Stateless but Home Office doesn't think so

[Calculon]

My family and I moved from Croatia (then part of Yugoslavia) in 1991 to the UK and were granted asylum. In 2001 we were subsequently granted ILR. I wasn't involved in the process still being a child then.

I have since come to learn that when Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia we lost our Yugoslavian citizenship and were not automatically granted Croatian citizenship, making us stateless. However, the letters stating we have ILR say "Croatian" under our names/D.O.Bs which must mean the Home Office thinks that is our nationality.

I can only assume that whoever filled the form in confused nationality and ethnicity with each other when they are of course two different concepts.

I really want to fix this but I'm worried we'll get in trouble now for a mistake that I'm sure didn't even give us any advantage when applying for ILR. Any advice please?

[Mr Rusty]

According to this excerpt from legislationonline.org your parents automatically became Croation citizens when the country became independent:-

Article 30 of the Law on Croatian citizenship provides in its paragraph 1 that a Croatian citizen is every person who acquired Croatian citizenship according to the regulations applicable on the day of entry into force of the Law. This included individuals who held citizenship of the Socialist Republic of Croatia in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)

If you were born in Croatia, you also are automatically Croatian, alternatively, according to another provision of Croatian nationality law you are Croatian by descent.

In any case, it's difficult to imagine what "trouble" you can get into. If this is all you've got to worry about, you're a lot better off than most people.

[Calculon]

Well, I was reading about false representation and the fact that they can revoke your citizenship once you get it if they found you lied on your ILR application about your nationality so I naturally got a bit worried. Despite doing quite a bit of googling, I hadn't found what you quoted but I am glad to read it. The only problem now is that relatives in Croatia tell us we're not on the "register of citizens", probably because we weren't in the country and never got registered or something so while in theory we have or should have citizenship we don't really. Time to finally sort this out with the Croatian embassy I guess. If it turns out that somehow we didn't automatically get Croatian citizenship, are the Home Office likely to punish us when we try to amend our nationality?

Thanks for the help so far and in advance for any help yet to come.

[Mr Rusty]

Ah, I see, you declared yourselves as Croatian although you have no evidence that you have been registered as citizens of the independent country that evolved from the Former Republic of Yugoslavia around the time you emigrated. It's hard to describe that as "false representation", as Croatian is the only nationality to which you could at present be entitled, other than "Stateless", but if you were accepted in the UK as in need of international protection it's pretty much immaterial to any past or future application you make, IMHO.

It may be worthwhile to sort this out with the Croatian Embassy. If they will not register you as a Croatian citizen, or if they decline to issue you with a passport, and you need to travel, you can submit the evidence of the Croatian decision to UKBA in support of an application for a Home Office Travel Document. That's not an ideal situation, because you then have to apply for visas for almost any country to which you want to go. If you now have ILR, it probably isn't too long before you are eligible to apply for British citizenship. I think I read somewhere that Croatia does not recognise dual citizenship, so if you became British before you sorted out registration with them, that might be the end of it as far as Croatian citizenship is concerned.

[JAJ]

As far as I am aware, pre-1991 Yugoslavia had an internal citizenship for each of its republics, within the context of Yugoslav citizenship. So there was a "Croatian" citizenship prior to independence and if you held that, then it's probable that you became Croatian citizens automatically at independence.

However - if you want to know for sure, you should contact a Croatian lawyer for advice.

If you got ILR in 2001, any reason why you've not become a British citizen before now?

If you are Croatian, would you keep or lose this citizenship when you become a British citizen? Depends on what Croatian law says - again, get advice from a Croatian lawyer if this is important.

[Casa]

Croatia permits dual nationality. My daughter-in-law holds dual Croatian/British Nationality.