Croatian citizenship from Niš — local guide

Which legal basis may apply if your ancestors moved from Croatia

If your parent or grandparent moved from Croatia to Serbia during the Yugoslav period, it is important to know this: under Article 11 of the Croatian Citizenship Act, a person who changed residence to other states that were at that time part of the same state union as Croatia is not considered an emigrant. The basis for emigrants and their descendants therefore does not cover such a move.

• If your parent was a Croatian citizen when you were born — acquisition by descent may apply, under the conditions in Articles 4 and 5 of the Act.
• If you are a member of the Croatian people — Article 16 may apply, with proof of that belonging.

Which basis applies in your case depends on the facts and the evidence; the application is decided by the Croatian Ministry of the Interior. An explanation is in the article Croatian citizenship through grandparents, and an overview of the bases is in the comparison table.

What you can do without travelling

• Civil registry extracts — at the registry office or through the eIzvod service on the eUprava portal (euprava.gov.rs). If you need an apostille, ask the court in which form the document must be (paper or electronic) before you order it.
• Criminal record certificate — issued by the Serbian Ministry of the Interior; 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; for documents issued in Niš that is the Basic Court in Niš, not the court in the city where the consular office is. 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 — court-appointed translators for Croatian are listed in the register of Serbia’s Ministry of Justice. The Croatian Ministry of the Interior expressly requires a Croatian translation only for the criminal record certificate; for other documents, confirm with the consular office.
• Documents from Croatia — a domovnica (certificate of Croatian citizenship) is issued by a registry office in Croatia; ways of obtaining it from Serbia are described on the Domovnica page.
• Questions to the consular office — send them by e-mail to crocons.beograd@mvep.hr. A clear question in advance can save you a trip.

The order: appointment first, then fresh documents

The most expensive mistake for an applicant who travels is arriving with a document that is not accepted and having to repeat the trip. Therefore:

1. Collect the evidence that does not go out of date — old documents, proof of belonging to the Croatian people, your biography (životopis).
2. Book the appointment on the consular portal (konzularniportal.mvep.hr).
3. Get fresh documents shortly before the appointment — 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.
4. Translation, and an apostille only if the office expressly asks for one — only once you have confirmed with the consular office what is required for your documents (apostille guide).
5. Before the trip, check the whole file against the list on the Documents page.

Planning the trip to Belgrade

• Opening hours: the Consular Section in Belgrade receives clients Monday–Thursday, 9:00–13:00, so plan the trip around the exact time of your appointment.
• Morning appointment: consider arriving the day before, so that a transport delay does not cost you the appointment.
• Several family members: try to book appointments on the same day — one trip instead of several.
• Return: leave a margin; submission may take longer than you planned.
• Budget: include travel and any accommodation for each visit — use the cost calculator.

How many times you go to Belgrade

A citizenship application is submitted in person, and according to the Croatian Ministry of the Interior’s instructions the decision is handed over at the office where the application was submitted. A passport application is also submitted in person, and the finished passport is collected at the office where it was applied for (Travel Documents Act, Article 23). For a first passport, a domovnica and a birth certificate are enclosed, so when you submit your application ask the officer what can be done during the same visit in your case. 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 office.

Note: this is an unofficial information guide, not a consulate website. Procedures, fees and opening hours change — before travelling, check current information with the consular office or on the consular portal (konzularniportal.mvep.hr).