The Croatian Citizenship Application Process

Before anything else, determine whether you qualify for Croatian citizenship by descent. You need to establish that you have a Croatian ancestor and that you can document an unbroken lineage from that ancestor to you.

Croatia removed the generational limit on citizenship by descent in 2019, so there is no "too many generations back" cutoff. The language test requirement was also abolished in 2020.

Before ordering any documents, map out every generation from the Croatian ancestor to yourself. Identify the ancestor who emigrated, their children, grandchildren, and so on down to you.

Pay special attention to name changes through marriage, adoptions, or legal name changes — each one will need documentation.

This step prevents wasted effort: you will know exactly which birth certificates, marriage certificates, and death certificates you need before spending money on orders, apostilles, and translations.

This is the step that requires your direct involvement. You will need to order and collect records from US vital records offices, the FBI, and other authorities. The key documents you need to gather personally include:

Your birth certificate (long form, issued within 1.5 years of your appointment), your marriage certificate if married (also within 1.5 years), and your FBI background check (cannot be older than 6 months — recommended no older than 5 months).

You will also need birth and marriage certificates for your parents and ancestors in the chain, death certificate of the emigrant ancestor, the ship manifest showing when your ancestor arrived, a valid US passport, proof of address, and your CV.

All US-issued birth and marriage certificates must be long form where available and issued within 1.5 years of your appointment date.

If any ancestor in your lineage was born, married, or died in Croatia, you will need the original Croatian civil records. Croatian-issued documents do not have a date limit and do not need an Apostille — but they must be originals (certified copies from the issuing office).

Obtaining records from Croatian archives and civil registry offices can be complex, especially for older records that may be in church archives, handwritten in old scripts, or filed under historical municipality names.

Every non-Croatian document you submit — birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, FBI background checks, name change decrees — must carry an Apostille seal. This is a step you will need to handle yourself, as Apostille seals must be obtained in person or by mail within the United States.

For US federal documents (like the FBI background check), the Apostille comes from the U.S. Department of State, Office of Authentications in Sterling, Virginia. This normally takes about 4 weeks. You mail in the document and they return it with the Apostille seal attached.

For US state-issued documents (birth and marriage certificates), the Apostille comes from the Secretary of State in the state that issued the document. Processing times and procedures vary by state — check your state's Secretary of State website for instructions.

Important: Croatian documents do not need an Apostille. Only documents issued outside of Croatia require one.

All non-Croatian documents and their Apostille seals must be translated into Croatian by a professional translator. This includes birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, FBI background checks, ship manifests, name change decrees, and even the Apostille seals themselves.

Translations must be done by a professional translator familiar with the citizenship process. The translated documents should be stapled in this order: translator cover letter with stamps and signatures, Croatian translation, Apostille, then the original document.

Do not unstaple or rearrange translations received from a professional translator — they must stay as is.

Complete the Obrazac 1 form in Croatian for each adult applicant (or Obrazac 2 if a minor child is applying with you). The form must be completed in Croatian — there is no English version.

Write your motivational letter in Croatian (with an English version if you do not speak Croatian). It should explain your family tree, why you want to be a Croatian citizen, and your connection to Croatian culture and community.

Prepare your CV in Croatian (one page preferred, two pages maximum) including your name, address, phone, email, date of birth, education, and employment.

Do not sign the Obrazac — you will sign it in person at your appointment.

Each adult applicant must prepare two piles of documents in the exact order specified:

Pile 1 contains all original documents with their original translations and Apostille seals. Pile 2 contains a photocopy of every single sheet of paper in Pile 1 — including photocopies of translations, Apostille seals, and cover letters.

Do not use paperclips, plastic folders, binders, or post-it notes. If a translator has stapled or roped documents together, leave them as is.

If a spouse is also applying, they will need their own two piles with originals of documents #1–7 and #14, plus photocopies of all the lineage documents from the main applicant.

File your application in person at the Croatian embassy or consulate that has jurisdiction over your place of residence in the United States.

At the appointment, you will sign the Obrazac in front of a consular officer. Your passport will be verified and returned to you. If there is anything on the forms you were unsure about, you can ask at the appointment.

If a minor child is applying and both parents cannot be present, the absent parent must provide a notarized sworn statement with Apostille and Croatian translation.

The current consular application fee is $237.50 per adult (as of June 2025). Payment can be made by personal check, money order, or credit card (American Express, MasterCard, Visa, Discover). Checks must be made out to "Consulate General of the Republic of Croatia" with the full name included.

After your consular appointment, your application is forwarded to the Ministry of Interior (MUP) in Zagreb for review. This is where the actual citizenship decision is made.

The Ministry may come back with requests for additional documents, clarifications, or reissued records. Fast, accurate responses to these requests are critical — delays in the process most often come from incomplete follow-up rather than from the initial submission.

The typical timeframe from consular appointment to receiving your citizenship decision is 12–24 months, though this varies based on case complexity and Ministry workload.

Once the Ministry approves your application, you will receive your Rješenje (citizenship decision). After that, you can obtain your domovnica (certificate of citizenship), Croatian birth certificate, OIB (personal identification number), and eventually your Croatian passport and ID card.

These post-decision steps involve Croatian administrative offices and can be handled remotely through a representative in Croatia.