Bosnian lawyer for clients in the United States
Author: Azur Prnjavorac, attorney at law | Updated:
In brief. If you live in the United States and have something to settle in Bosnia and Herzegovina, you do not need to fly over. You have a power of attorney certified at the BiH Embassy in Washington, D.C., at the Consulate General in Chicago, or before a notary public in your state with an apostille from your Secretary of State, mail it to us, and from that moment the office conducts the matter in your place: citizenship by descent for you and your children, probate of your parents' estate, sale or purchase of real estate, recognition of a divorce, debt collection. Correspondence runs by email in English or Bosnian, video calls are scheduled for your morning, and you know the cost in dollars before we start. The office has worked with Bosnian Americans since 1993 and is among the law offices recommended by the United States Embassy in Sarajevo.
Key facts
- Certifying the power of attorney
- Embassy of BiH in Washington or Consulate General in Chicago, or a US notary public with the apostille of the Secretary of State of your state.
- Apostille
- Mandatory on notarised documents from the United States; not needed on consular certification.
- Language and time
- Correspondence in English or Bosnian; our office hours are 02:00 to 10:00 Eastern and 23:00 to 07:00 Pacific, video calls by arrangement.
- Price and payment
- Written estimate in advance under the Attorney Tariff of the Federation; payment by bank transfer in euros or US dollars.
How we represent you if you do not travel to BiH
Representation from a distance is our normal way of working with the diaspora. The legal basis is the power of attorney: once certified, the attorney files applications and claims in your name, attends hearings and probate sessions, gives the declarations you have entrusted to him, signs the contract before the notary, applies for registration of title, files your citizenship application with the competent ministry and collects decisions. After each stage you receive a written report with copies of the submissions and decisions and with the next step and deadline, so you always know where the matter stands. The time difference is six to nine hours, which is why we schedule telephone and video calls for your morning: our afternoon until 16:00 Central European Time is 10:00 in New York and 07:00 in Los Angeles, and by arrangement we also take calls after our office hours.
Two things cannot be done without you. The declaration of inheritance is given in person at the Embassy or Consulate unless you have authorised the attorney to give it, and for the sale of real estate the notary in BiH requires a power of attorney that precisely describes the property and the price, which we draft with particular care. Everything else we do.
Power of attorney from the USA: consulate or notary public with apostille
We draft the power of attorney, in Bosnian with an English version for your information, tailored to the matter: a general power for representation before courts and authorities, or a special power for one defined act (citizenship application, probate, sale of a specific property, registration of children). You only sign it before the body that certifies the signature. In the United States there are two routes. Content, form and certification of the power of attorney by country: power of attorney for a lawyer in Bosnia from abroad.
First route, the BiH Embassy or Consulate. Certification of your signature at the consular office of the Embassy in Washington, D.C. (2109 E Street NW) for residents of the eastern and southern states, or at the Consulate General in Chicago (1 E Wacker Drive, Suite 1820) for the Midwest and West; the division by state and the contact details are on the page Embassy of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the USA. A power certified this way is a document of our diplomatic mission, needs no apostille and can be used in BiH at once. Appointments are arranged in advance, and for some applications the missions accept documents by mail.
Second route, a notary public and an apostille. If Washington or Chicago is far away, you sign the power of attorney before any notary public in your state. A notarized document is a US public document and, for use in BiH, must carry an apostille under the Hague Convention of 1961, to which both the United States and BiH are parties. The apostille on a notarized document is issued by the Secretary of State of the state in which the notary is commissioned (in most states by mail within days, in many also over the counter); documents issued by federal agencies, for example an FBI Identity History Summary, are apostilled by the U.S. Department of State, Office of Authentications, in Washington. The notary certifies your signature, not the content, so a power of attorney in Bosnian is notarized without translation; if the notary asks for an English text, we provide the bilingual version.
You mail us the original by USPS, FedEx, UPS or DHL and email the scan so that we can start preparing at once. Mail from the United States to Tuzla usually takes one to two weeks by regular post and two to four days by courier.
Which documents need translating and who translates them
American documents used before authorities in BiH, for example a birth or marriage certificate issued by a county or state registrar, a divorce decree, a death certificate, a naturalization certificate or a notarized deed, need an apostille and a translation. The apostille is issued by the Secretary of State of the issuing state (for federal documents by the U.S. Department of State), and the translation for courts and authorities in BiH is made by a court interpreter for English appointed in BiH; a translation by an American translator is generally not accepted without certification by a domestic interpreter. It is therefore simpler to send us the apostilled original; we organise the translation and certification at a per-page price stated in advance.
For a citizenship application the documents typically needed from the United States are your birth certificate, your marriage certificate if your name has changed, proof of your parent's or grandparent's Bosnian origin (which we usually obtain in BiH from the civil registers) and a criminal record certificate, which for applicants living in the United States is the FBI Identity History Summary with a Department of State apostille. Documents from BiH that you need in the United States, civil status certificates, proof of citizenship, land register extracts, we obtain on the basis of the power of attorney and, where the American authority requires it, have apostilled in BiH. More on the page apostille and legalisation.
How long it takes and what it costs
How long it takes depends on the type of matter and on the authority handling it. A citizenship application by descent is decided by the entity ministry after the civil registers have been checked and the documents completed; the time from a complete file to the decision is counted in months rather than weeks, and we tell you the realistic range for your case after reviewing the documents. Probate without a dispute among the heirs usually takes a few months from the application. A sale of real estate with a clean land register entry is completed within a few weeks of receiving the certified power of attorney; if the entry is not in order, the title is put right first. Recognition of an American divorce decree is a non-contentious procedure normally finished in a few weeks to a couple of months.
The price is known in advance. An attorney in the Federation of BiH charges under the Attorney Tariff of the Federation (point value 6.50 KM, that is 3.32 EUR in 2026), and a different arrangement may be agreed with the client in writing: a fixed fee for a defined piece of work, an hourly rate or a ceiling that will not be exceeded. With clients in the United States we work almost always with a fixed fee, stated in writing by email, because you want to know the full amount before we start. Court and notary fees, the sworn translator's charges and, for real estate, the transfer tax come on top, and we tell you about them beforehand. We issue the estimate and the invoice in convertible marks with the amount in euros (fixed rate 1 EUR = 1.95583 KM) and, on request, the equivalent in US dollars; you pay by international bank transfer (wire) in euros or dollars to the office account, and your bank converts at the rate of the day. Details: attorney tariff and notary fees.
The most common matters of clients in the United States
Bosnian citizenship by descent
If your parent or grandparent was a citizen of BiH, you and your children may be entitled to citizenship. The United States and BiH both allow dual citizenship, so you keep your US passport. We check the civil registers in BiH, complete the file and conduct the procedure by power of attorney.
Dual citizenship USA and BiH
Neither the United States nor BiH requires you to give up the other citizenship; we explain what dual citizenship means for passports, property, inheritance and military service questions.
Probate of your parents' estate in BiH
You give the declaration of inheritance at the Embassy or Consulate; we conduct the probate, sort out unregistered property and register the title in the heirs' names.
Selling inherited property and buying real estate
Land register and encumbrance checks, negotiation, contract before the notary, tax and registration, and wire of the purchase price to your US account with the tax confirmations the bank requires. US citizens may buy real estate in BiH on the basis of reciprocity.
Recognition of a US divorce decree
An American divorce decree takes effect in BiH only after court recognition; it is then entered in the civil registers. The same applies to registering a marriage and children born in the United States.
Debt collection in BiH
Money owed to you from business, a loan or an unpaid purchase price is collected by demand letter, lawsuit or enforcement, with a check of the debtor's assets.
Registration of children born in the USA
Subsequent registration of birth and citizenship in the BiH civil registers, personal identification number and first passport, with apostille and translation of the American certificates.
Money transfer from BiH
Wire of the purchase price or inherited money to your US account, with the tax confirmations the bank requires.
From the first email to a settled matter: six steps
- Enquiry by email. You describe the situation and send what you have: civil status certificates, land register extracts, contracts, decisions, earlier correspondence. Nothing needs to be translated for this step.
- Legal assessment and cost frame. You receive in writing an assessment of the case, the proposed steps, realistic timelines and a cost frame, before you commit to anything.
- Draft power of attorney. We draft the power of attorney with exactly the powers the procedure requires, neither wider nor narrower, so that the court, notary or land registry accepts it the first time.
- Certification of the power of attorney. You have the power of attorney certified at the BiH Embassy in Washington or the Consulate General in Chicago, or before a notary public with a Secretary of State apostille. You send the scan at once by email and the original by post.
- Conduct of the matter in BiH. We obtain documents and represent you before the court, notary, land registry, cadastre, tax administration and authorities. After each stage you receive a written report with the next steps and deadlines.
- Completion. Once the decision is final we register the title, supervise payment of the purchase price or carry out the other closing act and send you the originals. As a rule you do not need to travel to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
What clients from the United States say
The office has more than 1,000 Google reviews averaging 5.0 on two business profiles, and it is among the law offices recommended by the embassies of the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom in BiH. All published ratings, including those of clients in the United States, are on the page client reviews.
Our main practice areas for clients abroad
Most matters from abroad fall within a few practice areas in which the office has worked since 1993. Each has its own page with the procedure, timelines and costs:
Family and inheritance law
Estates, wills, forced shares, contracts of lifetime support, divorce, maintenance and marital property; the most common practice area for clients abroad.
Inheritance law and probate
Probate after parents and relatives in BiH, declarations of inheritance from abroad, sorting out unregistered property and registering title in the heirs' names.
Divorce
Uncontested and contested divorce before a court in BiH when one or both spouses live abroad, custody, maintenance and division of marital property.
Court proceedings and dispute resolution
Litigation before courts in BiH without your travelling: property, inheritance and contract disputes and damages, from the claim to enforcement.
Land registry
Checking and clearing the land register, registration of title, deletion of encumbrances, reconciling the cadastre and the land register, partition of real estate.
Real estate
Sale, gift and partition of real estate in BiH under a power of attorney, contract, tax and registration; acquisition by foreigners and reciprocity.
Compensation of damage
Damage from traffic accidents, injuries and contracts in BiH, including for clients living abroad; representation towards insurers and before the court.
Commercial law and commercial disputes
Formation and restructuring of companies, contracts and debt collection for diaspora businesses dealing with BiH.
Legislation and sources this page is based on
This page was written by an attorney on the basis of the legislation in force in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its entities. Legal sources verified on 17 September 2026. Statutory texts are in Bosnian.
Contact for clients in the United States
- advokat@advokat-prnjavorac.com. The best first step: describe the matter in a few sentences and attach scans of the documents you have. If a deadline is running, say so in the subject line.
- Telephone
- Office +387 35 258 110, attorney Azur Prnjavorac +387 61 633 539, attorney Alma Prnjavorac +387 61 131 001. We speak English, German and Bosnian.
- Office hours
- Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 16:00 Central European Time.
Where you are Our office hours on your clock New York, Washington, Atlanta, Miami (Eastern) 02:00 to 10:00 Chicago, St. Louis, Houston (Central) 01:00 to 09:00 Denver, Phoenix (Mountain) 00:00 to 08:00 Los Angeles, Seattle (Pacific) 23:00 to 07:00 Indicative; daylight saving time in the United States and Europe changes on different dates and can shift the difference by an hour.
- Video call
- Scheduled for your morning: our afternoon until 16:00 CET is 10:00 Eastern and 07:00 Pacific, and by arrangement we take calls after our office hours as well. Time and channel are agreed by email.
- Documents
- Scans by email; originals and the certified power of attorney by post or courier to: Đorđa Mihajlovića 10b, 75000 Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Before giving any advice the office checks for a conflict of interest, so please name the other party as well. A reply follows once the documents have been reviewed.
Frequently asked questions from clients in the United States
Can I instruct a lawyer in BiH from the United States without travelling?
Yes. You give the instruction by a power of attorney certified at the BiH Embassy in Washington, the Consulate General in Chicago or before a notary public with a Secretary of State apostille. On that basis the office conducts the whole procedure and you receive a written report after each stage. Travel is needed only exceptionally, when a court expressly requires the party to be heard in person.
Who issues the apostille in the United States?
For notarized and state-issued documents the Secretary of State of the state concerned; for documents issued by federal agencies, such as the FBI Identity History Summary, the U.S. Department of State, Office of Authentications. A power certified at the BiH Embassy or Consulate needs no apostille.
Am I entitled to Bosnian citizenship if my parents were born in Bosnia?
Very often yes, by descent, and your children may be too. The exact route depends on when you were born and whether your parents were registered as citizens of BiH; we check the civil registers in BiH and tell you before you commit to anything. The United States and BiH both allow dual citizenship.
Is a translation by an American translator valid in BiH?
Courts and authorities in BiH generally require a translation by a court interpreter for English appointed in BiH. The simplest way is to send us the apostilled original; we organise the translation.
What does it cost and how do I pay from the United States?
You receive a fixed fee or a ceiling in writing in advance, under the Attorney Tariff of the Federation of BiH (point value 6.50 KM, that is 3.32 EUR in 2026), with the equivalent in dollars on request. You pay by international wire transfer in euros or dollars to the office account against the estimate.
Can I sell an inherited house in BiH from the United States and receive the money in America?
Yes. On the basis of a special power of attorney the attorney conducts the probate if needed, checks the land register, concludes the contract before the notary, pays the tax and registers the title; the purchase price is wired to your US account with the tax confirmations the bank requires. More on the page about money transfer from BiH.
When can we talk on the phone or by video?
Our office hours, 08:00 to 16:00 Central European Time, correspond to 02:00 to 10:00 Eastern and 23:00 to 07:00 Pacific, so we schedule calls for your morning and, by arrangement, after our office hours.
In which language do we communicate?
In English or Bosnian, whichever is easier for you. Children and partners who do not speak Bosnian can deal with us entirely in English.
Three decades of work with the Bosnian diaspora in the United States
Law office Prnjavorac has been active since 1993 and, in its fourth decade of practice, represents clients from the diaspora across the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The work for clients in the United States is carried out remotely, through a power of attorney certified at the Embassy in Washington or the Consulate General in Chicago, with a written report after each stage of the matter.
What clients from the USA say
A few real matters of our clients who live and work in the United States. We keep full names as attorney-client privilege, so we give only initials.
„When my late father passed away, the house and fields near Tuzla were in his name, and the three of us are in St. Louis. A ticket across the ocean for three of us for every hearing was impossible. We certified a power of attorney in Chicago, gave our declarations, and that was all that was asked of us. Attorney Prnjavorac conducted the entire probate and recorded the house in our names. An email after each stage, all in order.”
„I have been in Chicago for twenty-five years and wanted a flat in Sarajevo so we would have our own place when we come in summer. Listings are one thing, the paperwork another. The office checked the land registry and the encumbrances, down to the last notice, and only then went to the contract and the notary. By the time we landed, the flat was already recorded in our names. That is how it should be done.”
„From Atlanta I watched helplessly as relatives talked my sick father into signing the family land over to them by gift. Mr Azur immediately registered a notice of dispute so nothing further could be sold, then filed suit. It took time, but a settlement returned my mother's share to her. Without them we would have lost everything.”
„I draw my BiH pension in Jacksonville and send a life certificate every year. One year it stuck, the payments stopped, and nobody knew anything. The lawyer sorted out the paperwork with the fund, the pension was reinstated and they paid me all the arrears. I never moved from Florida.”
„I inherited land near Gradačac, but the land registry and the cadastre did not match, so the buyer kept knocking the price down as if buying fog. From Phoenix you cannot fix that by phone. They engaged a surveyor, reconciled the records through the court, and the title came out clean. I sold at the right price; it was worth the wait.”
„Our children were born in Salt Lake City and we kept putting off the BiH paperwork. The office listed exactly what was needed, the apostille, translations and forms, and entered both children in the birth register and the register of citizens. Now they have BiH documents too. They were patient even when we were the ones running late.”
„I was selling an inherited flat in Mostar, and the nearest consulate is far from Des Moines. They drafted the power of attorney for me in advance, I certified it before our notary, apostille and post. They handled the sale, the tax and the transfer of the money to my account. I never travelled once.”
„My brother in Bosnia, me in Grand Rapids, and our parents' house in Lukavac between us. Years of pulling back and forth. I liked that the lawyer did not push straight to a lawsuit but first mediated. We settled, my brother bought me out at the appraised value, and we stayed brother and sister. That mattered most to me.”
„Our New York company was buying a warehouse in BiH. We asked for due diligence before signing, and it proved wise: they found an improperly cancelled mortgage and a dispute mentioned nowhere. The seller had to clear that first. We saved more than the whole service cost.”
„I divorced here in Charlotte, but during the marriage we built a house and bought business premises in BiH, all in his name. He claimed it was not joint property. Before the court in BiH it was proven to be marital property, and half of it went to me. For the first time I felt someone was truly defending what I had built too.”
„A neighbour fenced off the access road to our plot near Doboj overnight, a road that had been used as long as I can remember. From Seattle I thought it was a lost battle. They dug out the old land-registry and cadastral records, proved decades of use, and the court recognised the right of way, all recorded. Hats off.”
„The flat in Sarajevo was still in my late grandfather's name, and the plot numbers were scrambled by digitisation. From St. Louis I just sent whatever they asked for, by email and post. They sorted out the entry through the court, recorded the flat in my name and later organised the sale. I never came once, not even to sign.”
All client reviews are publicly available on both Google business profiles, without filtering, mediation or moderation by the law office.
Embassies and consulates of BiH abroad
Guides for citizens of BiH in the diaspora, with the addresses of the missions and an explanation of legal assistance in Bosnia and Herzegovina:
