Allows it for emigrants and their descendants
Most foreigners who naturalise must first be released from their other citizenship (Article 8, point 2). Article 11 waives that condition for emigrants, their descendants and their spouses, so you keep the citizenship you have.
Allows it since 2002
Section 17 of the Australian Citizenship Act 1948 once took Australian citizenship away from adults who voluntarily acquired another. It was repealed by the Australian Citizenship Legislation Amendment Act 2002.
Allows dual and multiple citizenship
New Zealand’s official travel advice states plainly that New Zealand allows dual or multiple citizenship, while noting that some other countries do not.
The Croatian Citizenship Act sets out the usual conditions for naturalisation in Article 8: being an adult, release from any other citizenship, eight years of registered residence in Croatia, knowledge of the Croatian language and culture, and respect for Croatia’s legal order. Article 11 says that emigrants and their descendants may naturalise even if they do not meet points 2 to 4, and paragraph 2 extends that to their foreign spouses.
In other words, the condition that would force you to choose, release from your Australian or New Zealand citizenship, is exactly one of the conditions Article 11 removes. People who are Croatian by origin through a parent were never naturalised, so the question does not arise for them at all.
One rule is worth knowing. Under Article 2, a Croatian citizen who also holds another citizenship is regarded solely as a Croatian citizen by Croatian authorities. In Croatia, deal with officials as a Croatian.
Before 2002, an Australian adult who deliberately took up another citizenship lost their Australian citizenship automatically under section 17 of the Australian Citizenship Act 1948. The Australian Citizenship Legislation Amendment Act 2002 repealed that section. Applying for Croatian citizenship today therefore leaves your Australian citizenship untouched.
New Zealand allows its citizens to hold other citizenships, and SafeTravel, the government’s travel advice service, says so directly. Becoming Croatian does not change your status as a New Zealander.
Yes. You keep your Australian or New Zealand citizenship when you become Croatian.
Dual citizenship explainedNo. Australians used to lose their citizenship automatically when they took another. That rule, section 17 of the Australian Citizenship Act 1948, was repealed in 2002.
No. New Zealand allows dual or multiple citizenship.
Under Article 2 of the Citizenship Act, a Croatian citizen who also holds another citizenship is regarded solely as a Croatian citizen by Croatian authorities.
Article 2Generally the embassy of the country whose passport you used to enter. New Zealand’s travel advice notes that when you visit your other country of citizenship, that government may treat you as its own citizen.