According to the article 25 of the Berlin Treaty, it was decided that Austria-Hungary would occupy (besetzt) and administer (verwaltet) Bosnia and Herzegovina. This article did not define Bosnia and Herzegovina’s position in detail. Article 6 of the convention of April 21, 1879, between Austria-Hungary and Ottoman Empire, states that the question of inhabitants of Bosnia and Herzegovina residing or traveling outside of these provinces will be regulated later via special arrangement. (La question du traitement des habitants de la Bosnie et de l'Herzégovine séjoumant ou voyageant hors de ces provinces sera réglée ultérieurement par un arrangement spécial)

This, however, never happened and it was the reason why there was such confusion and ambiguity about who is responsible for B&H and in which way will they get passports.

Since provinces Bosnia and Herzegovina were corpus separatum in Austria-Hungary they were neither Ottoman, nor Austrian, nor Hungarian subjects. They had Landesangehörigkeit (national affiliation), but this was never clearly defined (at least until 1910).^1 Subjects from B&H had then three types of travel passes: for in-country (B&H) travel, for in-Monarchy travel, and for international travel. The first two were issued by districts (kotar) and their branches (ekspozitura), while international passes were issued only by the provincial government (Landesregierung) and by county district (Kreisgebiet) when there was an emergency.

There was also a concept of Heimatsrecht or as you can often find in documents Heimatszuständigkeit. This particularity of the Austrian legal system could be translated as "homeland affiliation". Person needed to have Landesangehörigkeit to have Heimatsrecht and it implied affiliation to only one municipal administration. So, a person could have it if they were born, if they live or if they acquired property or land (in which they live) in the municipality. Further, it could be acquired by living at a certain place continuously for 10 years and by all people which by decree of municipal representation are accepted into the municipality. If the person was without Heimatsrecht and wasn't paying taxes in the municipality they lived in they were known as "outsiders" and they weren't able to request/appeal/petition with the municipal administration. If a person would lose Heimatsrecht in the municipality in which they were directly paying taxes they were considered Gemeindegenossen and were eligible to vote.

1. The explanation can be found after the annexation of 1908. In the 1910 constitution (Landesstatut für Bosnien und Herzegowina von 1910) article 3 states that you can get Landesangehörige by 1. by lawful birth from the parent with landesangehörigen or by unlawful birth from the mother with landesangehörigen; 2. by father with landesangehörigen; 3. by marrying a man with landesangehörigen; 4. by the permanent placement of an Austrian or Hungarian citizen in public service in Bosnia and Herzegovina; 5. by award from the authorities. Landesangehörigkeiten acquired by the husband extends to his wife and his minor legal children.

There is a great article about it if you can read Bosnian, or Croatian, or Serbian (abstract in English) by Kasumović, Amila. “Zemaljska Pripadnost Stanovnika Bosne i Hercegovine u Prvim Godinama Austrougarske Uprave" (Landesangehörigkeit of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s People during the First Years of Austro-Hungarian Rule). Historijska Traganja, no. 06 (2010): 9–34.