CROATIAN CITIZENSHIP ACQUISITION BY JANUARY 1ST 2022

While many are familiar with different ways Croatian citizenship may be acquired under the Croatian Citizenship Act (Official Gazette no. 53/91, 70/91, 28/92, 113/93, 4/94, 130/11, 110/15, 102/19, hereinafter: CCA), it is important to bring attention to two new provisions of the Act, which entered into force on 1 January 2020 and are of special interest to the children of Croatian emigrants.

Keeping in mind that the deadline for submitting applications for registration in the records of Croatian citizens, or applications for the determination of Croatian citizenship, based on these provisions is two years from their entry into force (that is, until 1 January 2022), it is essential to act with the utmost urgency.

The first of these provisions is Article 4 paragraph 2 of the CCA, according to which a person older than 21 who was born abroad acquires Croatian citizenship by origin if at the time of their birth one of their parents was a Croatian citizen, provided that they submit an application for registration in the records of Croatian citizens within two years of the entry into force of this provision (that is, until 1 January 2022) and that the Ministry of the Interior has previously established that they respect the legal order of the Republic of Croatia, that they have paid the due public charges and that there are no security obstacles to their admission to Croatian citizenship.

It is therefore advisable to submit applications based on this provision as soon as possible. Through this provision, the legislator gave a chance to persons older than 21, who up until the amendment of the law haven't had the chance to acquire citizenship for various reasons. This provision is of special interest to the children of Croatian emigrants, especially because the definition of an emigrant has been broadened. Now the definition encompasses persons who emigrated from the territory of the Republic of Croatia before the 8th October 1991 with the intent of living permanently abroad, as well as persons belonging to the Croatian nation who emigrated from territories that were part of former states which, at the time of emigration, also included the territory of the present-day Republic of Croatia.

Furthermore, under Article 30.a of the CCA, a person born between 8 January 1977 and 8 October 1991 is also considered a Croatian citizen if, at the time of their birth, both of their parents had Croatian citizenship but a different citizenship was entered for them in the citizenship records, provided that they apply for the determination of Croatian citizenship within two years of the entry into force of this provision (that is, until 1 January 2022).

It is necessary to act urgently under this provision as well and to submit the application for the determination of Croatian citizenship by the end of this year. The goal of introducing this provision into the law was precisely to regulate the citizenship of children of Croatian citizens who were born outside the territory of the present-day Republic of Croatia, that is, within the territory of the former state, and whose citizenship was therefore assigned based on where they were born and not based on the citizenship of their parents.

These provisions are commendable from the perspective of the protection of fundamental human rights, as they ease the procedure for acquiring citizenship for members of the Croatian people and emigrants outside the Republic of Croatia who had so far been prevented from doing so, and they correct historical administrative inconsistencies.

In introducing these provisions, the legislator particularly had in mind the protection of fundamental human rights, especially the rights of the children of Croatian emigrants and of children born in the territory of the former state whose parents are Croats, and who faced many administrative problems because at birth they were assigned a citizenship other than Croatian.