Country guide · Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnian dual citizenship: the bilateral-agreement rule, and what it means for Americans

Michael Soucek·Last reviewed October 2026

Educational information only — not legal advice. Always verify with the relevant authority, consulate or registry office.

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s rule on dual citizenship sounds strict and works more loosely than it sounds. On paper, a BiH citizen may hold another citizenship only if BiH has a bilateral agreement with that state. The agreements we could verify are with Serbia and Sweden; there is none with the United States, the UK, Canada, Australia or Germany. But since a Constitutional Court decision, acquiring another citizenship no longer ends BiH citizenship automatically, so in practice you can end up holding both.

The short answer

  • Agreement countries (Serbia, Sweden): dual citizenship is expressly allowed. You can hold both, and neither side can ask you to renounce.
  • Everywhere else, including the US: dual citizenship isn’t formally recognised, but BiH citizens who naturalise abroad don’t lose BiH citizenship automatically. It ends only if you renounce it, are released or deprived of it, or under an international agreement.
  • Children of BiH citizens born abroad: they register by descent; the law doesn’t make giving up another citizenship a condition. With one BiH parent, registration must happen before 23.
  • Foreigners naturalising, and former citizens regaining BiH citizenship: generally must give up their other citizenship, unless an agreement covers it.

The rule: Article 4 and the bilateral agreements

BiH’s Constitution (Article I.7(d)) and Article 4 of the Law on Citizenship of BiH say the same thing: citizens of BiH may hold the citizenship of another state provided there is a bilateral agreement between BiH and that state on the matter, approved by the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH under Article IV.4(d) of the Constitution. Article 4 has no other exceptions.

The agreements below are the ones we could check in official published texts.

  • Serbia. The Agreement on Dual Citizenship between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was published in the Official Gazette of BiH, International Agreements No. 4/03. It says a citizen of one state may also acquire the other’s citizenship without losing the first, and treats people who already held both before it was concluded as dual citizens. It also sets conditions for acquiring the other state’s citizenship under the agreement, including age 18 and three years’ registered residence there (one year if married to a citizen of that state).
  • Sweden. Signed in Sarajevo on 20 December 2004 and in force since 1 July 2006 (Swedish treaty series SÖ 2006:5). A BiH citizen “shall not lose or be required to renounce” BiH citizenship as a result of holding or acquiring Swedish citizenship, and a Swede who acquires BiH citizenship need not renounce Swedish citizenship. The preamble spells out why it exists: Sweden fully accepts dual citizenship, but BiH’s Constitution and Citizenship Act don’t without a bilateral agreement.
  • Croatia. A Treaty on Dual Citizenship was signed in Sarajevo on 29 March 2007, and the Croatian Parliament was asked to ratify it the same year. Its text says a BiH citizen who holds or acquires Croatian citizenship won’t lose BiH citizenship as a result. We could not find the official notice of its entry into force on the check date, so confirm its current status with BiH’s Ministry of Civil Affairs or a consulate.

No agreement: the Ministry of Civil Affairs states plainly that BiH and Germany have no bilateral agreement on dual citizenship. We found none with the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada or Australia either. Other agreements are sometimes reported, but we list only the ones we could verify.

Why BiH citizens abroad don’t lose citizenship automatically

The original 1997 law took BiH citizenship away from people who voluntarily acquired another citizenship, unless an agreement provided otherwise, and gave people who already held a second citizenship a deadline to give one up, which the High Representative extended in 2002. The Constitutional Court of BiH later ruled on loss by operation of law, and the current consolidated text (Official Gazette of BiH 22/16, which takes in amendments up to 2013) no longer contains a loss-on-acquisition rule.

Today, Article 18 lists four ways BiH citizenship ends: renunciation, release, deprivation and international agreement. The Ministry of Civil Affairs confirms that, under a decision of the Constitutional Court, BiH citizenship is not automatically lost when another citizenship is acquired. Of the four grounds:

  • Renunciation (Article 19) is open to an adult living abroad who holds, or has been promised, another citizenship. It is voluntary; it happens only if you ask. Some countries without an agreement, such as Germany before 2024, required people to renounce, which is why many in the diaspora did.
  • Release (Article 21) is for people living in BiH, again only on request.
  • Deprivation (Article 23) covers citizenship obtained by fraud, voluntary service in foreign armed forces contrary to a legal ban, and convictions for serious crimes or acts against BiH’s constitutional order that seriously harm its vital interests. Acquiring another citizenship is not a ground.

The practical result is a gap between principle and practice. BiH doesn’t formally recognise your US citizenship, but it doesn’t take your BiH citizenship away for having it either.

Descendants: registering through a BiH parent

BiH has no route through grandparents. Citizenship by descent comes through a parent, under Article 6:

  • Two BiH-citizen parents: the child is a citizen wherever born.
  • One BiH-citizen parent, born abroad: the child is a citizen if an application to register BiH citizenship is filed before the child turns 23, or automatically if the child would otherwise be stateless.
  • Born before 1 January 1998: the Ministry of Civil Affairs says the earlier 1996 citizenship law applies to these births, that people who were never registered keep the citizenship they had from birth, and that the birth and citizenship can be entered in the registers later under 2016 instructions. If you were born abroad before 1998, ask the municipality or consulate which rule applies to you before assuming the age-23 deadline has closed your case.

Article 6 does not make giving up another citizenship a condition of registration. Because Article 4 only formally allows dual citizenship with agreement states, ask the consulate how your US citizenship will be recorded before you apply for a BiH passport. The step-by-step process, documents and records are in the Bosnian citizenship by descent guide.

Former citizens who renounced: getting it back

Many people renounced BiH citizenship because a country like Germany required it. Article 14 lets someone whose citizenship ended by renunciation or release, in order to acquire or keep another citizenship, apply to regain it. The conditions are the naturalisation conditions minus age and permanent residence, plus at least one year of approved temporary residence in BiH immediately before applying, or permanent residence.

The catch is the other citizenship. The Ministry of Civil Affairs says someone who renounced to become German can regain BiH citizenship only by giving up German citizenship, because there is no BiH–Germany agreement. The same logic applies to Americans who renounced: the agreement rule bites when you ask BiH to grant citizenship, not when you already have it.

Naturalising in BiH as a foreigner

Ordinary naturalisation (Article 9) requires you to give up or lose your previous citizenship, with two exceptions: where a bilateral agreement provides otherwise, and where giving it up isn’t permitted or can’t reasonably be required. Article 16 also lets people who acquire BiH citizenship keep a prior citizenship where an agreement allows it. This mostly affects spouses and long-term residents, not descendants.

What descendants in the US should do

  1. Work out whether you are already a citizen. Two BiH parents, or one BiH parent and timely registration, means you are. A grandparent alone isn’t enough.
  2. Watch the age-23 deadline if you have one BiH parent and were born abroad, and check the pre-1998 rule if it applies.
  3. Don’t renounce anything. Neither BiH nor the US requires you to renounce in order to register by descent. The State Department says US law doesn’t require a citizen to choose between US citizenship and another nationality; see European citizenship by descent for Americans.
  4. Ask the consulate first how a US citizen’s registration is handled. Find your parent’s municipality and entity (the Federation of BiH or Republika Srpska), since the records are kept there.
  5. Prepare your documents: an apostilled, translated US birth certificate and your parent’s BiH citizenship certificate. See the apostille guide and documents checklist.

Neighbouring countries handle this very differently. Kosovo allows multiple citizenship outright (see Kosovo dual citizenship), and Croatia has its own emigrant route (see Croatian citizenship under Article 11). For the full comparison, see dual citizenship by descent, country by country, or try the free eligibility checker.

Frequently asked questions

Does Bosnia allow dual citizenship with the USA?

Not formally. Article 4 of the Law on Citizenship of BiH allows a second citizenship only where BiH has a bilateral agreement with that state, approved by its Parliamentary Assembly, and we found no agreement with the United States. But a BiH citizen who becomes American does not lose BiH citizenship automatically, so in practice you can hold both.

Which countries have a dual citizenship agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina?

The agreements we could verify in official texts are with Serbia (concluded with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and published in 2003) and Sweden (in force since 1 July 2006). A treaty with Croatia was signed on 29 March 2007, but we could not find its official entry-into-force notice. BiH’s Ministry of Civil Affairs confirms there is no agreement with Germany.

Will I lose Bosnian citizenship if I become a US citizen?

Not automatically. The Ministry of Civil Affairs says that, following a decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH, BiH citizenship is not lost by operation of law when another citizenship is acquired. Under the current law it ends only by renunciation, release, deprivation or an international agreement. Renouncing is your choice; nobody does it for you.

Can I get Bosnian citizenship by descent and keep my American citizenship?

Usually yes in practice. Registering through a BiH-citizen parent under Article 6 does not list giving up another citizenship as a condition. Because Article 4 only formally allows dual citizenship with agreement countries, ask the embassy how your US citizenship will be recorded before you apply. There is no route through grandparents.

I gave up Bosnian citizenship to become German. Can I get it back and keep both?

Not at the moment. The Ministry of Civil Affairs says regaining BiH citizenship after renouncing it for German citizenship is possible only if you give up German citizenship, because there is no BiH–Germany agreement. Article 14 also requires at least a year of approved temporary residence in BiH, or permanent residence, before you apply.

Do I have to renounce my US citizenship to naturalise in Bosnia?

Generally yes. For ordinary naturalisation, Article 9 requires you to give up or lose your previous citizenship, unless a bilateral agreement says otherwise or giving it up is not allowed or cannot reasonably be required. That rule applies to foreigners naturalising, not to children of BiH citizens who register by descent.

Official sources

Checked against these sources on 29 October 2026. The Official Gazette of BiH itself could not be searched on that date, so the law is quoted from the consolidated text as published by Paragraf, and the Serbia agreement from the copy on a cantonal ministry site. We could not find an official notice confirming when the Croatia treaty entered into force. The US point restates our guide for Americans, as travel.state.gov refused automated access. Only BiH’s Ministry of Civil Affairs and the registering municipality can decide your case; confirm with a BiH embassy or consulate before you apply or renounce anything.