August the 14th, 2022 - If you need to get a new Croatian passport of ID card over the coming days in the City of Zagreb, then there's something you need to do before you head to the dreaded desks and the friendly and knowledgeable clerks at your local administrative police station.

We've all had the masochistic pleasure of waiting for hours clutching a number that isn't due to come up on the screen we're all staring at for an age in an airless room listening to people being repeatedly told they're missing a document. MUP is a special place where people lose time they'll never get back to people who could really do with a lot more training, all for something that could very easily be done online. Make sure to read this before heading to administrative police stations in Zagreb for a new Croatian passport or ID card.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, if you want to get a new identity card or Croatian passport over the coming hot summer days in the City of Zagreb, then there are several important things you should know. The locations for issuing and picking up personal documents such as the above are Heinzelova 98, Petrinjska 30, II. PP Zagreb (Crnomerec) and VI. PP Zagreb (Novi/New Zagreb).

The counters at which this procedure is carried out have summer working hours from 07:00 to 14:00, and you can now go and pick up your new Croatian passport or freshly issued ID card on Saturdays as well.

The administrative police station (MUP) at Crnomerec is typically very crowded, so the waiting times to pick up or apply for new documents can stretch to several hours, which isn't anything new to anyone who has spent any time doing anything administrative in Croatia.

The classic advice continues to be the same as it always has been - come as early as possible to avoid waiting around for too long (although if we're being honest, that is no guarantee as everyone has the exact same idea), but more importantly, if you are getting a new Croatian passport or identity card, it is important that before you come to the counter, you have confirmation that you have already paid the production costs. In other words, you should make the payment before you come to the clerk at the desk.

The payment slips are at the entrance to the building, while the information for online payment can be found here for a new Croatian passport and here for a new ID card.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 27th of April, 2020, starting next year, the Interior Ministry will begin issuing a new Croatian identity card whose visual identity will change. They will bear the insignia of the Republic of Croatia printed in negative in a blue rectangle and surrounded by twelve yellow stars, Vecernji list writes.

The new Croatian identity cards will be security-enhanced and will have a biometric identifier on the chip, that is, a stored image of the holder's face and fingerprints from the owner's left and right hands, which will allow for quick electronic identification. There will be no additional charge for a mobile device solution through which a person will manage their data and verify their electronic identity. After receiving the new Croatian identity card and activation information from the police (MUP), the holder will need to activate access to the appropriate electronic identity card management site.

New Croatian identity cards will also be issued to those under the age of 18, while the ID and signature certificate (as it currently is) will only be on ID cards owned by those aged between 18 and 70. Both certificates and IDs will be valid for five years, but the exception is that for those over 70 years of age, the ID cards will be valid permanently (currently, the age limit is 65 years). That group of citizens will also be able to decide for themselves whether or not they want certificates.

If they opt for this first variant, they won't have to renew it at the end of their certificate if they don't wish to do so, but instead they will continue to be able to use the same identity card. However, they will not be able to perform electronic identity verification or use it to produce an advanced electronic signature.

A draft bill for the amendment of the Law on ID cards was recently released for public consultation. The existing law is being modified because the European Union adopted a regulation that came into force on the 1st of August 2019 and is directly applicable in all member states from the 2nd of August, 2021.

It stipulates, among other things, that all European Union member states must issue ID cards to their citizens containing the biometric identifiers of the ID card holders. The current documents are valid for Croatian citizens until the expiry of the aforementioned documents, or until August the 3rd, 2031, but those aged 70 and over will still be able to use the old ones as they did before.

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