Croatian citizenship by descent

Who qualifies, generation by generation

The dates that matter

1. 1947

   People from the territory ceded by Italy in 1947 who opted for Italian citizenship kept it continuously and were never Croatian citizens, so they are not emigrants for Article 11. Administrative Court of the Republic of Croatia, Us-11445/2008-3 (23 October 2009): optants for Italy under the 1947 Peace Treaty ↗

2. 1991
   8 October 1991

   An emigrant who left Croatia before 8 October 1991 intending to live abroad, and their descendants, may acquire citizenship by naturalisation without meeting the residence, language or renunciation requirements. Law on Croatian Citizenship, Article 11 (emigrants and their descendants), as amended 2019 (NN 102/19, in force 1 January 2020), Art. 11 ↗

Claiming through your mother or grandmother

Croatia’s rule gives the same answer whether the line runs through a mother or a father.

Dual citizenship with your home country

You keep your citizenship.

On every open route, the rule lets a citizen of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina or South Africa keep that citizenship.

• Emigrants and descendants who naturalise under Article 11 keep their other citizenship. Law on Croatian Citizenship, Article 11 (emigrants and their descendants), as amended 2019 (NN 102/19, in force 1 January 2020) ↗
• Not an emigrant: someone who left under an international treaty, renounced Croatian citizenship, moved to another Yugoslav republic, or had no Croatian republic citizenship or domicile. Law on Croatian Citizenship, Article 11 (emigrants and their descendants), as amended 2019 (NN 102/19, in force 1 January 2020), Art. 11(5) ↗

Every way to apply, and the law behind it

The documents, as the rule lists them

Most countries also want proof that your ancestor didn’t become a citizen somewhere else before their child was born: the naturalization record with its date, or a letter saying there isn’t one.

What it takes: time, cost, the hard part, who decides

Fees are each office’s published fee, converted to U.S. dollars.

Where each record lives, and how to ask for it

• birth1946–2026

  The matični ured (registry office) holding the state register (državne matice) for the place of birth

  Registry office for the municipality; any registry office can issue from the digital register for most entries. From abroad: through the Croatian mission, a proxy, or a letter to the registry office.

  Ask

  By post, in Croatian

  Fee

  0 EUR (about $0)

  Takes

  4–17 weeks

  Good to know (3)›

  • No administrative fee is charged for extracts from the state registers (Ministry of Justice and Administration).
  • Through a U.S. consulate, delivery takes about 3–4 months depending on the registry office, and a consular fee applies.
  • Online (e-Građani) requests need a Croatian electronic identity, which U.S. descendants do not have.

  source ↗

• birth1700–1945

  Parish registers (matične knjige) kept by the Catholic, Orthodox or other church; the older books are largely held by the Croatian State Archives (Hrvatski državni arhiv) and regional state archives, with later books still in the parish

  Identify the parish for the village; ask the parish office, then the state archive for the county. FamilySearch has filmed many Croatian registers (free login).

  Ask

  By email, in Croatian

  Takes

  1–6 months

  Good to know (2)›

  • The Croatian State Archives charges €19.91 per started half hour of research (€39.82 where the books need Latin or old-script reading), €6.64 for certified extracts or transcripts that need no research, €0.66 per scanned page and €2.65 to email up to five files. Books still in the parish are requested from the parish office.
  • A baptismal extract from a place in today’s Croatia is the core proof; for emigration under Austria-Hungary or Yugoslavia you also prove the time of emigration and belonging to the Croatian people.

  source ↗

• emigration

  Proof the ancestor emigrated from today’s Croatia before 8 October 1991: passenger manifests, U.S. immigration and naturalisation files, old travel documents

  Ask

  By post, in English · request page ↗

  Takes

  2–12 months

  Good to know (1)›

  • The U.S. overview names ‘American immigrant documents, acceptance to Ellis Island etc.’ as acceptable proof of emigration.

  source ↗

Places on old papers that lead to Croatia

If your family’s records name one of these, Croatia’s law may be the one that applies. The town decides.

• Austria-Hungary · also Austro-Hungarian Empire, Habsburg

  Austria-Hungary became a dozen countries in 1918. Pick the one the town is in today.

  Today: Austria, Hungary, Czechia, Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Ukraine, Poland, Italy, Serbia

• Yugoslavia

  Yugoslavia split in the 1990s. Pick the country the town is in today.

  Today: Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia

• Dalmatia

  Dalmatia is Croatia.

Recent and pending changes

We know of no pending bill or recent court ruling for Croatia.

We re-read the official pages behind this guide every day. When one changes, a person checks the rule before we update anything here.

If descent doesn’t reach you

2 residence programs lead to Croatia without an ancestor, each with its own law and road to citizenship.

• Remote workDigital nomad temporary stay permit

  Croatia lets remote workers employed or self-employed outside Croatia live there for up to 18 months, no work permit, no local tax on the foreign income.

• Job offerEU Blue Card for highly qualified employment

  A non-EU national with a qualifying offer for highly qualified work in Croatia may apply for a residence and work permit. The salary and qualification tests are country-specific.

Every source on this page

2 laws and official pages behind the answers, then the offices and pages behind the records and filing.

1. LawLaw on Croatian Citizenship, Article 11 (emigrants and their descendants), as amended 2019 (NN 102/19, in force 1 January 2020) · Art. 11; Art. 11(5); Art. 8(1)(5) with Art. 11(1)
2. LawAdministrative Court of the Republic of Croatia, Us-11445/2008-3 (23 October 2009): optants for Italy under the 1947 Peace Treaty
3. RecordsThe matični ured (registry office) of the town, or the parish: Your ancestor’s Croatian birth or baptismal record
4. RecordsHow to file: Emigrants and their descendants
5. RecordsApplication for acquiring Croatian citizenship (Form 2/3) with questionnaire, from the Ministry of the Interior’s forms page
6. RecordsEmail or telephone to the mission
7. RecordsBirth records, 1946–2026: The matični ured
8. RecordsBirth records, 1700–1945: Parish registers
9. RecordsEmigration records: Proof the ancestor emigrated from today’s Croatia before 8 October 1991
10. RecordsThe passport: where, the fee and the wait

Not legal advice. Every answer comes from the country’s own laws and is tested against real cases. Where the law isn’t clear, we say “possible” rather than guess.