Avocat Ramona Pavel

How do I acquire Romanian citizenship?

Depending on the individual’s motives, we assist our clients in obtaining Romanian citizenship, while representing Romanian citizens who wish to renounce Romanian citizenship before the Romanian National Authority.

In addition to the classic clients who wish to acquire Romanian citizenship (Moldavian and Ukrainian citizens) and foreigners who are citizens of third countries (who have been living in Romania for a long time, are married to Romanian citizens etc.), after Brexit we find ourselves in a situation where many Romanian citizens either have dual citizenship (Romanian and U.K.), or are married to British citizens, and the resulting children are only citizens of the United Kingdom, want to renew their Romanian civil status documents, request the acquisition of Romanian citizenship for their minor children, due to the fact that Romania is a member of the European Union.

Also, Romanians in the Diaspora whose children have Romanian citizenship can study in Romania at state universities without paying tuition fees, a facility offered by the Romanian state in order to integrate the Diaspora population.

Clients ask us the same question: if we can represent them so that their presence is not necessary when submitting the file for acquiring Romanian citizenship at the A.N.C. The answer is YES, BUT ONLY FOR BECAUSE OF REASONABLE REASONS, meaning that either the diplomatic mission of the state where the petitioner is domiciled is closed, or it is impossible for the petitioner to be present, thus demonstrated by documents, A.N.C. examines each request of this kind with utmost care.

Since the file to be submitted to A.N.C. must contain a series of documents issued by the Romanian state bodies, civil status documents transcribed in the Romanian civil status registers, etc., our office has the material and territorial competence throughout Romania to obtain all the documents necessary for the submission of the file for acquiring Romanian citizenship.

Another frequent question is the deadline for the settlement of the file. As is known, the National Agency for Citizenship processes the files extremely slowly, so an application can take around 2 years or more. However, if within 6 months from the date of registration of the file it has not been completed, we apply to the court for an order to the NCA to settle the file with priority for clients who want to speed up the settlement.