Responsibility for their issuance lies with the Ministry of the Interior; and for citizens abroad, passports are issued by the local embassy or consulate.

The passport, along with the national identity card allows for free rights of movement and residence in any of the states of the European Economic Area and Switzerland.

The third generation Croatian passport has been changed in design due to the recent accession into the European Union.

From 3 August 2015, the new Croatian passport retained its dark blue cover and is the odd one out among the 27 European Union member states' passports[4] and the words Europska Unija (European Union in Croatian) have been printed on it as per EU regulations.

They were written in Croatian and French and had the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia on the cover.

(Reference: Antun Radić, "Hrvatski pašuši (putnice)" Dom, 15 January 1903, page 11) The first modern Croatian passports were issued from 26 June 1991, after Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia.

[citation needed] This series was in circulation until 31 December 2009, when the last ten-year passport issued expired.

Since then, the Croatian identity card has been a valid travel document within all of Europe (except Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and United Kingdom) as well as French overseas territories, Georgia and Tunisia.

[10] Validity in these countries (except Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Cyprus and Serbia) is based on the membership of the European Union and the implementation of the "European Agreement on Regulations governing the Movement of Persons between Member States of the Council of Europe".