REGISTERING A CHILD IN CROATIA

In order to register a child under 18 years of age in the Croatian Birth Registry an application may be submitted by a legal representative provided that at the time of the child’s birth, one of the parents was a Croatian national.

  • Directly at the Registry Office in the Republic of Croatia according to the place of residence/registered address in Croatia, if a parent who is Croatian national, has registered Croatian address in the Croatian passport or ID, or
  • At the Registry Office Centar in Zagreb, if a parent who is Croatian national, has no registered address in Croatia

The list of Croatian Registry Offices is available on https://uprava.gov.hr/maticni-uredi-u-rh/1603 or

If the parent(s) is/are not in a position to travel to Croatia, a parent who is Croatian national may assign power of attorney to a relative/friend who can lodge the application on their behalf in Croatia at the one of the above mentioned Registry Offices in Croatia.

  • through the Croatian Embassy.

The application form (available at the Embassy when applying) must be accompanied by the following:

  • A valid passport of the legal representative who submitted the request;
  • A valid Croatian passport of a parent who is a Croatian citizen;
  • A birth certificate – a UK Cerified Copy of an Entry of a Birth must be legalized by the Legalization Office with an Apostille stamp www.fco.gov.uk/legalisation  and translated into Croatian by an official interpreter in the UK (a list of Croatian interpreters in the UK is available in the Consular Section of this web site) or by a certified court interpreter in Croatia.

The Embassy reserves the right to request additional documents while conducting legally binding proceedings related to each request submitted.

PROCESSING TIME:

The average duration of proceedings from when the application is submitted through the Embassy until the registration of the child is 3 to 6 months. The same procedure in the Registrar's Office in Croatia can be made the same day.

Fee: 41 GBP (17 GBP is charged for each copy of a document - Domovnica and Croatian Birth Certificate, plus 7 GBP for delivery)