Guidance

Croatia: Knowledge Base profile

Updated 19 February 2024

About: Croatia

This document contains useful information about Croatia which will assist His Majesty’s Passport Office staff process passport applications.

Contacts

If you have any questions about the document and your line manager or senior caseworker cannot help you or you think that the document has factual errors then email the Guidance team.

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Publication

Below is information on when this version of the document was published:

• version 2.0
• published for Home Office staff on 16 February 2024

Changes from last version of this document

This document has been updated with minor formatting changes.

Croatia: names

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about names in Croatia.

Names in Croatia consist of:

• a forename
• surname

Change of name

Name changes are allowed in Croatia.

Following a change of name the Croatia passport must be changed before the holder can apply to have other documentation changed.

Croatia allows a change of name when a person changes their gender.

Croatia: legitimacy and parental responsibility

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about legitimacy and parental responsibility in Croatia.

Croatia: legitimacy

Croatia does not recognise a difference between legitimate and illegitimate births. This means that all births are considered legitimate whether a child’s parents are married or not.

Croatia: parental responsibility

Both parents have parental responsibility whether they are married or not. Parental responsibility continues to apply following divorce or annulment of marriage.

Croatia: adoption

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about adoption in Croatia.

Adoption is legal in Croatia.

Croatia: surrogacy

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about surrogacy in Croatia.

Surrogacy is illegal in Croatia.

Croatia: gender recognition

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about gender recognition in Croatia.

Transgender citizens are recognised in Croatia.

Croatia: documents

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about documents from Croatia.

A Croatian local registry office will issue:

• birth certificates
• marriage certificates
• death certificates

They are also responsible for issuing copies of certificates. Official documents should not be laminated.

Following the withdrawal of the UK from the EU, HM Passport Office cannot accept Multilingual Standard Forms (MSFs) issued by member states. An MSF will:

• contain a reference to the convention signed at Vienna on September 8 1976, this may be on the reverse of the document
• be marked as a Formul A (birth certificate), normally in the top right corner on the front of the document in the language of the country where the document was issued
  • there will also be marriage certificates and death certificates that will have a different Formul version that is also not acceptable

These documents are an extract of a civil registration record translated into the language needed and not a full, original certificate.

Birth certificates

Births must be registered within 1 month of birth and can be registered by either parent. The biological father must be named on the birth certificate unless the father is unknown.

Marriage certificates

Marriage certificates will always show which surname the bride and groom have decided to take.

Death certificates

All deaths must be registered within 1 month.