Croatian passport ( hr, Hrvatska putovnica) is issued to citizens of the

Republic of Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

for the purpose of international travel. The passport has the purpose of serving as proof of Croatian citizenship and identity. Responsibility for their issuance lies with the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

; and for citizens abroad, passports are issued by the local embassy or consulate. Croatian passports are valid for ten or five years, and are not renewable. Every Croatian citizen is also a

citizen of the European Union European Union citizenship is afforded to all citizens of member states of the European Union (EU). It was formally created with the adoption of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, at the same time as the creation of the EU. EU citizenship is additio ...

. The passport, along with the

national identity card National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

allows for free rights of movement and residence in any of the states of the

European Economic Area The European Economic Area (EEA) was established via the ''Agreement on the European Economic Area'', an international agreement which enables the extension of the European Union's single market to member states of the European Free Trade Ass ...

and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. Croatia started issuing

biometric passport A biometric passport (also known as an e-passport or a digital passport) is a traditional passport that has an embedded electronic microprocessor chip which contains biometric information that can be used to authenticate the identity of the pa ...

s on 1 July 2009.

Physical appearance

Croatian passports are dark blue, with the

Croatian coat of arms The coat of arms of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Grb Republike Hrvatske) consists of one main shield and five smaller shields which form a crown over the main shield. The main coat of arms is a checkerboard ( chequy) that consists of 13 red and ...

emblazoned in the centre of the front cover. The words and are inscribed above the coat of arms, with the word and the international

symbol below. The passport contains 34 pages. The third generation Croatian passport has been changed in design due to the recent accession into the European Union. From 3 August 2015, the new Croatian passport retained its dark blue cover and is the odd one out among the 27 European Union member states' passports and the words (European Union in Croatian) have been printed on it as per EU regulations. Additionally, the new cover is only in Croatian; the English and French have been removed.

Languages

The data page/information page is printed in Croatian, English and French.

Data pages

From 2009, each biometric passport has a data page and a residence page. A data page has a visual zone and a machine-readable zone. The visual zone has a digitised photograph of the passport holder, data about the passport, and data about the passport holder: Page No.2: * Photograph * Type of document, which is "P" for "passport" * Code of the issuing country, which is "HRV" for "Croatia" * Passport number * Surname * Given names * Nationality, which is "''Hrvatsko''" ("Croatian") * Date of birth * Sex * Place of birth * Date of issue * Date of expiration * Issuing authority * Signature Page No.3: *

Personal identification number A personal identification number (PIN), or sometimes redundantly a PIN number or PIN code, is a numeric (sometimes alpha-numeric) passcode used in the process of authenticating a user accessing a system. The PIN has been the key to facilitat ...

History

Croatian Passports were first issued by the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia under

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. They were written in Croatian and French and had the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia on the cover. (Reference: Antun Radić, "Hrvatski pašuši (putnice)" Dom, 15 January 1903, page 11) The first modern Croatian passports were issued from 26 June 1991, after Croatia declared its independence from

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. The old

Yugoslav passport The Yugoslav passport was issued to citizens of Yugoslavia for the purpose of international travel. The passport of SFR Yugoslavia has been described as highly regarded and that with it immigrants were able to find jobs among European firms trading ...

s were valid until 25 June 1992. Since then, three types of Croatian passports have been issued, all machine-readable and with blue covers. The first series was issued from 1991, until the end of 1999. It was distinguished by a thick paper cover and by a photo which had been laminated inside the document. This passport was printed by a local police station in the town of residence, or by the local embassy or consulate if living abroad. This series was in circulation until 31 December 2009, when the last ten-year passport issued expired. At the end of 1999, the

Croatian Government The Government of Croatia ( hr, Vlada Hrvatske), formally the Government of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Vlada Republike Hrvatske), commonly abbreviated to Croatian Government ( hr, hrvatska Vlada), is the main executive branch of government ...

introduced the new passport. New security features similar to those on

banknote A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable instrument, negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes w ...

s have been added with increasing frequency since January 2000.

Microprinting Microprinting is the production of recognizable patterns or characters in a printed medium at a scale that requires magnification to read with the naked eye. To the unaided eye, the text may appear as a solid line. Attempts to reproduce by meth ...

, holographic images, UV-visible imaging,

watermark A watermark is an identifying image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light (or when viewed by reflected light, atop a dark background), caused by thickness or density variations ...

s and other details have been implemented, particularly on the photo page. As well, the photo is now digitally printed directly on the paper (in both standard and UV-reactive ink). The new passports were issued in the same way as the old ones, with a difference in printing process. All passports are printed in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, with the issuing wait time up to 30 days. They have been issued since 1 January 2000.

Biometric passport

From 30 June 2009, the government started issuing new

s in Zagreb. Other local police stations started issuing biometric passports on 18 January 2010. The

embassies A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

or consulates will issue biometric passport from 30 June 2010. Non-biometric passports will remain valid until its stated date of expiry. Croatia was the third country in Europe that started issuing second-generation biometric passports. The chip contains two fingerprints and a digital image of the passport holder.

Types of passports

* Regular Passport – Blue colour, valid for five or ten years. * Diplomatic and Official Passport – For Croatian diplomats, their spouses and children. It is valid for five years. * Traveling Certificate, Laissez Passer or Putni List – Travel certificate is a travel document issued by the Croatian diplomatic mission or consular office to Croatian citizen who resides or is found abroad without travel documents to return to Croatia. The same travel certificate may be used by the spouse and children's, the travel certificate is valid for 30 days.

Visa free travel

Visa requirements for Croatian citizens1

Visa requirements for Croatian citizens are administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other states placed on citizens of

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. As of 13th October 2020, Croatian citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 171 countries and territories, ranking the Croatian passport 17th in the world (tied with Bulgaria), according to the

Henley Passport Index The Henley Passport Index (abbreviation: HPI) is a global ranking of countries according to the travel freedom enjoyed by the holders of that country's ordinary passport for its citizens. It started in 2006 as Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions ...

International travel using ID card

Croatia finished negotiating their accession to the

in November 2013. Since then, the

Croatian identity card Croatian identity card ( hr, Osobna iskaznica) is an identity document issued in Croatia. Any Croatian citizen who is resident in Croatia can obtain an ID card and it is compulsory for all citizens over the age of 18. This document is issued by t ...

has been a valid

travel document A travel document is an identity document issued by a government or international entity pursuant to international agreements to enable individuals to clear border control measures. Travel documents usually assure other governments that the beare ...

within all of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

(except

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

and

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

) as well as

French overseas territories Overseas France (french: France d'outre-mer) consists of 13 French-administered territories outside Europe, mostly the remains of the French colonial empire that chose to remain a part of the French state under various statuses after decolon ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. Validity in these countries (except Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Cyprus and Serbia) is based on the membership of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

and the implementation of the "''European Agreement on Regulations governing the Movement of Persons between Member States of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...

''".

Gallery of historic passports

File:Putovnica 1991-1999.jpg, Passport issued from 1991 to 1999 File:Putovnica 2000-2009.jpg, Passport issued from 2000 to 2010, non-biometric File:Croatian Passport 1.JPG, Croatian passport, non-biometric, first page File:Croatian biometric passport 2nd gen.jpg, Biometric passport cover (2nd generation), issued 2009—2015

References

External links

Passport law

Visa requirements overview
{{Passports Passports by country

Passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that contains a person's identity. A person with a passport can travel to and from foreign countries more easily and access consular assistance. A passport certifies the personal ...

European Union passports