FAQ: Name change

Question
Based on your early messages on this thread, it seems your mother was able to change her legal name in Romania without first obtaining a Romanian passport. Is there any reason you cannot do it the same way she did it?

Answer
I don't think so. Her name was changed becuase she was naturalised as a US citizen. She was also only 9 at the time and changed it because she didn't like it. I was an adult when I changed mine. My mom changed her name after she was Romanian. She was Romanian at birth. I changed my name after I became Romanian (since I just got my birth cert in early 2010, I guess that's when I "became" Romanian.

Question
I don't see why that should make a difference. Your mother changed her name as a child when she naturalized, and you changed your name as an adult when getting married. Nevertheless you both changed it outside Romania, and needed to get your foreign (meaning non-Romanian) name change recognized in Romania. Your mother got her name change recognized in Romania about 5 years ago (shortly after you started this thread) and did so without ever obtaining a Romanian passport.

All the Romanian government cares is that the name was changed outside Romania. How or when it was legally changed outside Romania would make no difference insofar as registering the name change with Romania. So I don't see why you shouldn't be able to have Romania register your name change any differently than your mother did.

Answer
I completely agree with you, however, the RO govt doesn't. I believe my mom had to change her stuff since she was a Romanian since birth. Anyways, the important thing is that she is still passport and not allowed to register her marriage in Romania by the Chicago consulate

The difference would be that she already had a Romanian passport. It wasn't valid, but anyways her application for a Romanian passport AND Romanian marriage cert was denied based on.
1. She didn't speak Romanian.
2. She hadn't lived there in decades.
3. She didn't have a valid marriage cert and couldn't get a passport.
4. She didn't have a valid passport and couldn't get a married cert.

It's not logical, I know. That that's the whole point; the system isn't logical.

Be sure to read about what has happened so far. You can find everything in the quick summary of dates.

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