On 12 March 2025, the Official Gazette published Law 14/2025 for the change and update of Law 21/1991 on Romanian citizenship, as well as other laws. This is a fundamental change in how Romanian citizenship by application works, which we will detail in a series of blog posts.
Here are the essential features, with links to the respective blog posts as we write them:
Citizenship by application becomes a major hurdle.
Among its requirements are fluent knowledge of the Romanian language, proven with a diploma; documents need to be fresh (less than 2 years old), meaning you need to collect fresh archival documents for the entire family tree; and it is a discretionary decision of the state, not a right of the applicant.
Citizenship for foreign spouses of Romanian citizens remains possible only if living together in Romania.
It remains possible for the spouse of a Romanian citizen, who would otherwise have no right to citizenship, to become a citizen if they live together inside Romania (effectively) for 5 years after the marriage. If living abroad, this is still not possible, regardless of the length of marriage. The normal naturalization procedure applies.
Direct citizenship remains possible and should be pursued sooner rather than later.
Direct citizenship means that you are considered to have been born a citizen, subject to your birth being registered in Romania. You do not need to learn Romanian in such a case. Please look at the citizenship by descent main page, and contact us if you have a chance at it, particularly if your original Romanian-born ancestor is still alive.
Existing citizenship applications are affected.
Please read this post about how your existing citizenship application (made as far back as 2020) is affected significantly by this law. An "existing citizenship application" is one that has been received by the consulate or National Citizenship Authority, but the Order granting citizenship has not yet been issued.
Requests made by the original emigrants now have priority over any others.
Citizenships already granted but where an ID or passport has not yet been issued have the obligation to request issuance of the passport or ID.
Read more about what to do after you have been granted citizenship here.
We are here to support anyone with a chance at Direct citizenship, as well as for any Romanian documents needed for individual, self-directed, applications.