Croatia ETIAS

The Republic of Croatia has a far-reaching and deep-rooted cultural heritage that makes it one the fastest growing tourist destinations in the whole Continent.

Croatia ETIAS: main details

Croatia confirmed to become ETIAS Area Member in early 2025
ETIAS necessary for journeys to the Republic of Croatia for short-term visitors of sixty different nationalities
ETIAS allows for an aggregate stay in all of EU/Schengen Area, apart from the Republic of Ireland, of maximum 90 days out of every 6 months and only for tourism, business, transit or medical therapy
Visa Waiver holders’ passports must have 3 months of remaining validity throughout the entire permanence in ETIAS Area

On today’s Croatia
Established as an independent nation in 1992, when the former Yugoslavian Republic started to crumble, Croatia currently is the newest Member of the European Union since its membership was ratified only in the summer of 2013. Still the Republic of Croatia has a far-reaching and deep-rooted cultural heritage that makes it one the fastest growing tourist destinations in the whole Continent. From the capitol city of Zagreb with its magnificent gothic churches, to Dubrovnik with its iconic medieval citadel, to the breathtaking shores of Istria and Dalmatia with its countless islands, Croatia is capturing more and more the imagination of visitors both from Europe and abroad. Along with its growth as tourist destination, thanks also to the enhancements brought by its recently acquired EU Membership, Croatia is also surging as an important business destination attracting a rising number of foreign firms and investments.
Also, this cultural and financial attractiveness is being accompanied and sponsored by an ongoing process of institutional renovation that ultimately led towards the obtaining of full Schengen Area Membership in early 2023. The Balkan Nation is then bound to soon join, not only the European border free travel area, but also, form early 2025, the newly established ETIAS Area.
ETIAS to Croatia general rules
The groundbreaking of the ETIAS System took place EU’s High Commission between 2016 and 2018 but only more recently it has been arranged for Croatia, despite not yet being part of Schengen Area, to endorse the new European mutual immigration protocol for Visa Waiver Visitors and that therefore it too will, from early 2023, require an ETIAS to incoming travelers from 60 countries.
Tourism/leisure/family visit together with commerce and trade, transit and medical care are as a matter of fact the only travel purposes suitable for ETIAS visitors and even in such cases the combined stay in the ETIAS Area will not be unlimited. A maximum stay of 90 days every 6 months is allowed.
Limitations and exceptions
Obligation to have a valid ETIAS to Croatia will of course not affect EU Citizens and holders of a Visa Waiver Nation’s passport that are already resident either in Croatia itself in one of the 33 other ETIAS Countries Area and have a valid Schengen Visa or Permit of Stay. Still it must be pointed out that until Croatia does not join Schengen Area, while a Schengen Visa or Permit of Stay will exempt from ETIAS requirements in all the Area, a National Visa or Residence Permit issued by Croatia will only work as valid exemption criterion in its national territory and an ETIAS shall than be necessary to access any of the other Visa Waiver destination countries.
Individuals going to Croatia with the will to work or study in the Country, will hence not be able to use their Visa Waiver rights since they will have the legal obligation to obtain a Consular Visa prior to the beginning of their journey.
Short study programs can anyway be attended to, by ETIAS visitors, if the combined stay in ETIAS Area will not surpass the limit of ninety days within 6 months. More details on ETIAS general rules and limitations can be found here.
ETIAS use in practice
It must be recalled that holding an ETIAS Visa Waiver itself does not give an absolute certainty that the person will be allowed to enter the EU/Schengen Borders since the final decision on this aspect is always and only responsibility of the Border Control Enforcement Officers.
Visitors coming to Croatia might always be required to provide further documents and proof to assess the genuine purpose and duration of their trips such as:

return ticket to origin country

onwards ticket to a non-ETIAS Member Country

proof of sufficient funds to support their stay in the ETIAS Area

In order to avoid problems while at the EU Border Control it is absolutely recommended that all data inputted in the ETIAS Application form by the candidates are complete, correct and truthful.
Petitioning for Croatia ETIAS
Same as for other ETIAS destinations, applicants of an ETIAS to Croatia are asked to submit a series of data to put forward their Visa Waiver application. Such data are roughly divided in the following sections:
Personal information and contact details (including a valid e-mail address)
Details of the first planned trip to ETIAS Area
Background check questions concerning criminal and health records of the applicant (if any)
Once the form has been sent forward, by the mean of electronic payment of the due taxes, all the information will be cross checked by EU law enforcement agencies and a number of institutional security databases.
The checking protocol is scrupulous and yet very fast and has been designed so as to allow most of the applicants to receive the outcome of their application on their e-mail address in no more than 3 days.
It is therefore strongly recommended to apply for ETIAS Visa Waiver at least 72 hours prior to the scheduled departure time towards Europe.
Receiving the application outcome
Since The ETIAS approval will only be sent directly to each candidate’s personal e-mail it is very important for each applicant to input a valid and working e-mail account when they fill out the required form.
Once issued ETIAS is valid for multiple travels and with a validity of maximum 3 years or until the passport expiry date.
ETIAS Visa Waiver will be than valid for all travel that fit inside the limitations of purpose and stay mentioned above and regardless of the point of origin of the trip and of the mean of transportation used.
As a matter of fact, ETIAS to Croatia will be fit to enter its territory not just from air borders but also from land and sea borders.