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Type | Passport |
Issued by | Croatia |
First issued | 26 June 1991 (first version) 29 June 2009 [1] (biometric passport) 3 August 2015 [2] (current version; first EU version) |
Purpose | Identification |
Eligibility | Croatian citizenship |
Expiration | 10 or 5 years after acquisition |
Cost |
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Croatian passport (Croatian : Hrvatska putovnica) is issued to citizens of the Republic of Croatia 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; 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. The passport, along with the national identity card allows for free rights of movement and residence in any of the states of the European Economic Area and Switzerland.
Croatia started issuing biometric passports on 1 July 2009.
Croatian passports are dark blue, with the Croatian coat of arms emblazoned in the centre of the front cover. The words Europska Unija and Republika Hrvatska are inscribed above the coat of arms, with the word Putovnica and the international biometric passport 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 [4] and the words Europska Unija (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. [5]
The data page/information page is printed in Croatian, English and French.
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:
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Croatian Passports were first issued by the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia under Austria-Hungary. 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. The old Yugoslav passports 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.[ citation needed ] 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 introduced the new passport. New security features similar to those on banknotes have been added with increasing frequency since January 2000. Microprinting, holographic images, UV-visible imaging, watermarks 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, with the issuing wait time up to 30 days. They have been issued since 1 January 2000.
From 30 June 2009, the government started issuing new biometric passports in Zagreb. Other local police stations started issuing biometric passports on 18 January 2010. The embassies 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.
Visa requirements for Croatian citizens are administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other states placed on citizens of Croatia. As of February 2024, Croatian citizens had visa-free, eTA or visa-on-arrival access to 184 countries and territories, ranking the Croatian passport 11th in the world, according to the methodology of Henley Passport Index. [7]
Croatia finished negotiating their accession to the European Economic Area in November 2013. Since then, the Croatian identity card has been a valid travel document within all of Europe (except Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and United Kingdom) as well as French overseas territories, Georgia and Tunisia. [8]
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 and the implementation of the "European Agreement on Regulations governing the Movement of Persons between Member States of the Council of Europe ". [9]
The Czech passport is an international travel document issued to nationals of the Czech Republic, and may also serve as proof of Czech citizenship. Besides enabling the bearer to travel internationally and serving as indication of Czech citizenship, the passport facilitates the process of securing assistance from Czech consular officials abroad or other European Union member states in case a Czech consular is absent, if needed.
A French passport is an identity document issued to French citizens. Besides enabling the bearer to travel internationally and serving as indication of French nationality, the passport facilitates the process of securing assistance from French consular officials abroad or other European Union member states in case a French consular is absent, if needed.
A Portuguese passport is an identity document issued to citizens of Portugal for the purpose of international travel. The passport, along with the Citizen Card allows for free rights of movement and residence in any of the states of the European Union, European Economic Area and Switzerland. Every Portuguese citizen is also a citizen of the European Union.
Greek passports are issued to Greek citizens for the purpose of international travel. Biometric passports have been issued since 26 August 2006, with old-style passports being declared invalid as of 1 January 2007. Since June 2009, the passport's RFID chip includes two index fingerprints as well as a high-resolution JPEG image of the passport holder. From 18 December 2023, issuance of the new generation of Greek passports was started by selected authorities and after 9 January 2024, only the new generation of passports are issued. Every Greek citizen is also a citizen of the European Union. The passport, along with the national identity card allows for free rights of movement and residence in any of the states of the European Union, European Economic Area, and Switzerland.
Japanese passports are issued to Japanese nationals to facilitate international travel. From 2018 to 2022, it was ranked first on the Henley Passport Index for visa-free travel, and second as of July 2024, with holders able to travel visa-free to 194 countries and territories.
The Montenegrin passport is the primary document for international travel issued by Montenegro.
A Norwegian passport is the passport issued to nationals of Norway for the purpose of international travel. Beside serving as proof of Norwegian citizenship, they facilitate the process of securing assistance from Norwegian consular officials abroad.
A German passport is an identity document issued to nationals of Germany for the purpose of international travel. A German passport is, besides the German ID card and the German Emergency Travel Document, the only other officially recognised document that German authorities will routinely accept as proof of identity from German citizens. Besides serving as proof of identity and presumption of German nationality, they facilitate the process of securing assistance from German consular officials abroad. German passports are valid for ten years or six years and share the standardised layout and burgundy red design with other EU passports. Every German citizen is also a citizen of the European Union. The passport, along with the national identity card, allows for free rights of movement and residence in any of the states of the European Union, European Economic Area and Switzerland.
An Estonian passport is an international travel document issued to citizens of Estonia, and may also serve as proof of Estonian citizenship. Besides enabling the bearer to travel internationally and serving as indication of Estonian citizenship, the passport facilitates the process of securing assistance from Estonian consular officials abroad or other European Union member states in case an Estonian consular is absent, if needed. If an Estonian citizen wishes to receive an identity document, especially an Estonian passport, somewhere other than the foreign representation of the Republic of Estonia, then the bearer of the Estonian citizenship staying abroad could receive the travel documents in embassies of any EU country worldwide by paying 50 Euro. Many countries require passport validity of no less than 6 months and one or two blank pages.
A Bulgarian passport is an international travel document issued to nationals of Bulgaria, and may also serve as proof of Bulgarian citizenship. Besides enabling the bearer to travel internationally and serving as indication of Bulgarian citizenship, the passport facilitates the process of securing assistance from Bulgarian consular officials abroad or other European Union member states in case a Bulgarian consular is absent, if needed.
Swedish passports are issued to nationals of Sweden for the purpose of international travel. Besides serving as proof of Swedish citizenship, they facilitate the process of securing assistance from Swedish consular officials abroad.
An Italian passport is issued upon request to an Italian citizen for the purpose of international travel. It is valid for 10, 5 or 3 years, depending on the applicant's age. Its biometric version has been available since 2006.
A Danish passport is an identity document issued to citizens of the Kingdom of Denmark to facilitate international travel. Besides serving as proof of Danish citizenship, they facilitate the process of securing assistance from Danish consular officials abroad.
The European Union itself does not issue ordinary passports, but ordinary passport booklets issued by its 27 member states share a common format. This common format features a colored cover emblazoned—in the official language(s) of the issuing country —with the title "European Union", followed by the name(s) of the member state, the heraldic "Arms" of the State concerned, the word "PASSPORT", together with the biometric passport symbol at the bottom center of the front cover.
Latvian passports are issued to citizens of Latvia for identity and international travel purposes. Receiving a valid passport is mandatory from the age of 15, but passports can be requested for younger children if needed for travel and other purposes. A passport is valid for 10 years if the citizen is 20 or older, for 5 years if 5–20 and for 2 years if 0–5 years old. Non-citizen passports, and refugee travel documents, are also issued. Every Latvian citizen is also a citizen of the European Union. The passport, along with the national identity card, allows Latvian citizens to travel and to have rights of free movement and rights to reside in any states of the European Union, European Economic Area and Switzerland.
Slovenian passports are issued to citizens of Slovenia to facilitate international travel. Every Slovenian citizen is also a citizen of the European Union. The passport, along with the national identity card allows for free rights of movement and residence in any of the states of the European Union, European Economic Area and Switzerland, as a result of the right of free movement and residence granted in Article 21 of the EU Treaty.
A Polish passport is an international travel document issued to nationals of Poland, and may also serve as proof of Polish citizenship. Besides enabling the bearer to travel internationally and serving as indication of Polish citizenship, the passport facilitates the process of securing assistance from Polish consular officials abroad or other European Union member states in case a Polish consular is absent, if needed.
The Bosnia and Herzegovina passport is a passport issued to citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina for international travel.
Passports of the EFTA member states are passports issued by the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) member states Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. EFTA is in this article used as a common name for these countries.
The British Certificate of Travel (COT) is an international travel document and a type of Home Office travel document issued by the UK Home Office to non-citizen residents of the United Kingdom who are unable to obtain a national passport or other conventional travel documents. Until 17 March 2008, the Certificate of Travel was called a Certificate of Identity (CID). It is usually valid for five years, or if the holder only has temporary permission to stay in the United Kingdom, the validity will be identical to the length of stay permitted.