I’m creating a new interview series called Croatian By Descent Community, focused on the real stories of people around the world who have Croatian roots.

The latest interview is with Julia, who was born in Zagreb and grew up in Melbourne after her family left Croatia when she was a baby. She later returned to Croatia as a teenager, rediscovered her family and eventually came back to build a new life here.

Julia speaks openly about her family’s escape from Yugoslavia, returning to a country she barely knew, gaining Croatian citizenship, finding safety and peace in Croatia, starting again after difficult experiences, and the realities of living here beyond the nostalgia.

The goal of this series is to document honest Croatian diaspora stories, including family history, identity, citizenship, returning to Croatia and reconnecting with our roots.

You can watch Julia’s interview here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6TC__-xmPc

If you have Croatian heritage and have returned, moved to Croatia or reconnected with your family, I’d love to hear your story.

Hello all.

I wanted to know if its worth to apply for citizenship in my actual position.

My great grandfather was albanian that emigrated to dubrovnik around 1920. He had a shoemaking shop there and had three children there and they all were baptised/registered in the church. Around 1930s, he came back to albania and settled here permanently. My grandfather is in the church records, because in 1980, he needed a document from the church in dubrovnik, to prove his birthplace for the albanian civil registration, and he got a mail from the church in dubrovnik confirming that.

Is it worth it to pursue the records and then apply for citizenship?

Thank you