Re-acquisition of citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Author: Azur Prnjavorac, attorney at law and mediator | Last updated: 17 September 2026
In brief: A person whose citizenship of BiH ceased by renunciation or by release, in order to acquire or keep the citizenship of another state, may apply for re-acquisition under Article 14 of the Law on Citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The conditions are cumulative, and in practice the most common obstacle is the requirement of residence in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- The provision: Article 14 of the Law on Citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Official Gazette of BiH no. 22/16, official consolidated text.
- Two conditions together: the requirements of Article 9 are met, other than points a) and b) of paragraph 1, and the applicant holds approved temporary residence in BiH of at least one year immediately before the application, or approved permanent residence.
- The guarantee: in the procedure a guarantee of acquisition of citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina and of the Federation of BiH is issued, under a separate rulebook, valid for two years.
- The remedy: the decision from practice reproduced below states that no appeal lies against it, but an administrative dispute may be brought before the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo within 30 days of service.
- Experience: the office has dealt with matters of BiH citizenship for 30 years, including the re-acquisition of citizenship after more than twenty years of German citizenship.
How the office works: Law Office Prnjavorac has dealt with questions of citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina for 30 years. The office represents clients in proceedings for the re-acquisition of BiH citizenship and in every other proceeding concerning BiH citizenship, including the acquisition of citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Through associated law offices we also assist with the acquisition of Croatian citizenship where the statutory conditions are met. The opposite procedures, release from BiH citizenship and renunciation, are covered on separate pages.
Re-acquisition of citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the road back for people who gave up BiH citizenship years ago, most often in order to be naturalised in Germany or Austria, and who now wish to hold it again. The law provides for it expressly, but on conditions that have to be understood before the first step is taken.
Article 14 of the Law on Citizenship of BiH
The current statutory definition is in Article 14 of the Law on Citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of BiH no. 22/16, consolidated text):
"A person whose citizenship of BiH ceased by renunciation or by release, for the purpose of acquiring or keeping the citizenship of another state, may apply for re-acquisition of citizenship of BiH if they meet the requirements of Article 9, other than the requirements of paragraph (1) points a) and b), but only if they hold approved temporary residence in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina of at least one year immediately before the application, or approved permanent residence."
The law speaks expressly of cessation by renunciation or by release. The ground therefore does not cover persons whose citizenship was revoked, since revocation is a separate mode of cessation. The requirements of Article 9 that are waived are the two in points a) and b) of paragraph 1, namely the age requirement and the three years of permanent residence before the application. Everything else in Article 9 continues to apply.
The two cumulative conditions in practice
From the statutory text it follows that two conditions have to be met together for citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina to be re-acquired:
- Residence in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The applicant must hold approved temporary residence in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina of at least one year immediately before the application, or approved permanent residence in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Residence is a separate procedure under the Law on Foreigners, and in practice it is this phase that takes the longest.
- Loss of the citizenship acquired in the meantime. The applicant must lose the citizenship acquired on release from BiH citizenship in order to obtain BiH citizenship again, because the renunciation requirement of Article 9 continues to apply. The exception is the states with which BiH has concluded a treaty on dual citizenship: Croatia, Serbia and Sweden. A person who acquired the citizenship of one of those states may re-acquire BiH citizenship without giving it up.
The remaining requirements of Article 9 also apply: knowledge of one of the languages of the constituent peoples, the absence of a conviction for a criminal offence of the kind the law specifies, the absence of a threat to security, and settled public dues. They rarely cause difficulty for a person who was born and grew up in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the file has to document them.
How the procedure runs: residence, guarantee, release, decision
The procedure is conducted before the entity ministry of the interior, that is the Federal Ministry of the Interior in the Federation of BiH or the competent ministry in Republika Srpska, with the consent of the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the Federation the sequence is as follows.
- Residence first. The applicant obtains approved temporary residence in Bosnia and Herzegovina and holds it for at least one year immediately before the application, or obtains permanent residence.
- The application. The application for re-acquisition is filed with the Federal Ministry of the Interior, with the evidence of the requirements of Article 9: birth certificate, marriage certificate where applicable, certificate of the current citizenship, and the documents the ministry obtains of its own motion.
- The guarantee. Because the applicant cannot be expected to give up the foreign citizenship before knowing that BiH citizenship will follow, the ministry issues a guarantee that the applicant will acquire citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina and of the Federation if proof of the cessation of the foreign citizenship is submitted within the period of validity of the guarantee. The Ministry of Civil Affairs of BiH gives its consent to the guarantee.
- Release from the foreign citizenship. With the guarantee in hand, the applicant applies to the foreign state for release. Germany and Austria issue a certificate of release on production of the guarantee.
- The decision. When the certificate of release is submitted within the period of validity of the guarantee, the ministry issues the decision admitting the applicant to citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina and of the Federation, and approves registration of the fact of citizenship in the register of citizens.
A case from our practice: re-acquisition after twenty years of German citizenship
The office conducted the first case of re-acquisition of citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Bosnia and Herzegovina after more than twenty years of German citizenship, through the application of Article 14 of the Law on Citizenship of BiH. In 2001 we had represented the same client in the proceedings for the loss of BiH citizenship in order to acquire the citizenship of the Federal Republic of Germany. When he decided to take back his Bosnian citizenship, we conducted the whole procedure of re-acquisition: residence, the guarantee, release from German citizenship and the final decision.
The two documents that mark the procedure, the guarantee and the decision, are summarised below with the personal data removed. The full texts are reproduced on the Bosnian version of this page.
The guarantee of acquisition of citizenship
The Federal Ministry of the Interior issued the guarantee in 2019, on the basis of Article 33 point c) of the Law on Citizenship of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH no. 34/16), Articles 2 and 3 of the Rulebook on the issue of a guarantee in the procedure of acquisition of citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of BiH no. 7/14) and Article 39 of the Rulebook on the procedure, the means of evidence and the manner of registration of citizenship of the Federation in the register of births and the register of citizens (Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH no. 85/16), deciding on the application of a German citizen born in Sarajevo, filed through the attorneys of this office. Its operative part provides:
(1) The applicant, a German citizen with approved permanent residence in the Municipality of Centar Sarajevo, is given a guarantee that he will acquire citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina and citizenship of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina if, within the period of validity of the guarantee, he submits proof of the cessation of his German citizenship.
(2) The guarantee is issued with a period of validity of two years, counting from the day on which the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina gives its consent, on condition that until the expiry of the period the person meets the statutory requirements for acquiring citizenship.
(3) The guarantee enters into force on the day the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina gives its consent, and if the person does not submit proof of the cessation of the previous citizenship within the period of validity, the procedure is discontinued.
In the reasoning the ministry recorded that the applicant had submitted all the evidence of the requirements for acquiring citizenship on the basis of Article 13 of the Law on Citizenship of the Federation, other than proof of the cessation of his German citizenship, which is precisely what the guarantee is for.
The decision on admission to citizenship and the remedies
In 2020, after the applicant had submitted within the period of validity of the guarantee the certificate of release from German citizenship issued by the competent Bavarian authority in Munich on 20 January 2020, the Federal Ministry of the Interior issued the decision on admission to citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was issued on the basis of Articles 31 and 32 of the Law on Citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina (consolidated text, Official Gazette of BiH no. 22/16) and Article 33 point c) of the Law on Citizenship of the Federation (Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH no. 34/16).
The operative part admits the applicant to citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina and of the Federation on the basis of Article 13 of the Law on Citizenship of the Federation, as a person whose citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina and of the Federation had ceased by renunciation, and approves the registration of the fact of citizenship in the register of citizens of the Federation, form 2B, kept for the area of the Municipality of Sarajevo Centar. The reasoning records that the requirements of Article 14 of the Law on Citizenship of BiH and Article 13 of the Law on Citizenship of the Federation were established on the basis of the birth certificate, the marriage certificate, the certificate of German citizenship, the evidence obtained of the ministry's own motion, the guarantee to which the Ministry of Civil Affairs had given its consent, and the certificate of release.
Two points in the decision matter for every applicant. First, the decision is final in the administrative procedure: no appeal lies against it, but an administrative dispute may be brought before the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo within 30 days of service. Second, an administrative fee for the acquisition of citizenship is charged under Article 4, tariff number 7, of the Law on federal administrative fees. The decision is served on the applicant through the attorneys, on the registry office of the Municipality of Centar Sarajevo, on the Ministry of the Interior of the Sarajevo Canton, on the Ministry of Civil Affairs of BiH, on the Ministry of Security of BiH and on the defence department.
Where the ministry refuses an application without lawful ground, the administrative dispute before the competent court is the road to take, and the office represents clients in it.
Frequently asked questions: how to get back citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The questions we are asked most often by former citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina living in Croatia, Germany and Austria.
Can I get back BiH citizenship if I lost it when I acquired the citizenship of the Republic of Croatia?
In your case you can re-acquire citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina without losing Croatian citizenship, because the Republic of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have concluded a treaty on dual citizenship. The procedure begins by obtaining in Bosnia and Herzegovina approved temporary residence of at least one year immediately before the application for re-acquisition of BiH citizenship.
How do I get back citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina if I have acquired German citizenship?
Under the provisions in force that is possible only if you hold approved temporary residence in BiH of at least one year, and subject to the requirement of the Law on Citizenship of BiH that your previous citizenship ceases, unless a bilateral treaty or reciprocity exists (since 27 June 2024 Germany permits multiple citizenship, so loss of German citizenship is no longer a requirement on the German side). There is an option of acquiring BiH citizenship without losing German citizenship, but it has a very limited legal basis and is assessed case by case.
Can I get back BiH citizenship if I lost it in order to acquire Austrian citizenship?
For the time being that is possible on two conditions: registered residence in BiH for one year, and loss of Austrian citizenship, so that Bosnian citizenship may be acquired again.
How long does the procedure of re-acquisition of BiH citizenship take?
The procedure depends on several factors: the speed with which temporary residence is obtained, the completeness of the documentation and the course of the decision of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, or of the competent ministry in Republika Srpska. In practice the greater part of the procedure is taken up by the residence phase, while the administrative decision on re-acquisition as a rule follows within predictable periods. Where an application is unlawfully refused, an administrative dispute before the competent court is open.
What is the guarantee and why is it needed?
The guarantee is a document by which the entity ministry, with the consent of the Ministry of Civil Affairs of BiH, undertakes that the applicant will acquire citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina and of the Federation if proof of the cessation of the foreign citizenship is submitted within its period of validity of two years. It exists because the applicant cannot be expected to give up the foreign citizenship before knowing that BiH citizenship will follow, and Germany and Austria issue the release only on production of it.
Which authority decides on re-acquisition?
The entity ministry of the interior, that is the Federal Ministry of the Interior in the Federation of BiH or the competent ministry in Republika Srpska, with the consent of the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The decision is final in the administrative procedure, and an administrative dispute may be brought against it before the competent cantonal or district court within 30 days.
Can the procedure be conducted through a lawyer without my coming to Bosnia and Herzegovina?
The application, the collection of documents, the guarantee and the decision can all be handled by the office under a power of attorney. What cannot be delegated is the residence requirement itself, because temporary residence of at least one year, or permanent residence, presupposes that you actually reside in Bosnia and Herzegovina before the application.
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