Croatian Roots

Country guide · Germany · Reviewed 18.09.2026

Applying from Germany

Germany is covered by six Croatian posts, divided by Bundesland: the Embassy in Berlin and the Consulates General in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich and Stuttgart. The police document is the Polizeiliches Führungszeugnis from the Bundesamt für Justiz, and Germany is the one country where the order of operations is reversed — you apply and pay for the apostille at the Bundesamt für Auswärtige Angelegenheiten first, then order the Führungszeugnis quoting that application number.

Check your eligibilityWhat documents you need

  • Police certificate

    Official source

    Polizeiliches Führungszeugnis

  • Apostille

    Official source

    Apply and pay at the Bundesamt für Auswärtige Angelegenheiten (BfAA) first, then order the Führungszeugnis from the BfJ quoting the BfAA application number. Personenstandsurkunden are apostilled by the competent Landesbehörde instead.

  • Long-form record

    Official source

    Geburtsurkunde or beglaubigter Registerausdruck

01 / Where you file

Which Croatian post receives a file from Germany?

The post is fixed by where you live, not by preference. Filing at the wrong one means starting the appointment queue again.
Croatian diplomatic and consular posts that receive citizenship applications from Germany, and the territory each one covers.
PostCityCovers
Embassy of the Republic of CroatiaBerlinBerlin, Brandenburg, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Thüringen
Consulate General of the Republic of CroatiaDüsseldorfNordrhein-Westfalen
Consulate General of the Republic of CroatiaFrankfurtHessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland
Consulate General of the Republic of CroatiaHamburgHamburg, Bremen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, Schleswig-Holstein
Consulate General of the Republic of CroatiaMunichBayern
Consulate General of the Republic of CroatiaStuttgartBaden-Württemberg

02 / Documents

What does Germany call the documents Croatia asks for?

Naming the wrong document is the most expensive mistake in a file: it is discovered at the counter, after the apostille and the translation are paid for.

  • Police certificate

    Official source

    Polizeiliches Führungszeugnis

    Issued by Bundesamt für Justiz (Bundeszentralregister)

  • Apostille

    Official source

    Apply and pay at the Bundesamt für Auswärtige Angelegenheiten (BfAA) first, then order the Führungszeugnis from the BfJ quoting the BfAA application number. Personenstandsurkunden are apostilled by the competent Landesbehörde instead.

    Issued by Bundesamt für Auswärtige Angelegenheiten; Landesbehörden

    The BfAA took this over from the Bundesverwaltungsamt — older guidance naming the BVA is out of date.

  • Long-form record

    Official source

    Geburtsurkunde or beglaubigter Registerausdruck

03 / Fees

What does it cost to apply from Germany?

Consular fees are reviewed roughly every six months for exchange rates and are non-refundable whatever the outcome. Treat every figure here as the date it carries, not as today's price.
Published fees for a Croatian citizenship application from Germany, with the evidence behind each figure and the date it was verified.
FeeAmountEvidenceAs of
Consular fee, citizenship applicationNo German post publishes a citizenship checklist or a fee. Ask the post that covers your Bundesland.Not published for Germany — ask the postUnconfirmed—
MUP administrative fee, charged only on a positive decision€139.36Official source—

Also budget for what is not a consular fee: certified translations of every document and every apostille attached to it, apostille charges, ordering vital records in each generation, and travel to the post. For most families the translations are the single largest line.

04 / Local specifics

What catches people out in Germany?

The law is the same everywhere. These are the local rules: the ones that are only written down at one post, or not written down at all.

  • Apostille first, certificate second

    Official source

    Everywhere else you obtain the document and then have it apostilled. Germany inverts that for the Führungszeugnis: you apply to the BfAA and pay, receive an application number, and quote it when ordering the certificate from the Bundesamt für Justiz. Ordering the Führungszeugnis first means ordering it twice.

  • Federal for the police check, Land for the civil records

    Official source

    Birth, marriage and death certificates are Personenstandsurkunden and are apostilled by the competent authority of the Land, not by the BfAA. One German file therefore runs through two apostille channels, exactly as a US file does.

  • No German post publishes a checklist

    Official source

    None of the six posts publishes a citizenship document list, which makes a direct question to your post worth more than any general guidance — including this page.

  • The multilingual extract: an open question, not a shortcut

    Unconfirmed

    Germany is a CIEC/ICCS state, so the Standesamt can issue a mehrsprachiger Auszug — a multilingual extract on the standard international form. gov.hr’s wording about extracts "issued on a standard form pursuant to international agreements" appears to describe exactly that, which would in principle remove the need for an apostille and a translation. No Croatian source confirms it. Do not plan a file around it: ask your post, and budget for the apostille and the translation in the meantime.

05 / Common questions

The three things everyone asks first.

Answered from the same data as the tables above, so the two cannot drift apart.

Croatian Roots

Citizenship-by-descent casework, Zagreb

Reviewed by Croatian Roots, Croatian citizenship by descent, Zagreb. Last reviewed 18.09.2026.

SOURCES

General information about Croatian law, not legal advice, and not a prediction of any outcome. Requirements vary by consular post and change without notice. Every application is decided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Croatia.

Q1Where do I apply for Croatian citizenship from Germany?

Applications from Germany are received by Embassy in Berlin, Consulate General in Düsseldorf, Consulate General in Frankfurt, Consulate General in Hamburg, Consulate General in Munich, Consulate General in Stuttgart.

Each post receives files only from its own jurisdiction, so confirm which one covers your address before booking an appointment.

Q2Which criminal-record check does Croatia accept from Germany?

Polizeiliches Führungszeugnis, issued by Bundesamt für Justiz (Bundeszentralregister).

It is a foreign public document, so it needs an apostille and a certified Croatian translation like every other document in the file.

Q3Who apostilles documents in Germany?

Apply and pay at the Bundesamt für Auswärtige Angelegenheiten (BfAA) first, then order the Führungszeugnis from the BfJ quoting the BfAA application number. Personenstandsurkunden are apostilled by the competent Landesbehörde instead.

The BfAA took this over from the Bundesverwaltungsamt — older guidance naming the BVA is out of date.

06 / Other countries

Filing from somewhere else?

All guides

07 / Next step

Six questions tell you which article your line falls under.

The check is free and takes two minutes. If the answer is promising, a lawyer reads the detail before you spend anything on records or translations.

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Reviewed 18.09.2026 · General information, not legal advice