Croatian Citizenship Act 138/21 - current version

The Croatian Citizenship Act had set up to distinguish the republican citizenship of the SFRY from the citizenship of a sovereign state. With its enactment in 1991, it regulated various situations and relationships arising from the former republican citizenship of the SFRY.

It has evolved to this day and was adopted through amendments in the following editions of the "Official Gazette" - 53/91, 70/91, 28/92, 113/93, 4/94, 130/11, 110/15, 102/19, 138/21.

Currently, valid Amendments to the Law on Croatian Citizenship - 138/21, entered into force on January 1, 2022., which you can download by clicking below this text.

It is important to emphasize that in today's time of dual citizenship, the Croatian Citizenship Act provides that a citizen of the Republic of Croatia who also holds foreign citizenship is considered to be a Croatian citizen exclusively before the state authorities of the Republic of Croatia, which means that he enjoys and accepts full rights and obligations as such.

The new Croatian Citizenship Act from 2022 has been composed for easier acquisition of Croatian citizenship for emigrants who are members of the Croatian nation from the former republics of the SFRY, except for Croatia (that is what is today the territory of the states of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Kosovo is).

Also, it is essential to know, and all because of the implications that citizenship carries with it for the qualifications of future generations, how the concept of citizenship is separated from the concept of national belonging, i.e. that they are often in a different relationship.

The reason why we mention this is that regularly the parents who acquired Croatian citizenship on one particular ground do not represent much for future generations, i.e. the children have to independently prove their nationality, which is only a single segment of citizenship.