Croatian Citizenship Applications and Passports

You will need an original Australian or New Zealand birth certificate with an apostille stamp affixed to the back of it. Both documents must be translated into Croatian by an official certified Croatian translator.

If applicable, you will need an original Australian or New Zealand marriage certificate with an apostille stamp affixed to the back of it. Both documents must be translated into Croatian by an official certified Croatian translator.

You will need a Criminal Record Check, which is typically a National Police Certificate issued by the AFP (if from Australia, see link here) or a Criminal Record Check from the Ministry of Justice (if from New Zeland, see link here).

This will need to then have an Apostille stamp affixed to it and both the Police Check and Apostille translated into Croatian by an official certified Croatian translator.

This document must not be older than 6 months from the date of issue.

If you were not born in Australia or New Zealand, then you will also need a second Criminal Record Check from the country of your birth. This is also to be Apostilled and translated into Croatian by an official certified Croatian translator.

You will need to present a valid Australia, New Zealand or other passport to prove your current country of citizenship.

All of the information on this document must match the names in the birth and marriage certificates as well as the police check.

You will need to write a short biography containing information about yourself, your heritage, your connection to Croatian and the Croatian people and why you wish to become a citizen of Croatia. It should contain details such as:

• Your name, date and place of birth, education and current employment
• Your parent’s names, dates and places of birth
• How and when your parents (or grandparents) etc. left out of Croatia
• Your motivation and reasons for wanting to apply for Croatian citizenship

This letter is typically 1-2 pages in length, however can be longer if you wish to provide further information.

The biography must be in the Croatian language. If you cannot write this in Croatian, then we can translate this into Croatian for you.

If your parents are already Croatian citizens, then you will need to provide a copy of their Domovnica (Croatian Citizenship Certificate), their Croatian passports or the Croatian ID Cards (Osobna izkaznica).

As these documents will already be in Croatian, and issued by the Republic of Croatia, they do not need to be translated into Croatian.

If you left what is currently the territory of the Republic of Croatia, then you will need to demonstrate of your departure.

If your ancestors emigrated from the territory of the Republic of Croatia, then you will need to demonstrate their departure from Croatia and also your connection/relation to them.

If your ancestors emigrated from the territory of former countries to which the territory of present-day Croatia belonged to at the time, such as Yugoslavia, Italy or Austria-Hungary, then you will need to prove when they emigrated and that they belonged to the Croatian people. This applies if your ancestors left Croatia prior to 08 October 1991.

People whose ancestors are/were Croatian, yet have not emigrated anywhere, will typically apply provide evidence of this kind.

If this applies to you, then you will need to provide some evidence that you are a member of the Croatian people and that you have Croatian ancestry. These documents must demonstrate that your ancestors declared themselves to be Croatian and include documents such as military records, birth certificates, marriage certificates, student enrolment records, other certificates, employment records.

This does not usually apply for people living in Australia or New Zealand as your ancestors emigrated out of Croatia.

If you are applying for Croatian citizenship for your children as well, then you will need to additionally provide the following documents for each child:

• An original birth certificate for the child. If born in Australia or New Zealand, this must then have an Apostille stamp affixed to it. Both the birth certificate and the Apostille stamp must be translated into Croatian.
• Written consent of the second parent that they agree to their child obtaining Croatian citizenship.
• Proof of Citizenship of the child such as a passport.

All of these documents must be in Croatian and we can translate them for you if needed.