Determining authority

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For the majority of the 2025,asylum matters were under the responsibility of the Directorate for Immigration, Citizenship and Administrative Affairs, within  which the Sector for foreigners and international protection was divided into following organisational units dealing with asylum matters:[1]

1. Service for international protection

• Department for international protection procedure[2]
• Department for Dublin procedure
• Department for integration

2. Service for reception and accommodation of applicants for international protection

• Reception centre for applicants of international protection in Zagreb
• Reception centre for applicants of international protection in Kutina

This structure was in place until the final quarter of 2025, when the Sector for foreigners and international protection underwent a reorganization, as noted above.

In 2025, new amendments to the Regulation on the Internal Organisation of the MoI entered into force.[3]

Within the scope relating to matters of international protection, a structural change was introduced: the former Sector for Foreigners and International Protection was divided into the Sector for Foreigners and Visas and the Sector for International Protection.

For the performance of tasks within the remit of the Sector for International Protection, the amendments established the following services:

1. Service for International Protection, comprising the following units:

1.1. Department for the International Protection Procedure

1.2. Department for Integration

1.3. Department for Information and Documentation Affairs

1.4. Department for Border Procedure

2.Service for the Reception and Accommodation of Applicants for International Protection, comprising:

2.1. Reception Centre for Applicants for International Protection in Zagreb, with its seat in Zagreb

2.2. Reception Centre for Applicants for International Protection in Kutina, with its seat in Kutina

2.3. Reception Centre for Applicants for International Protection Dugi Dol, with its seat in Krnjak

3.Service for Dublin Procedure, comprising the following units:

3.1. Department for Incoming and Outgoing Requests

3.2. Department for Transfers.

No information on trainings of the officials is available for 2025. However, the training of officials is continuously carried out through the EUAA curriculum, as well as through workshops organised, for example, by the UNHCR.

In June 2025, UNHCR organized a meeting on refugee status determination for officials  from the  Service for International Protection, where various aspects of the decision-making process were discussed. In December 2025, UNHCR conducted a three-day training course for 60 officials working in the Reception Centre for Applicants for International Protection in Zagreb and Kutina, focusing on key protection and accountability topics. The sessions covered gender-based violence prevention and response, trafficking in human beings, effective communication with communities, and the principles of protection from sexual exploitation and abuse. The training aimed to strengthen officials’ capacity to identify and address protection risks, ensure respectful and transparent engagement with applicants for international protection, and uphold the highest standards of safeguarding and accountability within reception facilities.[4]

Croatia has a single procedure for international protection. The Department for International Protection Procedure examines whether the applicant fulfils the eligibility criteria for refugee status and, failing that, subsequently examines whether the applicant is eligible for subsidiary protection. The civil servants working in the Department for International Protection Procedure issue a decision on the application based on their findings following an interview with the applicant, taking into account all the relevant facts and circumstances arising from the application, the applicant’s position and personal circumstances (including sex and age) based on the testimony presented during the interview, the evidence submitted and available country of origin information and if necessary information about the country through which they travelled, as well as the activities of the applicant after leaving the country of origin to assess whether these activities might expose them to persecution or serious harm if they are returned to that country. The existence of an internal protection alternative in the country of origin, and the possibility for the applicant to obtain the protection of their alleged country of nationality, are also considered when taking a decision.[5]

When deciding on the credibility of the applicant’s statements, the person conducting the procedure should abide by the principle of the benefit of the doubt.[6]

As far as the Croatian Law Centre is aware, the Head of the Department for international protection procedure reviews all decisions in order to ensure the quality of decisions.

[1] This Sector further includes unites responsible for other migration-related matters, e.g., citizenship, legal residence of foreigners, visas etc.

[2] The Department for international protection procedure of the MoI is an administrative authority responsible for examining applications for international protection and competent to take decisions at first instance.

[3] Amendments of Decree on the internal structure of the Ministry of Interior, Official Gazette 90/2025 available in Croatian at: https://narodne-novine.nn.hr/clanci/sluzbeni/2025_06_90_1250.html.

[4] Information provided by UNHCR, 10 April 2026.

[5] Articles 27 and 28 LITP.

[6] Article 29 LITP.