FAQ: Are you done yet?

Question
Sounds like you are the verge of completing the (lengthy) process you are already in the midst of to obtain a Romanian passport. Considering that you already have your Romanian birth certificate (something that can only be issued to a Romanian citizen [if the person was born outside Romania]), you should be able to complete your original process much quicker than this new idea. So, are you almost done?

Answers
You'd think that with the birth cert I could easily get my passport, right? Nope, the counsel in at the Romanian embassy in Lima, Peru, didn't give me a Romanian ID number. So the people at the Romanian embassy in Seoul, Korea, couldn't find my name.

And then there the Catch 22 of not getting a passport without a marriage cert and not getting a marriage cert without a passport. Basically, I'm in the same situation that my mom was in years ago when we went to the Chicago consulate. I've emailed my lawyer and am waiting to hear back from him.

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Moldovans get Romanian citizenship

I was given an article about Moldovans being given Romanian citizenship. I was told yesterday that the government of Romania is actually actively trying to get citizens of Moldova to become citizens of Romania. The informant told me nearly the whole population of Moldova qualifies for Romanian citizenship since nearly all of them had ancestors who were Romanians before the war.

I was told this by a Moldovan who is now in the process of getting Romanian citizenship and he says the new law in Romania says it must take no longer than six months to process applications.
Apparently it is rather easy to get a Moldovan passport and once you have it, you can then get Romanian citizenship very easily. Unfortunately, I don't qualify for a Moldovan passport.

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FAQ: Why is it taking so long?

Question
Hi naturegirl321 (again),

I assume you are still too busy to have completed this? (BTW, the fact that you now have your Romanian birth certificate means they officially recognize you as a citizen. So the hard part is over, you just need to finalize the paperwork formalities.)

Anyways, I'm researching the same issue you had with your mother changing her name after she came to the U.S. What document(s) did your mother have to submit to the Romanian consulate to change her name in Romania? Was it just her U.S. naturalization certificate, or did they need anything else as well? If so, what else? And did they need her original U.S. naturalization certificate or just a photocopy? Do they also require copies (or originals) of your and/or your mother's photo ID card (i.e. U.S. Driver License or U.S. Passport)?

And one thing I didn't get clearly from your post, was why your mother had to change her name on her U.S. Marriage certificate, if she was already going to just change her name in Romania to match her U.S. name?

Thanks again!

Answer
Not too busy, just moved to Korea. I need to get my marriage cert legalised by the Romanian embassy in Lima. My husband has been calling for over a month and they haven't picked up the phone.

Also, here's the catch.
In order to get my RO marriage cert, I need a valid RO passport.
In order to get a RO passport, I need a RO marriage cert.

I don't really think that the birth cert proves citizenship. I think the passport does. And I still don't have that. My mom has her birth cert and was denied a passport. They told her the same thing at the Chicago consulate, no passport they won't issue her with a marriage cert. No marriage cert, they won't issue her with a passport. It's a catch 22. I have a lawyer working on it.

Plus, neither of us speaks Romanian. I can read and understand a bit though.

Timewise for my mother's name change in Romania, it took 9 months. For her name change on my birth cert and her marriage cert it was 7 months.

She didn't submit antyning to the consulate. They refused to help her at the Chicago consulate. She had to get her cousin in Romania to help. She had to give a power of attorney and her old birth cert as far as I know, as well as her US naturalisation cert. I believe she just sent regular photocopies.

My mother had to change her name because she had only used TWO of her THREE names. She had TWO names on my birth cert and my marriage cert. And THREE on her naturalisation cert. And the THREE on her naturalisation cert weren't the same THREE on her Romanian birth cert. ONE name had been Americanized.

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FAQ: What does your timeline for Romanian citizenship look like?

Question
Hi naturegirl321,

Thank you for posting the looong multi-year process you've gone through to document your Romanian citizenship. It is a MAJOR help to anyone considering going through the same steps. (And this thread is one of the top Google results when searching to get Romanian citizenship through parents/grandparents.) And congratulations on getting your Romanian birth certificate. It sure sounds like they finally recognized (admitted may be a better word!) you are a Romanian citizen by birth.

Do you think the major complication in your process was the differences in how your mother's name was recorded in Romania and in America? If you didn't have that problem (meaning if your mother's name had been registered exactly the same in both the United States and in Romania) how long do you think the process would have then taken you?

Also, how long did it take to get a certified copy (I assume it was certified?) of your mother's Romanian birth certificate, once she requested it? (I think you mentioned she requested it through the consulate in the U.S.)

If not for the name change complication, do you think this process could have been done without a Romanian lawyer? How long did it take to update your mother's name registration? (I got the impression the name correction was done on her U.S. documents, rather than on her Romanian papers?)

And how much did you have to spend for all the lawyers services? Can you mention who the lawyer is and if they are quick and efficient? Also, how much did the whole process cost you in dollars so far from beginning to end?

And on what basis did the Romanians finally accept that your parent/grandparents citizenship was valid? (Based on the obstacles you mentioned throughout the thread.)

I think the most important piece of information you can share with us, is a list of all the documents you needed to complete this whole process. i.e. Your mothers birth certificate, marriage certificate, any old Romanian or American passport or exit papers, your birth and marriage certificate, certified translations of all the above?, Hague Apostil on all of them?, police (criminal) reports of you or your mother in either Romania or the US?, or any other documents the Romanians demanded to complete this.

Good Luck! (You truly deserve it after putting in almost 6 years of work -- which I'm sure was very time consuming for you -- to get this working correctly!)

Answer
Yep, I'm happily amazed that it's first on google.

Problem that I have now: I'm married and in order to get a Romanian marriage cert, I need a valid Romanian passport. In order to get a valid Romanian passport, I need a Romanian marriage cert. I don't have either.

The three complications that we had according to the Chicago consulate.
1. My mom changed her name
2. My mom doesn't speak Romanian.
3. My mom has never been back to Romania.

The name change alone took a couple of years, We had to change her birth cert, which took 9 months. She actually has a new Romanian birth cert to match her US naturalisation papers. Her US naturalisation papers have NOT changed. It took about 7 month to change my birth cert and her marriage cert. She doesn't have a Romanian marriage cert or valid Romanian passport. She and my aunt shared one with their mom, and that was many, many years ago. I don't have a certified copy of my mom's birth cert. Just her orginal and mine.

With the name complication, I don't know. When I got my Romanian birth cert from the embassy in Lima, I just had to fill out three papers in Romanian, show my mom's birth cert and my birth cert. That was it. Took about 2 weeks to process that.

THAT being said, we had been denied at the Chicago consulate multiple times. I think it depends where you go. The lawyer has been paid for by my mom, but the total cost will be less than $2000 if everything goes smoothly. As for my lawyer being quick and efficient, HE is, but Romanian paperwork and bueracracy IS slow and painful, so it's not his fault.

Other costs
my mom's new birth cert $100
My new birth cert $60
Notarising my birth cert $25
Translation and application for my Romanian birth cert $200

The basis on which they gave me a Romanian birth cert was because my mom was born in Romania. They didn't, like Chicago, say that I couldn't get it because my mom hadn't been to Romania in years or didn't speak Romanian; because that doesn't matter. My mom wasn't even WITH me when I applied and I didn't show her old passport either.

Documents vary, but you'll need
Romanian parent's birth cert
Your birth cert (with Hague apostille)
Application papers
birth cert must be translated, the embassy does that.

That's it. My mom's marriage cert wasn't needed. Nor was mine. I will, however, need my marriage cert to get the passport. My lawyer and I are taking a break now and going to start trying for the passport in the summer. I just moved to Korea and we both have had a lot on our plate.

But the most important thing to remember is that different embassies ask for different things. We spent a couple of YEARS getting stuff that the Chicago consulate wanted, only to be we needed more documents and then since my mom hasn't been back to Romania and doesn't speak Romanian that she can't be Romanian. The Chicago consulate kept giving us the runaround.

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Got my Romanian birth cert

I actually got my birth cert last month in January, but I haven't posted for a while since I've moved twice internationally in two months. In January I moved from Peru to the US where I spent about a month with my family and dragged my massive suitcase, big backpack, and carry-on with me. And then in February I moved to Korea, and dragged the same stuff with me minus some paperwork like tax stuff and photo albums, with me.

Here's what happened in January 2010
Ok, so good news. Kind of. The counsel got back to Peru so I applied and got my Romanian birth cert! Yea! So now, I need to register my marriage. Of course, the embassy was closed for another couple of weeks due to updating their computer system. Now they're open and I've left Peru. I'm moving back to Korea. I'm a bit wary about the CNP. There is none. When I asked the counsel he said it wasn't important.

So just great. I have, however, gotten an official translation of my marriage cert by a translator in Romania.

Two things have to be done.
1. Register my marriage. (in order to do that, I need a valid Ro passport)
2. Get a Romanian passport (in order to do that, I need to have my marriage cert registered)

Am I the only one that sees the illogical situation? It's a Catch-22.

I've contact my lawyer, who says he will see what he can do. Right now, I'm busy with moving back to Korea and my new job and he's busy as well, so we're just going to wait until summer and take it from there.

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

Disclaimer:

• Please join my Patreon page
• University of Toronto's Online TEFL Course