- Routes
- Citizen by descent, registered before 23 (Art. 6)
- Dual citizenship
- Not kept: the law expects you to give up your other citizenship
The stamps assume no one in the line became a citizen of another country before the next person in the line was born. What changes each answer is below.
On this page›
- 01Who qualifies
- 02Dates that matter
- 03Mothers’ lines
- 04Keeping your citizenship
- 05The routes and the law
- 06The documents
- 07What it takes
- 08Where the records live
- 09Former places
- 10Law changes
- 11Other doors
- 12Sources
01Who qualifies
Who qualifies, generation by generation
POSSIBLE
Can you claim Bosnian citizenship through a parent?
Citizen by descent (Art. 6)
A child born abroad to a BiH citizen acquires citizenship by descent if registered before turning 23. BiH recognises dual citizenship only with countries it has a bilateral agreement with; as of 2026 that means Serbia, Croatia and Sweden, so most applicants must choose.
What would settle itYour age, and how you weigh BiH’s position on holding your home citizenship alongside.
UNLIKELY
Can you claim Bosnian citizenship through a grandparent?
One generation
No route through a grandparent; the diaspora naturalisation under Art. 12 is ordinary naturalisation with eased conditions.
What would settle itWhether your parent is a registered BiH citizen.
UNLIKELY
Can you claim Bosnian citizenship through a great-grandparent?
One generation
No route through a grandparent; the diaspora naturalisation under Art. 12 is ordinary naturalisation with eased conditions.
What would settle itWhether your parent is a registered BiH citizen.
02Dates that matter
The dates that matter
No date named in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s rule decides who qualifies. The answers above turn on the family’s facts, not on when anyone was born or left.
03Mothers’ lines
How mothers’ lines were treated
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s rule gives the same answer whether the line runs through a mother or a father.
04Keeping your citizenship
Dual citizenship with your home country
Dual citizenship is not guaranteed.
On every open route, the rule expects a citizen of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina or South Africa to give up their other citizenship, or to get permission to keep it.
05The routes
Every route, and the law behind it
Citizen by descent (Art. 6)
Open through a parent
The law
What would settle an unsure case
- Your age, and how you weigh BiH’s position on holding your home citizenship alongside.
- UNLIKELY
Through a grandparentNo route through a grandparent; the diaspora naturalisation under Art. 12 is ordinary naturalisation with eased conditions.
The law
What would settle an unsure case
- Whether your parent is a registered BiH citizen.
06The documents
The documents, as the rule lists them
Citizen by descent (Art. 6)
Through a parent
- Your parent’s BiH citizenship certificate
- Your birth certificate
- Registration before age 23
Most countries also want proof that no one in the line became a citizen elsewhere before the next birth: the naturalization record with its date, or a letter that none exists.
07What it takes
What it takes: time, cost, the hard part, who decides
Citizen by descent (Art. 6)
- Time
- 3–9 months, but only if the application reaches the authorities before you turn 23.
- Cost
- About $200–500: certified copies, apostilles and translations into Bosnian.
- The hard part
- The age-23 deadline, and that Bosnia recognizes dual citizenship only with countries it has a treaty with — the United States is not one, so keeping both is not guaranteed.
- Who decides
- The competent authority (MUP) of the entity where your parent is registered, through the BiH embassy.
- The first record
- Your parent’s BiH citizenship certificate (uvjerenje o državljanstvu), from The municipal (opština) administration where your parent is registered. Have your parent request the certificate from their registering municipality, or from the BiH embassy if they’re abroad; usually a few weeks. mcp.gov.ba ↗
How it’s filed
- Where
- Embassy of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2109 E Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20037, by mail with a money order, for residents of the eastern and southern states; the Consulate General in Chicago, 1 E Wacker Drive, Suite 1820, Chicago, IL 60601, serves the Midwest and West. Forwarded through the Foreign Ministry to the municipality office list ↗
- How
- By post; no appearance needed
- Fee
- About $12
- Decision
- 3–9 months
What goes in the file (7)›
- Registration form/questionnaire for entry in the BiH birth register and register of citizens
- The applicant's U.S. birth certificate, apostilled, with certified translation (or an international extract)
- The BiH parent's citizenship certificate, not older than six months
- The BiH parent's birth-register extract (holographic original)
- Proof of the parents' residence
- Copy of the parent's valid ID card or passport
- Money order to the Embassy of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the $12 fee plus postage
What goes wrong (6)›
- Hard deadline: registration must be completed no later than the 23rd birthday. File well before; embassy routing alone takes 3–6 months.
- Children born abroad before 1 January 1998 need a decision from the municipal administration service rather than a direct entry (per Sarajevo-Centar municipality).
- BiH recognises dual citizenship only with treaty states (Serbia, Croatia, Sweden); a U.S. citizen who registers risks being asked to choose, though BiH enforcement is uneven.
- An adult applicant should also request a personal identification number (JMB), $12 at the embassy, which the passport needs.
- Separate route not coded here: naturalisation for the diaspora (Art. 12) is a $238 application, ordinary naturalisation with waived conditions.
- Chicago's zip (60601, above) is confirmed via search; one secondary source (Yelp) lists a conflicting address (500 N Michigan Ave) not resolved this pass — spot-check before treating 1 E Wacker Dr as certain (snippet confidence, verified 2026-09-25). Neither post's appointment-booking mechanism (email, phone or online) was found.
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗
Estimates are honest ranges from official fee tables and what families report; where a fee or time could not be confirmed, it says so.
08Where the records live
Where each record lives, and how to ask for it
citizenship
The municipality (općina/opština) where the BiH parent is entered in the register of citizens (knjiga državljana), which issues the citizenship certificate (uvjerenje o državljanstvu)
The parent's municipality of registration in the Federation, Republika Srpska or Brčko District; the entity citizenship (FBiH or RS) follows the parent's.
- Ask
- Through an agent, in Bosnian, Croatian or Serbian
- Fee
- 55 USD
- Takes
- 3–13 weeks
Good to know (2)›
- The embassy can obtain certificates and register extracts for $30 plus $25 delivery ($55).
- The certificate must be recent (not older than six months) for the registration file.
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗
birth
The municipal registry office (matični ured) keeping the parent's birth register (matična knjiga rođenih)
Parent's municipality of birth or registration; extracts with holographic protection are required.
- Ask
- Through an agent, in Bosnian, Croatian or Serbian
- Fee
- 55 USD
- Takes
- 3–13 weeks
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗
Translations
- Into
- Bosnian, Croatian or Serbian
- Who may translate
- Any certified translator
- About
- $25–$60 a page
The foreign birth certificate is apostilled and translated into one of the three official languages by a certified translator; an international (multilingual) birth extract needs no translation. Embassy certification of copies costs $10 for the first page and $5 for each further page.
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗
The passport
- Where
- Embassy of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Washington (or the Consulate General in Chicago for its states), after the birth and citizenship registration and JMB; adults $115 plus $25 delivery
- Fee
- About $140
- Time
- 4–13 weeks
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗
09Former places
Places on old papers that lead to Bosnia and Herzegovina
If your family’s records name one of these, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s law may be the one that applies. The town decides.
- Austria-Hungary · also Austro-Hungarian Empire, Habsburg
Austria-Hungary became a dozen countries in 1918. Pick the one the town is in today.
Today: Austria, Hungary, Czechia, Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Ukraine, Poland, Italy, Serbia
- Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia split in the 1990s. Pick the country the town is in today.
Today: Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia
10Law changes
Recent and pending changes
The legislative watch has no pending bill or recent ruling recorded for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The watch re-reads the official pages behind this guide every day. When one changes, a person re-checks the rule before anything here moves.
11Other doors
If descent doesn’t reach you
One residence program leads to Bosnia and Herzegovina without an ancestor, each with its own law and road to citizenship.