Applying for Romanian citizenship by descent: in person in Romania or at a Romanian consulate

An application for Romanian citizenship by descent has to be submitted by the applicant in person. You do, however, have a choice of where to do it: at the National Citizenship Authority (ANC) in Romania, or at a Romanian diplomatic mission or consulate in the country where you live. Everything that comes before the filing, including establishing the basis of the claim, recovering records, translations, apostilles and the forms themselves, is done without you having to travel anywhere.

This point is worth clarifying early, because it affects how people plan. When the process is described as something that can be done “online”, that description applies to the preparation. The filing itself still requires you to be present.

What is prepared without you

The stages that take the longest are also the ones that need the least of your involvement.

Establishing whether your ancestry qualifies requires names, places and approximate dates, which can be discussed in a conversation without any travel. Recovering the records that prove the ancestry means writing to registries and archives in Ukraine, Moldova or Romania, in the language each of them works in, and knowing which document each one is able to issue. This correspondence is where most of the months go, and it is handled at a distance. How these records work, and what other documents exist when a birth certificate cannot be found, is explained in where an ancestor’s records are kept.

The translations by a sworn translator, the apostilles, the order in which documents have to be certified, and the application forms completed with your details are all prepared before anyone books a ticket.

The Romanian language certificate is a separate track that runs in parallel. Applications under Articles 10 and 11 require Romanian at B1 level, descendants are not among those exempt, and the certificate has to be filed by March 2027. The details are in the language requirement and its deadline. Because examination sessions are booked in advance, it makes sense to include the exam in the plan from the first month.

Where can you submit the application?

At the ANC in Romania. The Autoritatea Națională pentru Cetățenie has its seat in Bucharest and territorial offices in Iași, Suceava and Galați. You attend in person, present your identification and submit the file yourself.

At a Romanian diplomatic mission or consulate. Applicants who live abroad can file the same application at a Romanian mission or consular office in their country of residence. The file does not remain at the consulate: once it has been accepted, it is sent to the Citizenship Commission at the ANC and examined in the ordinary way.

Both options are part of the standard procedure, and neither is a lesser alternative to the other. The choice between them depends on travel, timing and what the consulate’s calendar allows. Because calendars differ from one consulate to another and from season to season, the decision is usually made once a specific date is available.

No one can file the application on your behalf. It is submitted personally, because the authority takes the applicant’s fingerprints and photograph at submission. What can be arranged is where you file and who accompanies you.

When it makes sense for the lawyer to come to you

Some applicants are unable to fly, for example for medical reasons, because a visa will not arrive in time, or because of work or family commitments. Others could travel but would prefer not to spend the trip on administrative appointments.

In these cases the practice uses the consular route. The lawyer travels from Bucharest with the file fully assembled, meaning certified, translated and with the forms completed, and accompanies you to the filing at the consulate. All that is needed from you is your presence and your identity document. This service is arranged under a separate engagement and priced separately from the main work, because it involves separate work.

Two practical points apply here. First, the consular appointment depends on the consulate’s calendar, so it is requested early and the trip is planned around the date the consulate offers. Second, the trip is arranged only once the file is complete, because the purpose of having the lawyer present is to make sure that nothing is found to be missing at the consulate.

After approval: the oath is a separate appearance

Approval of the application is not the final step. Within one year of being notified of the order granting citizenship, you take the oath of allegiance (Article 20 of Law 21/1991 as amended by Law 14/2025). The law provides no extension.

Where you take the oath depends on your registered address. In Romania, it is taken at a formal session before the Minister of Justice or the President of the ANC. Abroad, it is taken before the head of the Romanian diplomatic mission or consular office in your country of residence. Applicants who live abroad may also take the oath in Romania, with the agreement of the consular representative.

This deadline is important to keep in mind. If it passes without the oath, the order ceases to have effect, which means the approval is lost and the way forward is a new application rather than an appeal.

How the work is organised

The work is arranged in two stages, in this order.

The first stage is handled by the support office. Your situation is reviewed, the basis of the claim is established, and the documents are recovered and assembled. This stage answers whether there is a case at all, and it is where most of the time is spent.

The second stage begins when the file is ready. At that point you sign an engagement with the Romanian citizenship lawyer, who handles the filing and represents you. The contract follows the review rather than preceding it, for the same reason that travel is booked last: each commitment is made once it is clear that the step ahead is needed.

This means that you do not need to decide today how you will travel. What you can do now is begin the part of the process that takes the longest.

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Send us what your family has, such as names, places, approximate dates and photographs of any documents that have survived, and we will tell you which records the case needs and what obtaining them costs. The choice between Bucharest and a consulate can be made later, when the file is nearly ready and the available dates are known.