Foreign person acquire the right to own property in the Federation BIH (FBIH) under the condition of reciprocity, except when the right is acquired by inheritance, unless otherwise provided by law or by international contracts. The list of countries where there is no reciprocity is published by the Federal Ministry of Justice, with the previously obtained opinion of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, every year by January 31st at the latest”, states Article 2 of the Law on Real Rights of FBiH.
The concept of reciprocity implies that foreigners in BiH have the same rights, as the state they come from, guarantees to BiH citizens. The reciprocity system is considered fair because it puts foreigners and BiH citizens in the same position.
According to the last available list on the website of Federal Ministry of Justice, citizens of the following countries may become owners of real estate in FBiH due to the existence of reciprocity: Andorra, Belgium, Montenegro, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Macedonia, Monaco, Norway, New Zealand, Germany, Serbia, Spain, Great Britain and Uzbekistan.
BiH has a reciprocity with a number of countries, but under special conditions, on the basis of which the scope and duration of ownership of real estate of BiH citizens in these countries and also foreigners from those states in FBiH is limited. This group of countries includes the following: Algeria, Austria, Australia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Georgia, Croatia, Iran, Iceland, Israel, Iodine, Kazakhstan, Cyprus, Hungary, Malaysia, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, USA , Syria, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan.
Ultimately, citizens of the following countries are not able to acquire ownership of real estate in FBiH as natural person because of the lack of reciprocity: Afghanistan, Armenia, Bahrain, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Slovenia and United Arab Emirates.