|
Post by danielh on Jul 16, 2018 13:37:25 GMT 1
Hi
I'm sorry if you've answered a similar question before but I really need some advice about becoming a Croatian citizen.
Having read various documents online, I am not sure I am eligible for citizenship. Although I am the child of a Croatian citizen (my mother is Croatian, my father was English), my birth was not registered with the Registrar of Citizens in Croatia - mainly because I was born in 1974 and Croatia did not exist until 1991!
My mother was born in Zavidovići, Bosnia in 1950 but lived in Rijeka, Croatia from the age of 5 until she left for the UK when she was 21. She is now a British citizen. She does not have a Croatian passport but she does have a Croatian Domovnica. She still has her old Yugoslav passports and I am on her old Yugoslav passports (back then children did not need their own passport).
Am I likely to be eligible? Do you know of any lawyers in Croatia that spee in this area?
Many thanks
Daniel
|
|
|
Post by danielh on Jul 16, 2018 13:45:00 GMT 1
I should perhaps add that I have my own OIB, I own property in Croatia, have a Croatian bank account etc. Not sure if that makes any difference!
|
|
|
Post by capo on Jul 16, 2018 14:05:31 GMT 1
|
|
|
Post by danielh on Jul 16, 2018 14:10:49 GMT 1
Thanks Capo but that doesn't relate to acquiring citizenship. I've read the law on citizenship many times and it says that children of one Croatian parent are citizens if their birth was registered in Croatia before their 18th birthday. My birth was not registered like that.
|
|
|
Post by Ribaric on Jul 19, 2018 22:40:10 GMT 1
A customer of ours was in a similar case to yours Danielh and merely registered his birth and obtained his citizenship within a day or two. That was last year. Perhaps just go for it and wait for some official to tell you why you can't do it - that gives you the opportunity to ask "then what do you suggest?".
JDI
|
|
|
Post by jamesmb on Jul 31, 2018 16:53:12 GMT 1
A customer of ours was in a similar case to yours Danielh and merely registered his birth and obtained his citizenship within a day or two. That was last year. Perhaps just go for it and wait for some official to tell you why you can't do it - that gives you the opportunity to ask "then what do you suggest?". JDI Hi, are you saying he registered his own birth?! Where did he go? I've had contact with the embassy in Paris and I am 99% sure if I tried that there, they'd kick me out of the door!
|
|
|
Post by Ribaric on Aug 2, 2018 10:12:36 GMT 1
Short answer Jamesmb, we've helped a number of people as part of what we do, we're not experts but we do have some experience (not that we were searching for it). A few 'features' we've learnt are: 1. Embassy staff are worse than useless, don't bother with them unless the application system requires you to do so. 2. You will need to show, somehow, your parents/grandparents are/were Croatian. Yugoslav birth certificates don't do this unless the stated home town is in Croatia. 3. If your name is clearly not Croatian (worse if it is Serb, Bosniak, Albanian) then you'll face a glass wall in your path. All our cases have been different and we've not led in any of them, despite being close to the people involved. Our suggestion is to find a lawyer (not on the coast) and present him/her with your facts. For a reasonably small fee, you'll get either "no chance", "no problem" or, worst of all "perhaps". That will get you to the next stage at least. Hope this helps. PS: Never take the first dozen "No"s for an answer. Stick at it, don't let go. It's surprising how many 'No' answers eventually turn into a grudging 'Yes'. www.ruralpropertycroatia.com
|
|
|
Post by Ribaric on Aug 4, 2018 14:16:06 GMT 1
A customer of ours was in a similar case to yours Danielh and merely registered his birth and obtained his citizenship within a day or two. That was last year. Perhaps just go for it and wait for some official to tell you why you can't do it - that gives you the opportunity to ask "then what do you suggest?". JDI Hi, are you saying he registered his own birth?! Where did he go? I've had contact with the embassy in Paris and I am 99% sure if I tried that there, they'd kick me out of the door! In a sense, but his late father had already registered his (the son's) birth in Croatia. Many years later, the son arrived and navigated his way through getting his domovnica.
|
|
lulu
New Member
Posts: 8
|
Post by lulu on Aug 19, 2018 13:46:22 GMT 1
Hi Daniel H, I'm going through the citizenship process and have gotten as far as the "your papers have been finally sent to Zagreb" phase. First, are you an English resident? I'm assuming you are and that may be an advantage compared to a third-party country (like the US) since you're still in the EU.
My father was Croatian born in Herzegovina but left BiH as a teenager, spent 3 years in Slavonia, and emigrated to Canada, where became naturalized and married a Canadian. I brought his baptism certificates from Medugorje, school grades from Slavonia, and a post-WW2 Croatian domovnica with me to Split where I'm going through my process. I had to prove involvement with Croatian communities in the US—this is very important, take the citizenship test (15 random questions out of 100), provide documents such as my birth certificate with an Apostille stamp translated into Croatian, a translated wedding certificate, a criminal record (also translated). The LAST thing I was asked for was my father's birth certificate from BiH. The funny thing is that my cousin is a judge and was kind enough to order for me, but they forgot to identify my father's nationality as Croatian!
In my case I am the only cousin born outside of Ex-Yu and the ones I know all have dual BiH/Cro citizenship, which I emphasized to the second women I interviewed with at MUP in Split. We used a lawyer but she is new to citizenship cases (long story) but the firm is well-known and well-respected.
I should note this process has taken me close to 9 months so far and I've been to MUP at least 20 times to obtain temporary residency, citizenship, and temporary residency again. To his credit my Bosanac husband encouraged (nagged) me to use the Croatian embassy in Sarajevo to go through this process but I was stubborn and wanted to use a Croatian lawyer.
|
|
|
Post by capo on Aug 21, 2018 10:51:36 GMT 1
|
|
|
Post by danielh on Aug 21, 2018 14:20:50 GMT 1
So there's been a twist in the story...
I received confirmation today that my birth was in fact registered in Rijeka, Croatia in 1985 but, because my mother was born in Zavidovici, Bosnia, I was registered as a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina!
Anyone know if that makes it easier/harder to obtain Croatian citizenship?
|
|
|
Post by danielh on Aug 21, 2018 16:33:50 GMT 1
A customer of ours was in a similar case to yours Danielh and merely registered his birth and obtained his citizenship within a day or two. That was last year. Perhaps just go for it and wait for some official to tell you why you can't do it - that gives you the opportunity to ask "then what do you suggest?". JDI Hi JDI . Where did he register his birth? In Croatia?
|
|
|
Post by capo on Aug 21, 2018 21:53:52 GMT 1
So there's been a twist in the story... I received confirmation today that my birth was in fact registered in Rijeka, Croatia in 1985 but, because my mother was born in Zavidovici, Bosnia, I was registered as a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina! Anyone know if that makes it easier/harder to obtain Croatian citizenship? if it was registered on area of Herzegovina wont be any problem cause ppl of Herzegovina are croatian more the croatian them self
|
|
|
Post by Ribaric on Aug 23, 2018 16:00:25 GMT 1
A customer of ours was in a similar case to yours Danielh and merely registered his birth and obtained his citizenship within a day or two. That was last year. Perhaps just go for it and wait for some official to tell you why you can't do it - that gives you the opportunity to ask "then what do you suggest?". JDI Hi JDI . Where did he register his birth? In Croatia? www.ruralpropertycroatia.comIn Varazdin. He had his birth certificate with him and we went to the Maticni Ured who, after much to-ing and fro-ing issued him with a Domovnica. Next to police station to get his ID card and now he has his passport.
|
|
|
Post by ettaetta on Nov 15, 2018 15:55:24 GMT 1
Hi
I'm sorry if you've answered a similar question before but I really need some advice about becoming a Croatian citizen.
Having read various documents online, I am not sure I am eligible for citizenship. Although I am the child of a Croatian citizen (my mother is Croatian, my father was English), my birth was not registered with the Registrar of Citizens in Croatia - mainly because I was born in 1974 and Croatia did not exist until 1991!
My mother was born in Zavidovići, Bosnia in 1950 but lived in Rijeka, Croatia from the age of 5 until she left for the UK when she was 21. She is now a British citizen. She does not have a Croatian passport but she does have a Croatian Domovnica. She still has her old Yugoslav passports and I am on her old Yugoslav passports (back then children did not need their own passport).
Am I likely to be eligible? Do you know of any lawyers in Croatia that spee in this area?
Many thanks
Daniel
I am in exactly the same situation. My mother is a Croatian Citizen with a Croatian Domovnica and I was added to her Yuguslav passport in 1985. I just checked with the foreign office in Zagreb and they informed me that I do have Croatian Citizenship and am registered in the same city as my mother. This should be the same case for you and you should have Croatian Citizenship, too. The only thing I need to do now is get a Domovnica.
|
|