Organization : Ministry of the Interior
Facility : Application For Acquiring Croatian Citizenship
Country : Croatia
Website : https://mup.gov.hr/aliens-281621/citizenship/281629
How To Apply For Acquiring Croatian Citizenship?
Foreign nationals (persons who do not have Croatian citizenship) can submit an application for Croatian citizenship and acquire it by naturalisation if they meet the requirements laid down by the Croatian Citizenship Act.
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
** Certificate of no criminal record 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.