose proof of the other parent’s citizenship status), and a copy of the divorce judgement made by a competent court (if the parents are divorced)
- Proof of foreign citizenship or a guarantee from a foreign authority granting admission to foreign citizenship to the applicant including a certified translation into the Croatian language by a certified court interpreter
- Renouncement of Croatian citizenship:
- Statement on renouncing Croatian citizenship must be enclosed in addition to the required application form for the termination of Croatian citizenship and the questionnaire
- Curriculum vitae
- Proof of foreign citizenship
- Proof of permanent residence abroad
- Extract from the birth register*1
- Certified copy of a valid identity document
In case of a positive decision, an administrative fee is charged in the Republic of Croatia amounting to HRK 2,520.00 – 334,46 EUR (fixed exchange rate 7,53450). A consular fee is charged at a diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Croatia abroad.
If the application is submitted in the Republic of Croatia, the amount of the administrative fee specified in the reference number is paid at a post office/FINA office/bank by a general payment slip indicating:
- Recipient: Državni proračun Republike Hrvatske
- Account number: HR1210010051863000160; Reference number: HR64-5002-713
- An official issuing decisions fills in other information on the slip. An administrative fee in the amount of HRK 105.00 - 13,94 EUR (fixed exchange rate 7,53450) is charged for a copy of the decision on release or renouncement from Croatian citizenship.
Determining Croatian Citizenship
INFORMATION ON THE PROCEDURE
An application for determining Croatian citizenship can be submitted by persons whose information is not entered into the registers of citizens of the Republic of Croatia, but who acquired this status pursuant to the regulations which were valid until the entry into force of the Croatian Citizenship Act. Whether the legal requirements for subsequent entry of information into the registers of citizens have been met or not is determined in accordance with the regulations valid at the time the applicant was born.
The application for determining Croatian citizenship is submitted in person at a police administration or a police station, according to the location of granted temporary or permanent stay. Exceptionally, in case of persons with a disability, the application can be submitted by their legal representative or authorised person. If the applicant does not have granted temporary or permanent stay in the Republic of Croatia, the application for determining Croatian citizenship is submitted at a diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Croatia.
The following documents must be enclosed in addition to the required application form for determining Croatian citizenship:
- Curriculum vitae
- Extract from the birth register, and, if the person is married, an extract from the marriage register
- Certified copy of a valid identity document
- Certificate proving that the applicant’s information is not entered in the registers of citizens at the registry office in which they should have been entered at the time of the applicant’s birth under the regulations that were valid at the time
- If the applicant holds a foreign citizenship, a certified copy of its acquisition or a certification of a competent foreign authority regarding the manner and the time of acquiring the citizenship
- Certificate of citizenship or certificates stating that both or one of the applicant’s parents are registered in the registers of Croatian citizens
- Extracts from national registers (birth, death or marriage) of the applicant’s parents, if available, not necessarily recent
- Persons who have emigrated from the Republic of Croatia (outside of the former FPRY/SFRY territory) should also enclose proof of previous Yugoslav citizenship (an old passport, certificate of citizenship, military or employment records and similar)
The procedure for determining Croatian citizenship is conducted for persons who had acquired the status of a Croatian citizen pursuant to the legislation valid up to the day on which the Croatian Citizenship Act entered into force (8 October 1991), but their information was not entered into the Register of Citizens.
Pursuant to the Act on amendments to the Croatian Citizenship Act (Official Gazette, No: 102/19), which entered into force on 1 January 2020, persons born between 8 January 1977 and 8 October 1991, for whom another citizenship was entered into the citizenship records, are also considered to be Croatian citizens if both of their parents had Croatian citizenship at the time of their birth, provided that they submit an application for determining Croatian citizenship within two years from the entry into force of this Act.
Articles 4 and 5 of the Act lay down the conditions for the acquisition of Croatian citizenship by origin for newborns and persons born after the entry into force of the said Act, that is, after 8 October 1991. Adults under the age of 21 submit their application/request for direct entry into the birth register (if they were born outside the Republic of Croatia) and the Register of Citizens to the Ministry of Public Administration of the Republic of Croatia through a competent diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Croatia if they reside abroad.
Those over the age of 21 submit their applications for entry into the Register of Citizens of the Republic of Croatia pursuant to the provisions of Articles 4 and 5 on a questionnaire form for determining Croatian citizenship. In addition to other documents required, persons whose application is based on the provision of Article 5, paragraph 2 of the Act (persons over the age of 21, born abroad, whose one parent was a Croatian citizen at the time of their birth) are also obligated to enclose a police certificate with their application, issued by a competent foreign authority, not older than six months. The provision of Article 5, paragraph 2 of the Act is of provisional character, given that the applications can be submitted within two years from the entry into force of the Act on amendments to the Croatian Citizenship Act (Official Gazette, No: 102/19).
*1 Extract from the birth register does not have to be submitted if the applicant was born in the Republic of Croatia
*2 Extract from the marriage register does not have to be submitted if the marriage was solemnized in the Republic of Croatia, i.e. if the fact that the marriage was solemnized abroad has been entered into the marriage register in the Republic of Croatia
*3 The Act on amendments to the Croatian Citizenship Act (Official Gazette, No: 102/19) lays down exceptions when the application may be submitted by only one parent
