Romanian citizenship by descent

Who qualifies for Romanian citizenship by descent?

Romania's citizenship law, Law 21/1991 (Legea 21/1991), allows citizenship to be restored under two articles. Which one applies depends on how the ancestor's citizenship was lost.

Article 11 covers people who were Romanian citizens and lost that citizenship for reasons not attributable to them, or had it taken without their will, and their descendants to the third degree: children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. This is the article for families from Bessarabia and northern Bukovina. Between 1918 and 1940 these lands were part of Romania. What gives the right is the ancestor's Romanian citizenship, and it is proved by a record made by the Romanian authorities of the time — a birth, marriage or death entry — not by the fact that the ancestor lived there. Those who held that citizenship lost it in 1940 without being asked. Today Bessarabia is largely the Republic of Moldova, with its southern part in Ukraine's Odesa region, and northern Bukovina is largely Ukraine's Chernivtsi region.

Article 10 covers former Romanian citizens who gave their citizenship up, most often by renouncing it as a condition of being allowed to leave the country, and their descendants to the second degree: children and grandchildren. It is usually the article for people born within Romania's present borders who emigrated to Israel, the United States, Canada or Australia, and for their families. Where the line between the two articles falls is explained in Article 10 or Article 11, and how to tell whether an ancestor held Romanian citizenship at all, in Was your grandparent a Romanian citizen?

Neither article requires you to live in Romania, and Romania allows dual citizenship, so you keep the citizenship you hold now. Both articles require a clean criminal record and, since Law 14/2025, a certificate of Romanian at B1 level: the language test is a required part of restoring citizenship, and descendants applying in their own right are not exempt. Who is exempt, and how the deadline of 15 March 2027 works, is set out in Romanian language requirement: B1.

Which documents does the application need?

The file has to prove two things: that your ancestor was a Romanian citizen, and that an unbroken line of births connects that person to you.

• Your own documents: passport, birth certificate, marriage certificate if your name has changed, and a criminal record certificate from your country of residence.
• A record for every link in the line: a birth record for each generation between you and the ancestor, and marriage and death records wherever a name changed or a person has died.
• Proof of the ancestor's citizenship: usually an entry made by the Romanian authorities of the time, such as a birth, marriage or death registered by a Romanian town hall between 1918 and 1940.
• The application and declarations on the authority's official forms, with proof that the fee has been paid.

Every foreign document needs an apostille and a certified translation into Romanian. The official list of documents is set by Order 85/2025 of the National Citizenship Authority (Autoritatea Națională pentru Cetățenie, ANC).

Why does each record need an extract from the register?

A certificate kept in the family shows that a record was made, sometimes decades ago. It does not show that the record still exists in the register today, or what it says now, after any later corrections. An extract issued from the register itself answers both questions, and with an apostille it can be checked by the authority that receives it. Since March 2026 Ukraine's apostille register shows a scan of the document each apostille is attached to, and in its 2026 requests for further documents ANC has asked for records issued from April 2026 with such an apostille.

For a recent entry, the extract comes from the civil registry office. For an ancestor who died long ago, the registry often no longer holds the book: in Ukraine, register books pass to the state archive after 75 years, and the archive issues an archival extract instead. For books kept by Romanian town halls before 1940, that extract is written in the language of the original entry, which is Romanian, so the authority reads the record itself rather than a summary of it. Where each family's records are held is explained in Ancestor records in Ukraine and Moldova.

How does the process work?

1. Archives and documents. We establish where the ancestor was born, which country held that place at the time, and which records the case needs. A representative on the spot requests them from registry offices and state archives in Ukraine and Moldova, under a power of attorney you sign where you live, and has them apostilled. Where names or dates differ between records, the differences are resolved through the records themselves rather than explained in a covering letter.

2. Translations. Each foreign document is translated into Romanian by a sworn translator, and the translations are certified.

3. The file and the filing. The file is assembled to the authority's official checklist and filed complete: every document on the list, except the language certificate, has to be in it on the day of filing, and an incomplete file is returned. If ANC later asks for further documents, they are submitted in answer to that request, within its four-month deadline. You file the application in person, at ANC in Bucharest or at a Romanian consulate in your country, together with everyone included in it, because fingerprints and a photograph are taken at submission. After filing, the lawyer conducts the case: follows it by its number, prepares the answer if ANC asks for further documents, and represents you in court if the application is refused. What the lawyer does at each stage is described on the Romanian citizenship lawyer page.

How long does it take?

The two parts of a case run on different clocks. Archives work to their own timetables, so we do not give a date for when records will arrive; before any work begins, we tell you which records the case needs and where they are held.

For the authority itself, ANC's own statistics for June 2025 show an average processing time of about 1.6 years for applications under Article 10 and about 3.3 years under Article 11. These are published averages for that period, not an estimate for any individual application: the time a particular file takes depends on the authority's workload when it is examined.

What do we do, and what do you do?

We find which institution holds each record and obtain the records in Ukraine and Moldova through a representative on the spot, under your power of attorney. We arrange the apostilles and translations, check that every record links to the next, assemble the file and prepare you for the filing appointment. After filing, the case is conducted by a lawyer of the Bucharest Bar (Baroul București).

You sign the power of attorney (in some families a living parent signs one as well), provide your own documents, obtain the B1 certificate, and attend the filing in person.

How is the estimate put together?

There is no single price for a case, because the work depends on the family line. Some lines close with a few records; others need several archives in different countries.

• Each record search is quoted before it starts, once the region and the archive are known.
• Archive work is paid whether or not the record is found: the archive charges for the search, not for the result.
• A preliminary conclusion on the case is given only once the complete set of documents along the line, from the ancestor to you, is in hand. Before that, any assessment would be a guess.
• The lawyer's stage is a separate engagement, agreed when the file is ready.

Common questions

Does it matter what nationality is written in my ancestor's documents?

No. The question is citizenship, not nationality. A record may describe a person as Jewish, Ukrainian, Russian or Bulgarian; what matters is whether they were a Romanian citizen at the time, and that is proved by records made by the Romanian authorities of the time, such as a birth, marriage or death entry.

Can a great-grandchild apply?

Under Article 11, yes. It covers descendants to the third degree, which includes great-grandchildren, and Law 14/2025 kept that reach. Article 10 covers descendants to the second degree: children and grandchildren.

Do I have to give up my current citizenship?

No. Romania allows dual citizenship, so you keep the citizenship you hold now. You also do not need to live in Romania, before or after the application.

Do I need to speak Romanian?

Yes. Since Law 14/2025, restoring citizenship under Articles 10 and 11 requires a certificate of Romanian at B1 level. Applicants aged 65 or over, former Romanian citizens themselves and children included in a parent's application are exempt; descendants applying in their own right are not. Until 15 March 2027 the certificate may be submitted after the application is filed, but no later than that date.

Can a lawyer or a relative file the application for me?

No. You file the application in person, at the National Citizenship Authority in Bucharest or at a Romanian consulate in your country, because the authority takes fingerprints and a photograph from each applicant at submission. Filing through a representative or under a power of attorney is not allowed. The lawyer takes over the case after it has been filed.

The registry says my grandfather's birth record does not exist. Is that the end?

Usually not. For an old entry the registry office often no longer holds the book: it has passed to the state archive, which issues an archival extract instead. If the entry really has been lost, marriage, death, military and census records can together establish the same facts. That takes longer, and it does not always succeed.

What happens if the application is refused?

A refusal can be challenged at the Bucharest Tribunal within 15 days of its communication, and the Tribunal's decision can be appealed to the Bucharest Court of Appeal. The lawyer reads the reasons for the refusal and represents you at both stages.