Value and comparison
Croatian citizenship is EU citizenship
A Croatian passport carries the right to live, work, study, start a business and retire in any EU or EEA member state and in Switzerland, without a visa and without a work permit. Croatia has been in Schengen and in the eurozone since 1 January 2023. For most people who come to us, that, rather than Croatia itself, is the practical reason they are doing this. And Croatian citizenship by descent has one structural feature that has become unusual: there is no generation limit.
Legal basisZakon o hrvatskom državljanstvu, consolidated text NN 138/21. Statements about Italian, Irish and Polish law are included for orientation only and are not advice on those systems; confirm them with a qualified practitioner in the relevant country. Italian position stated as at Law 74/2025. Nothing here is tax advice. Reviewed 20 September 2026.
01 / What it gets you
What EU citizenship actually means in practice.
Live
In any other EU or EEA state, and Switzerland, without applying for a residence visa.
Work
Without a work permit, and be treated equally with nationals on pay and conditions.
Start and run a business
And provide services across borders.
Study
At local tuition rates rather than international rates, which in some countries is a very large number.
Retire
With coordination of social security rights between member states.
Bring family members
Including non-EU spouses and children, under EU free movement rules.
Pass it to your children
The part people underrate. Citizenship acquired now becomes a family asset, not just a personal one.
And Croatia itself
It is where the family came from, and a Croatian passport is the document that makes going back something other than a tourist visit. Be honest with yourself about which of the two is motivating you, because it changes nothing about the process.
Visa-free destinations, healthcare cards, banking, ETIAS exemption and the rest of the practical detail is in the EU passport and free movement guide.
02 / What it does not change
Five things people worry about that the passport does not touch.
You do not give up your existing citizenship
Croatia permits dual citizenship on the descent routes: Article 11 expressly waives the release-from-foreign-citizenship requirement, and Article 16 never engages it. Article 2 means only that a dual citizen is treated by Croatian authorities as exclusively Croatian, which is a rule about how Croatia deals with you, not a requirement to renounce anything.
Dual citizenship guideWhether your own country permits it is your country’s question
The United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Chile, Brazil and South Africa all permit multiple citizenship in the ordinary case. Check your own rules; do not rely on a Croatian source for them.
Tax follows residence, not the passport
Croatian tax residence generally depends on where you actually live, not on what citizenship you hold. Acquiring a Croatian passport while living in Sydney does not make you a Croatian taxpayer. If you are planning an actual move, or you are a US citizen with worldwide filing obligations, that is a question for a tax adviser.
Military service
Croatia abolished compulsory military service in 2008. Policy in this area has been under public discussion, so confirm the current position rather than relying on this page if it matters to your decision.
You do not have to move to Croatia, ever
Article 11 waives the residence requirement entirely, and Article 16 is written for people without residence in Croatia. The application form asks about settlement plans and states on its face that those answers will not influence approval or the speed of the procedure.
03 / The comparison
How Croatia compares with the other main descent routes.
| Croatia | Italy | Ireland | Poland | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Generation limit | None | Generally an Italian-born parent or grandparent since the 2025 reform | Grandparent born in Ireland; great-grandparent only in a narrow case | None, but the chain must be unbroken |
| Core test | Ancestor emigrated from today’s Croatia before 8 Oct 1991, plus documented descent | Unbroken transmission, now subject to the new proximity requirement | Grandparent born on the island of Ireland | Ancestor held Polish citizenship and never lost it |
| Legal character | Naturalisation with ministerial discretion (or registration / determination in some cases) | Recognition of an existing right | Registration in the Foreign Births Register | Confirmation of an existing citizenship |
| Language test | No | No | No | No |
| Residence required | No | No | No | No |
| Dual citizenship | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Main obstacle | Document chain; ministerial discretion | The new generational restriction | The grandparent rule; parents must have registered in time | Proving the ancestor was a citizen after 1920 and never lost it |
Italy
Italy was for decades the most generous descent route in Europe, with no generational limit. That ended in 2025. Decree-Law 36/2025 came into force on 29 March 2025 and was converted into Law 74/2025, in force from 24 May 2025, inserting a new Article 3-bis into Law 91/1992. The effect is that a person born abroad who holds another citizenship is deemed never to have acquired Italian citizenship automatically unless a statutory exception applies, in practice restricting the route to those with an Italian-born parent or grandparent.
Applications filed, and consular appointments confirmed, before 27 March 2025 continue to be assessed under the old rules. Court challenges to the reform have been brought; confirm the current position with an Italian practitioner. Anyone who was told years ago that Italy was their route should check whether that is still true.
Ireland
Clean and well-run, but the limit is real. A grandparent born on the island of Ireland, north or south, lets you register in the Foreign Births Register, after which you are an Irish citizen from the date of registration. A parent born in Ireland means you are already a citizen.
A great-grandparent works only if your parent had themselves registered on the Foreign Births Register before you were born. The chain has to have been kept up in real time by the previous generation. That is what disqualifies most people at the great-grandparent level.
Poland
No generational limit, and it is a confirmation of an existing citizenship rather than a grant, which is favourable. The difficulty is the starting point. Poland’s first citizenship act took effect on 31 January 1920, and the ancestor must have held Polish citizenship under it and not subsequently lost it.
That is a genuine obstacle for the very large emigration wave of roughly 1870 to 1914: an ancestor who left Polish lands before 1920 may never have been a Polish citizen at all. Loss events also matter: voluntary acquisition of a foreign citizenship before 19 January 1951 generally caused loss, and women who married foreign nationals before 1951 may have lost citizenship automatically.
04 / Where Croatia sits
Croatia’s test is different in kind, and that is what makes it comparatively open.
The honest disadvantages, because you should know them before choosing
It is a naturalisation, not a recognition
Legally, Article 11 and Article 16 are grants by ministerial decision, and the Ministry retains discretion to refuse even where the conditions are met. Ireland’s Foreign Births Register and Poland’s confirmation procedure are declaratory. In ordinary descent cases the discretion is rarely the problem, but it is a real difference.
It is slow
The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs gives 18 to 24 months for a completed file in its January 2025 guidance, plus document gathering and appointment waits.
The paperwork is entirely in Croatian
No language test, but the forms, CV and motivational letter must be written in Croatian and every document and apostille translated into Croatian.
The document chain is unforgiving
No generation limit means a five-generation claim is legally fine. It also means five generations of certificates, and one missing link stops the file.
If you have a viable route under more than one country’s law, compare on speed, cost and certainty rather than assuming the one with no generation limit is automatically better. What the 2019 reform removed, and what limits a Croatian claim instead.
05 / Is it worth it?
The reasonable answer depends on which of three things you actually want.
If you want the option, not the move
This is most of the people we hear from. An EU passport in the drawer costs a few thousand euros once and then costs nothing, and it passes to your children automatically. Whether that is worth it is a judgement about how much you value optionality, and nobody can make it for you.
If you are planning to move to the EU
Then the comparison is not against doing nothing, it is against the visa route. For most people the citizenship route is cheaper, permanent, and does not depend on an employer, an income threshold or an annual renewal.
If it is about the family
Then the calculation is different again and does not need justifying in euros.
06 / Frequently asked questions
EU citizenship questions, answered.
Q1Does Croatian citizenship give me the right to live anywhere in the EU?
Yes. Croatia is an EU member state, so Croatian citizenship is EU citizenship, carrying free movement across the EU and EEA and to Switzerland: the right to live, work, study, run a business and retire there without a visa or a work permit. Croatia has been in Schengen and in the eurozone since 1 January 2023.
Q2Do I have to give up my American, Canadian or Australian citizenship?
No. Croatia permits dual citizenship on the descent routes: Article 11 waives the release requirement and Article 16 never engages it. Whether your own country permits it is a separate question, though all the major diaspora countries do in the ordinary case.
Q3Will I owe Croatian tax?
Croatian tax residence generally depends on where you live, not on your passport, so acquiring citizenship while living abroad does not by itself make you a Croatian taxpayer. Speak to a tax adviser if you are planning an actual move, or if you are a US citizen with worldwide filing obligations.
Q4Is Croatia in Schengen and the euro?
Both, since 1 January 2023. Schengen membership means internal border-free travel across the area, and eurozone membership means Croatia uses the euro.
Q5Which is easier, Croatian or Italian citizenship by descent?
It depends entirely on your family. Italy restricted its route in 2025 to those with an Italian-born parent or grandparent, subject to exceptions; Croatia has no generation limit. But Croatia’s route is a discretionary naturalisation taking 18 to 24 months at the Ministry stage, while Italy’s remains a recognition of an existing right for those who still qualify.
Q6I have both Croatian and Irish ancestry. Which should I pursue?
If you have an Irish-born grandparent, Ireland is usually faster and more certain. If your Irish link is a great-grandparent and your parent never registered on the Foreign Births Register before you were born, Croatia may be the live route and Ireland the closed one. Worth comparing properly before spending on either.
Q7Can my children get Croatian citizenship too?
Yes. Children born after your decision is served are Croatian by descent. If only one parent is a Croatian citizen they must be registered before turning 21; if both are, there is no deadline. Children born before your decision follow a different route: minors join your application, adult children file their own.
Q8Do I have to do military service?
Croatia abolished compulsory military service in 2008, but policy in this area has been under discussion, so confirm the current position if it matters to your decision. Nothing on this page is a promise about future conscription rules.
Q9How much does it cost in total?
The consular fee is roughly €186 to €200 or the local equivalent as at January 2025, plus €139.36 in Croatia on approval. Translations, apostilles and vital records usually exceed those fees and scale with the number of generations. The process guide has the full breakdown.
07 / Next step
The question that decides whether any of this is available to you is which ancestor, and where they left from.
The free eligibility check takes about a minute. If your family has a route under more than one country's law, or the Croatian chain has a gap, a Consultation at €150 is the right next step, credited in full if you go ahead. If more than one of you is applying, say so: relatives claiming through the same ancestor are quoted as one family package, at a lower price per person.
General information, not legal or tax advice · Foreign law stated for orientation only
Croatian Roots
Citizenship-by-descent casework, Zagreb
Reviewed by Luka Miletić, Founder, Croatian Roots. Last reviewed 20.09.2026.
SOURCES
General information about Croatian law, not legal advice, and not a prediction of any outcome. Requirements vary by consular post and change without notice. Every application is decided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Croatia.
08 / Related guides
Keep reading.
- Croatian Citizenship by Descent: The Complete 2026 GuideWhich route applies, how far back you can claim, what you prove, what it costs
- Is there a generation limit?What the 2019 reform removed, and what actually limits a claim
- The Croatian Citizenship Process: Timeline, Cost and StagesHow long it takes, what it costs, the order to do things in, and what follows approval
- Finding Your Croatian Ancestor: A Research GuideHow to trace an ancestor to a village, which records exist and where, and why research is not evidence
- Dual Citizenship ExplainedKeep your current citizenship while gaining Croatian
- EU Passport & Free MovementTravel and live anywhere in the European Union