Diaspora & Religious Return in Croatia

Article 16 is only for members of the Croatian people living outside Croatia, so it is closed to you while you live there. Look at our Citizenship by Descent and Naturalization quizzes instead.

Article 16 of the Croatian Citizenship Act names people without registered residence (prebivalište) in Croatia. It exists to reach the diaspora; people inside the country are covered by the residence-based routes.

If any ancestor left today's Croatia before 8 October 1991 to settle abroad, article 11 reaches you with no residence requirement and no language test, wherever you now live.

If you held Croatian republican citizenship before 8 October 1991, you are already a citizen under article 30(1) and need a determination. Otherwise the ordinary route is article 8: eight years of residence with permanent residence, B1 Croatian and release from your current citizenship.

Email yourself a summary

Send your result and every answer you gave to your inbox, so you have it when you need it. We're copied on the email, so if you'd like our team to take a closer look, just reply.

Email Address

Notes (Optional)

Email My Summary