Croatia

Citizenship

Article 30 of the Law on Croatian citizenship provides in its paragraph 1 that a Croatian citizen is every person who acquired Croatian citizenship according to the regulations applicable on the day of entry into force of the Law. This included individuals who held citizenship of the Socialist Republic of Croatia in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) (at that time a republican citizenship that had little or no practical effect). For those who did not acquire citizenship automatically, the Law sets out in Article 30, paragraph 2 a facilitated procedure for the acquisition of Croatian citizenship for members of the "Croatian people" (acquisition of citizenship according to the principle of jus sanguinis), who are eligible for citizenship in the Republic of Croatia as long as they submit a written statement that they consider themselves Croatian citizens. Other individuals must go through a more lengthy process of naturalisation in order to obtain Croatian citizenship and fulfil the more stringent requirements established for naturalisation. These include inter alia: possession of a registered place of residence for a period of not less than five years constantly on the territory of the Republic of Croatia before the filing of the petition (Article 8(3)); proficiency in the Croatian language and Latin script (Article 8(4)); the possibility for a conclusion to be derived from the applicant's conduct that he or she is attached to the legal system and customs persisting in the Republic of Croatia and that he or she accepts the Croatian culture (Article 8(5)). Those born on the territory of the Republic of Croatia are exempted from some requirements, however they must still meet the conditions under Articles 8(3) and 8(5).