last update: August 2014
Since 1.7. 2013, Croatia has joined the EU, this means that now the effects of the Dublin regulation apply for Croatia also. According to the Dublin regulation, the country responsible for your asylum claim the first EU country in which you had the possibility to seek asylum. In practice this means that you might be returned back to Croatia from another EU country where you seek asylum if:
• your fingerprints were taken in Croatia (and stored on a common European database called EURODAC)
• you admit that you have been to, or traveled through, Croatia – even if you didn’t give your fingerprints
• there is any evidence (tickets, papers, products bought in Croatia etc.) that you have been to, or traveled through, Croatia
• it can be shown that you were previously issued a Croatian visa
• you tell the authorities that you wish to join your spouse, who is an asylum seeker or a refugee in Croatia.
So possible to be deported back to Croatia, if this was the first country you could have sought asylum in – if your finger-prints were taken after the 1.7.2013 !
There have been a few people who have been Dublin III deported back to Croatia, but for now it is difficult to tell how prevailing this practice is and which countries people most often get deported from.