Romanian Citizenship by Descent

Romanian Direct Citizenship by descent

Updated guide as of 13 March 2025, including the rules established by Law 14/2025!

01

Who can benefit from Romanian citizenship services?

You can benefit from Romanian direct citizenship services from our office if:

You have been born in Romania and emigrated or were adopted out of Romania at any point in time; or
Have a parent who was a Romanian citizen at any point in their lifetime and is alive; or
Have a parent or grandparent (any one suffices) who was a Romanian citizen at any point in their lifetime, is not alive, provided they departed present-day Romania on or after 1949 and that their child is alive.

The above cases are the only ones who have a chance of Direct citizenship (i.e. being considered to have been born citizens), and the only ones we take anymore.

02

What types of citizenship by descent exist?

There are essentially two types of Romanian citizenship by descent:

A. Direct, when you are considered to already be a citizen.

B. By application, when you are entitled to citizenship, but do not yet have it.

03

Who can qualify for Direct citizenship?

You have a good chance of being already a citizen, in the following cases:

You have been born in Romania and emigrated or were adopted out of Romania at any point in time; or
Have a parent who was a Romanian citizen at any point in their lifetime and is alive; or
Have a parent or grandparent (any one suffices) who was a Romanian citizen at any point in their lifetime, is not alive, provided they departed present-day Romania on or after 1949; or
If your birth was registered in Romanian civil status registers, even if born abroad [i.e. through the consulate, very rare cases].

If you are found to be a Romanian citizen already, you do NOT need to speak Romanian!

Please note it is not possible to say from the start whether you are a citizen or not. Most of the time, preliminary checks have to be done before it can be determined whether you are a citizen, or you must apply.

04

What about citizenship by application?

If you are not found to be a citizen under the criteria at point 3, i.e. by direct citizenship, then you can apply for citizenship.

The application for citizenship is strictly personal, i.e. we cannot represent you, you will need to apply in person, and speak fluent Romanian.

It is 99% percent likely that you are NOT already a citizen, i.e. that you will have to learn Romanian, if you fall within one of these cases:

Have a parent or grandparent who lost citizenship in 1940 in North-Western Transylvania, when it was annexed by Hungary, and who did not return to Romania, provided that all their life path and name changes are perfectly documented [we can undertake this research at your risk for a fee]. This includes victims of the Holocaust from North-Western Transylvania, provided their life path and name changes are perfectly documented; or
Have a parent or grandparent who emigrated from Romania towards Turkiye, provided that they were born in present-day Romania, i.e. in Tulcea or Constanta counties, and not in Bulgaria (!) and provided that you have perfect documentation showing their original Romanian names [we can undertake a research for their birth records at your risk for a fee]; or
Have a parent or grandparent who was "repatriated" by the German authorities in the 1940s, as being of ethnic-German kin ("Volksdeutsch"), provided they were born in present-day Romania and that we find their case file in the EinwanderungsZentralStelle archive in Germany [we can undertake this research at your risk for a fee]; or
Have a parent or grandparent who emigrated to mandate Palestine, i.e. before 1948, provided that we find their record in the Naturalization files of Mandate Palestine [we can undertake this research at your risk for a fee]; or
Have a parent, grandparent or great-grandparent who was born in one of the following localities presently in Serbia: Gaiul Mare, Krivabara, Surian, Pardany and Modos / Jasa Tomic; or
Have a parent, grandparent or great-grandparent who was born between 1918 and 1940 in Northern Bukovina or the Bugeac (i.e. present-day Ukraine), provided that they then left directly to a foreign country (or remained in Ukraine), and did not move further East inside the USSR.

05

What services do we offer when taking on a case?

When we receive your case, we undertake the following services

A. Preliminary services:

1. E-mail consult. We clarify the plan of action, your goals, the time frame, and each step of the journey.

2. Advice for any necessary Power of Attorney.

3. Advice for any required documents from you.

This is always free!

B. Preparing Romanian documents:

4. Translation and legalization of your foreign documents. You will be using these whichever path you need to take for your citizenship by descent.

5. Romanian birth record or your ancestor. We work with other Romanian specialized legal providers to obtain the birth records of your ancestor, which is essential to any application. This is a new service. It is not possible for you to do so alone under normal circumstances.

6. Determining your chance of Direct citizenship. If you fall within one of the situations described at point 03 above, or in a few other special cases, you may have a chance at Direct citizenship. We determine your chance and if it is reasonably good, propose this path ahead of any other, so that you may access a Romanian passport faster.

7. If you are found to be a citizen already, we register your civil status records in Romania and you get a passport.

8. If your only path to citizenship is by application, then you will need to learn fluent Romanian, and we can only provide ancillary documentary services.

C. The result:

9. If you are already a citizen, the moment we have finished registering your vital records in Romania, we arrange your appointment for a Romanian passport.

10. If you need to apply for citizenship, we can provide basic advice and ancillary documentary services, but not assistance with the actual application, as this is not possible for us anymore.

Apply Now!

If you are interested in our services, do not hesitate to make a free inquiry now, by contacting us.