The 2025 Romanian citizenship law brings a major negative development for any potential citizenship by descent application. Here is the outline of the changes.
Note in particular that citizenship by application is not a right, it is purely discretionary. This is explained below at point D.
A. Romanian language requirement
Every applicant is obliged to speak Romanian. In most cases, this must be proven with a certificate of language competency. However, even if you are exempt from presenting a certificate, you still have to actually speak Romanian, when making the request, and taking the Oath.
Any doubt as to your ability to speak Romanian can be established in person upon direct observation by the Consul, and their decision is determinative, to your detriment.
What language certificates are accepted as proof of proficiency?
The following language certificates are accepted as proof of Romanian language proficiency:
a. language competency certificate issued by any university in Romania, that offers the "preparatory year of Romanian language" course. The list as published in the Official Gazette can be downloaded below
b. language competency certificate issued by the Romanian Language Institute;
c. language competency certificate issued by the Romanian Cultural Institute and its branches abroad;
All of the above need to be for language level B1 in the European reference classification! This means medium-advanced.
d. authentic copy of the grades, issued by any high school or university, from your country of citizenship or residence, which proves at least 3 years of study in the Romanian language.
Beware! If you are planning to take online courses to meet this requirement, make sure that they can issue an official certificate, and that they are accredited by your country, so that you can put an Apostille on that certificate. This is very tricky, as a large majority of online language courses are not accredited.
Who is exempt from presenting the proof of language proficiency?
The following applicants are exempt from presenting proof of Romanian language proficiency, when applying for Romanian citizenship. They are not exempt from actually speaking Romanian!
a. original emigrants who were Romanian citizens before.
If you are an original emigrant, or your emigrant ancestor is still alive, we suggest inquiring about direct citizenship, because you have a chance to avoid this entire procedure;
b. minor applicants, i.e. under 18 years old at the time the application is submitted.
If the child turns 18 before citizenship is granted, they will have to take the Oath in Romanian, but no need for the language diploma;
c. elderly applicants, 65 years of age or older, at the time of submitting the application;
d. persons who are of reduced competence, such as adults placed under guardianship, tutorship or similar schemes, as long as they are proven with appropriate court documents.
B. Document freshness and authentication requirement:
Every document presented to the Consulate or National Citizenship Authority needs to meet special, extended, authentication and freshness provisions, in spite of existing international treaties to which Romania is a party, that would otherwise exempt it from the requirement, for example, of Apostille.
How old must the documents be?
a. Civil status documents, which means birth, marriage and death certificates, for yourself, as well as for your ascendents, is proven with certificates that must be 2 years old at most, on the day the application is submitted.
This means that you would likely have to request again all of the certificates in your family tree, and cannot use old ones in your archives.
b. Criminal records must be no more than 3 months old.
This means that you should wait to request criminal records until the entire rest of the application file is complete.
c. Educational records can be the original ones you have, regardless of age or time passed.
What authentication requirements do the documents need to meet?
a. Romanian documents need to be issued by a state authority. For example, you cannot use birth records found in digital archives. You must request the actual, official, copy of the record.
We can help with Romanian civil status documents here.
b. Foreign documents need to have an Apostille, even if they would otherwise be exempt (such as those issued in the European Union).
Information about where to get Apostilles on non-Romanian documents can be found here.
c. The only excepted documents are multilingual extracts of birth, marriage and death, issued according to the CIEC Convention 16. Here you will find the table of countries that issue such documents. If your country is not there, then you cannot benefit from this provision.
Note that, from the more usually requested countries, the US, Canada and Israel are not party to this Convention, so every document from there needs to have an Apostille. Türkiye is a party to this Convention, and we strongly recommend getting the family lists, as well as certificates, as multilingual extracts, to avoid extra translation costs as well.
C. Inquiries of the National Citizenship Authority
The National Citizenship Authority has been granted extensive powers to make inquiries on any aspect concerning an applicant. Any doubt regarding the applicant will be interpreted to the applicant's detriment. In particular, the following inquiries can be made:
Requesting confirmation of documents from foreign authorities
The NCA may request confirmation of any official document from abroad. If this confirmation is not forthcoming, your application will be rejected. This does not apply to refugees. However, even for other persons, this may create issues because foreign authorities are not necessarily very pro-active in answering such requests.
Hearing the applicant
The NCA may invite you personally for a hearing at any time. The hearing is done in Romanian, without interpreter. They can ask any questions.
Hearing any party that may provide further information
The NCA may invite to a hearing any party that could provide further information about the applicant, such as a parent. They can ask any questions.
D. Citizenship by application is not a right anymore. It is purely discretionary
According to the revised law, "there is no right to be granted citizenship by application", even if a person meets all of the requirements and procedural hurdles.
Further, "every doubt as to meeting the requirements shall be interpreted to the detriment of the applicant".
Therefore, citizenship by application has become a procedure that does not have a guaranteed outcome.
Furthermore, the consular authorities may ask for any document in support of your application, even those not immediately obvious (such as civil status documents, or language diplomas). You cannot refuse these requests, otherwise your application will be denied, or not even taken up.
This is why we cannot advise on citizenship by application anymore, since no legal argument can be brought against a discretionary state decision.
However, we strongly advised to contact us if you have a chance at Direct Citizenship. In particular, if your original emigrant ancestor is still alive, or if they are your parent and emigrated after 1949, do inquire now, before the state makes things even harder. We are here to salvage any potential client that can be considered already a citizen!
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