Question: What are the necessary steps for obtaining Romanian citizenship?
Answer: In order to be granted Romanian citizenship, an applicant must complete the steps presented below by our lawyers in Romania, depending on the case:
A. If you plan to migrate to Romania by obtaining or regaining the Romanian citizenship there are several things you should know.
Regaining Romanian citizenship can be a subject of interest for those Romanian citizens who had lost their citizenship for reasons beyond their control, or it has been waived without their consent.
The same situation is applicable as well to their descendants up to grade three, who can regain it or opt for the situation in which they will be granted the Romanian citizenship, while maintaining, at the same time, a foreign citizenship and a home address in Romania or abroad. This can happen if the applicant fulfills the following conditions:
a) The applicant proves through his/her behavior, actions and attitude loyalty towards the Romanian state that (s)he does not do or support actions against the state order or national security and declares that he/she has not done so in the past either.
The applicant has 60 days for providing the Commission of Citizenship with evidence proving that there were no actions taken against national Romanian law and security, that there is no conviction instance involved from the applicant’s part (in Romania or abroad).
The conviction can be understood as a detriment to the application itself.
The following link includes the needed documents, as stipulated by the National Authority for Citizenship: http://cetatenie.just.ro/index.php/en/.
The documents include an overview of Romanian immigration rules. Our Romanian lawyers can help you with more information.
b) The applicant is at least 18 years old.
c) The applicant can prove that in Romania (s)he has legal opportunities for a decent living under the legal conditions regarding foreigners’ legislation.
There is a 3-day term for the President of the National Authority for Citizenship to deliver the final decision regarding regaining or granting the citizenship. This order shall be formally transmitted to the applicant within this interval.
B. The process of obtaining Romanian citizenship by a person without citizenship, or a foreign citizen, under the Romanian immigration policy, can be done if the applicant fulfills the following conditions presented below by our lawyers in Romania:
- a) Was born, and is living on Romanian territory at the date of request or, if (s)he wasn’t born in Romania, (s)he has been living in Romania according to the Romanian laws for at least 8 years, or in case (s)he is married and living with a Romanian citizen for at least 5 years since the date of marriage.
- b) The applicant proves by his/her behavior, actions and attitude, loyalty towards the Romanian state, the applicant does not do or support actions against state order or national security and declares that he/she has not done so in the past either; the experts at our law firm in Romania can help with details about this requirement.
- c) The applicant is at least 18 years old.
- d) The applicant can prove that in Romania (s)he has legal opportunities for a decent living under the legal conditions regarding foreigners’ legislation.
- e) The applicant is well known as having a good behavior, has not been convicted in the country or abroad for any offense that would make him/her unworthy of being a Romanian citizen.
- f) The applicant can speak Romanian and has a minimum knowledge about the Romanian culture and civilization in order to become easily integrated into the social life.
- g) The applicant knows the Romanian Constitution and the Romanian national anthem.
The terms from point a) can be reduced to half the stated interval of time in the following situations:
- a) The applicant is a well-known personality abroad
- b) The applicant is the citizen of an E.U. member country
- c) The applicant has gained the refugee status according to acting legislation
- d) The applicant had invested over 5.000.000 EUR in Romania.
Should you need more details, please reach out to our Romanian law firm.
Question: What is the application procedure for obtaining Romanian citizenship? Can your lawyers in Romania help?
Answer: The application for obtaining Romanian citizenship must be submitted to the Commission for Citizenship, where the applicant must submit it in person, or, in extraordinary cases it must be filed as a mandated document which is authenticated by the Ministry of Justice, Office of Citizenship, and must be accompanied by documents which testify that the applicant fulfills all the above-mentioned conditions.
The applicant must submit the document in person at the National Authority for Citizenship headquarters in Bucharest.
If this is not possible, because of justified reasons, someone else may submit the application for him under a formal mandate, based on a written approval of the Authority. One of our attorneys in Romania can act on your behalf in this situation.
In the case of the applicants who have been abusively deprived of their Romanian citizenship in the past and currently reside abroad, they can submit the application for regaining the Romanian citizenship, accompanied by documents which testify that the applicant fulfills all the above-mentioned requests, to competent Romanian Diplomatic Missions or Consulates.
The applications and all the supporting documents will be automatically redirected to the Commission for citizenship.
Question: What is the usual time span for obtaining the Romanian citizenship?
Answer: The process of obtaining the Romanian citizenship will take around 1 year.
The process tends to become a hassle due to local bureaucracy and it gets even more difficult if the applicants don’t speak Romanian fluently.
Nevertheless, we are here to help, as we recommend working with a specialized lawyer who can assist you in gaining or regaining your Romanian citizenship.
You can reach out to the experts at our law firm in Romania for further information regarding Romanian citizens’ rights and the Romanian passport.
Question: What happens if the application has been turned down by the Authority?
If the National Authority for Citizenship turned down the application for Romanian citizenship, the applicant may appeal against the decision within 15 days from the date he was notified on the decision, at Administrative Contentious Section of the Bucharest Tribunal.
Darie & Manea Law Firm provides legal assistance and consulting to clients who need to apply for a Romanian passport or Romanian citizenship. We also handle cases which imply acquiring of birth, marriage or death certificates, Romania immigration, as well as other official papers from all over Romania. And our Romanian lawyers would be happy to offer assistance and representation in completing the files or picking them up.
For a free case consultation, please do not hesitate to contact our Romanian lawyers.