Croatian citizenship from Beograd — local guide

Consular Section in Belgrade — key details

• Address: Kneza Miloša 82, 1st floor, 11000 Belgrade
• Phone: +381 11 3679 140
• E-mail: crocons.beograd@mvep.hr
• Hours for clients: Monday–Thursday, 9:00–13:00 (according to the Embassy’s page on mvep.gov.hr). Hours change, so check that page before you go.

An appointment is mandatory. The Embassy states that clients are received exclusively by prior appointment, booked on the Croatian Consular Portal (konzularniportal.mvep.hr). This website is not that portal and appointments cannot be booked here. On the portal you choose a service, so select the right one carefully. Instructions are in the article How to book an appointment at the Croatian Consulate in Belgrade.

Where to get documents in Belgrade

• Civil registry extracts (birth, marriage) — issued by registry offices, and they can also be ordered through the eIzvod service on the eUprava portal (euprava.gov.rs). Ask the registrar for an extract on the international (multilingual) form: Serbia and Croatia are parties to the convention under which such extracts are accepted without legalisation. Confirm in advance whether the consular office also wants a translation with it.
• Criminal record certificate — issued by the Serbian Ministry of the Interior (police directorate). Check on eUprava whether you can apply electronically.
• Apostille — issued by the basic court (osnovni sud) for the area where the authority that issued the document has its seat. The First Basic Court in Belgrade (Bulevar Nikole Tesle 42a) has an apostille service. Belgrade has more than one basic court, so check with the court that it is competent for your document before you go; for a document issued in another city, the basic court of that area is competent. For public documents from Serbia used in Croatia, an apostille is as a rule not required: legalisation was abolished by the Treaty on Legal Assistance between Croatia and Serbia (NN-MU 6/98, Art. 19), as the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (MVEP) also states. Before you pay for any certification, confirm with the consular office that they ask for nothing more for your document.
• Certified translation — done by a court-appointed translator for Croatian; the register of translators is published by Serbia’s Ministry of Justice.

The full list of documents for each legal basis is on the Documents page.

The order in which to prepare your file

1. Book the appointment on the portal and plan everything else around it.
2. Get fresh documents. The Croatian Ministry of the Interior expressly requires that the criminal record certificate be no older than 6 months; it is therefore best to obtain extracts shortly before submission as well. Confirm the exact requirements with the consular office.
3. Apostille — as a rule not required; get one only if the consular office expressly asks for it for your document.
4. Translation — the Croatian Ministry of the Interior expressly requires a Croatian translation only for the criminal record certificate. For other documents, ask the consular office before paying for translations. If both an apostille and a translation are needed, ask the translator whether the apostille is translated too, so that you do not pay for a translation twice (more in the apostille guide).
5. Write your životopis (a short biography) — the Croatian Ministry of the Interior requires one that also briefly states the reasons for applying (instructions).

Appointment day: what to bring and how to get there

• Arrive a little early and bring your appointment confirmation.
• A valid identity document (ID card or passport).
• Originals of all documents and copies — arrange them in the same order as on the list, with the translation next to the original where a translation is needed.
• Photograph — for a passport, the consular portal asks for a biometric photograph of 3.5 × 4.5 cm, which you bring ready-made.
• Paying the fees — the consular portal states that payment in cash is not possible. Confirm the payment method and amounts with the consular office before your appointment; an overview of costs is in the cost calculator.

Kneza Miloša is in the city centre, so allow for traffic and limited parking and set off in good time. If you are applying for a passport for a child: according to the consular portal, a parent submits the application and a child aged 12 or over must be present.

The most common mistakes

• Arriving without an appointment or with an appointment for the wrong service.
• Out-of-date documents — a criminal record certificate older than 6 months on the day of submission.
• Translations and certifications paid for on a guess — without first checking with the consular office what is actually required for your documents.
• Mismatched details — names, dates and places in your biography should match the extracts.

After submission: waiting, the decision and the passport

The application is decided by the Croatian Ministry of the Interior. No official time limit or average duration of the procedure has been published; readers’ experiences are in the article How long does the Ministry’s decision take. To ask about the state of your case, e-mail the Consular Section, quoting your case number if you were given one at submission.

For applications submitted abroad, the consular fee is paid on submission (Croatian Ministry of the Interior instructions); confirm the amount with the consular office. The decision is handed over at the office where the application was submitted. For a first passport, a domovnica and a birth certificate are enclosed (consular portal); the fee is €74.32 for persons aged 21 or over and €55.74 for younger applicants. The finished passport is collected at the office where the application was submitted (Travel Documents Act, Article 23). The whole procedure is on the Process page.

Note: this is an unofficial information guide, not a consulate website. Opening hours, fees and procedures change — before you go, check current information on the consular portal (konzularniportal.mvep.hr) or with the Consular Section.