They've Revoked My Romanian Birth Certificate and I'm Giving Up for Good

As you probably remember my docs were submitted to the Embassy of Romania in Peru at the end of October 2013. I was told it would be 3-4 weeks. So at the end of November, they asked for a link between my maiden name and married name and said it would be a little while longer. But their hands were tied, it was up to Bucharest to do what they had to do.

I thought that I'd hear something by January. I just received a long email from the embassy quoting laws, which are just letters and numbers to me. The long and short of it is that they've cancelled my birth certificate, so now I have nothing. They've cited that article 40 alin (2) of Law no. 119/1996 wasn't respected when I got my birth certificate (since the consul of Peru gave me my birth certificate, I completely blame him for not respecting the laws). According to article 57 of law no. 119/1996 and article 127 about civil status documents approved by government decision no. 64/2011 they've decided to revoke my birth certificate.

My mom still has a piece of paper from the Ministry of Internal Affairs stating that she's Romanian, however, the Chicago consulate has refused to register her marriage stating that she needs a passport and refuses to give her a passport stating that she needs to have her marriage registered. And let's not even get started with the fact that she has no CNP because they didn't exist when she was born.

I've been trying to get Romanian citizenship for years and years now. I've run into brick walls and kept going, but I think this is the straw that broke the camel's back. It's time to say this is enough and move on. For some reason it's simply not meant to be.

Ironically, this Saturday I received an email from someone who came across this blog and he wrote this, "May I ask you why you want to learn a useless language and get a useless citizenship from a f***ed up country like Romania ...I don't know what to do next in order to get out of this cursed place as soon as possible."

In some ways that sums up how I feel right now. Romanians have been leaving Romania in droves now that they're in the EU. How they got into the EU I don't know, though from talking to Romanians it seems to be a well-known secret that they outright lied about various issues in order to get in. The Romanian government sure has a long, long way to go to reach EU standards. The low salaries, high cost of living, and rampant bribery all add to the problem. Everyone in my family was asking me, "But Sharon, WHY do you want to become a Romanian citizenship?" There are many reasons why I want to get Romanian citizenship. However, I'm starting to see more and more problems with how the country is run.

I'm trying to get in, while many Romanians want out. Enough is enough, if you want to move on you simply have to move on.

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

Why I'm Still Trying to Get Romanian Citizenship

Last year I wrote a couple of reasons that explained why I still want to get Romanian citizenship. Here are the four reasons I wrote about in January 2012.

1. First, I honestly feel that it's owed to our family. I think it would be a form of retribution and vindication for what was done.
2. Second, we've been at it so long, it would be horrible to give up now.
3. Third, I believe there's real potential for myself and my husband in Romania.
4. Fourth, it would give our daughter the chance to live, work, or study in Europe if she wanted to.

I have to admit that these reasons have changed a bit. I'm at the point that it would be easiest to give up. In January 2006 I decided to give up and in April 2012 I also felt like it would be impossible to ever get Romanian citizenship. It seems like for every one step I take forward I'm pushed back ten steps. I do, however, believe that the people at the Romanian Embassy in Seoul want to see me succeed. That's half the battle, getting people on your side.

I still believe in reasons 1 and 2. My mother's citizenship was re-instated back in the 1990s. Both her parents have passed away now and would not be able to see me get citizenship, something I believe our family is owed. However, it's never too late to say sorry and this act would make up for a lot of things.

On to the 3rd reason. I do still believe that there is potential in Romania. I could teach English, educate expats about giving birth in Romania, possibly even buy property and rent it out. The language shouldn't be too much of a struggle since I can already read a great deal and it's similar to Spanish.To be honest though, this is the weakest reason I have for continuing.

Reason 4 is what is really urging me on. I think that if my mom had known what I know now, she might have gotten a Romanian passport, thus making it much easier for me. But, alas, internet wasn't available when she was growing up and misinformation abound. For example, she believed that she could only be an American citizen and couldn't hold dual nationality. I know that if I give up now, it'll be all but impossible for my daughter to become Romanian through my mother. (Though I suppose there's nothing stopping her from moving to Romania and getting it through marriage or residency.)

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

Power of attorneys are no longer valid in Romania

My lawyer has been extremely helpful over the years and if it not for him and his wife I would have given up long ago. This spring the Romanian government, made it virtually impossible for people to get anything done using a POA (Power of Attorney). This means that you need to deal with the nearest Romanian embassy or consulate or go to Romania and deal with the authorities in person. Due to this my lawyer will not be accepting any new citizenship cases. In addition, it means that he will be sending me all my documents, which are in a folder about 3 inches thick, for me to apply for my CNP, Passport, and ID card here in Korea.

I called the embassy and there's a catch 22 with all the documents. Nonetheless I'm going to try. According to my lawyer, I'll need to get my marriage cert and possibly my mom's marriage cert from the embassy. I'm hoping that I won't need my parents'. I didn't when I got my birth cert. For some reason I also have to get permission from my mom to apply to become Romanian. Why, I don't know. I'm not underage. With those docs, along with proof that my mom's a citizen and my birth cert I should be able to get the CNP. If I can, then everything else should fall into place. It sounds nice and easy, but it rarely is. I'm always missing one or two docs that are impossible to get.

Although the embassy was very nice, it says I need a lot of other things online, but that seems to be very different from my case. Rather it's more for Romanians who for some reason have let their Romanian passports expire while abroad and are unable to renew them there and therefore cannot leave the country to go to Romania in order to renew them. Or children of Romanian couples who came to live abroad and never registered their children as Romanians. The couples would have had an address in Romania, whereas I don't. It's all very confusing. My case is very different:

• I don't have immediate family in Romania.
• I was never a Romanian resident.
• I've never had a Romanian passport.
• I have to get a CNP before I can get a passport.
• I can't get a passport without a CNP.

There doesn't seem to be anything on the MAE for my case.


If push comes to shove and it doesn't work, I'm entertaining the idea of moving to Romania for a year or so in order to get everything done. I won't save as much as Korea, but I can already read and it shouldn't take too long to learn how to speak Romanian. Plus, I have a list of schools and TEFL institutes that I could work at. Though I'm risking moving to Romania and being told that I can't get the documents in Romania and that I have to go to the US, Korea, Peru, etc in order to get them. It's so much easier to fob people off than to actually help them.

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

Changing the Earth's Rotation

I just got this email from a reader of this blog.

"Romania is unbelievable. What a completely screwed up system. Altering the Earth's rotation seems to be an easier job than getting citizenship in Romania. Don't know what to say."

That kind of sums up how I feel right now.

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

I'm giving up

Well, the bureaucracy is impossible. After a year and a half of trying, I'm giving up. This is an email from my mom.

"Talked to the R consulate today at length. They can't find the marriage certificate nor the money order translation payment. Turns out they don't do translations at all. I would need to have it translated - then they would legalize the translation. - Now they tell me. Besides they will only accept an offical document from the county in which I was married. Hurddle #1 - I would need to change my name in the county.

I exited Rom on a stateless passport,plus I was only 1 1/2.

We don't have my Dad's passport - only his exit papers. He is not alive. So we can't prove that he did not denounce his R citizenship upon leaving - we have no papers.

I would need to reestablish citizenship claim - which makes no sense because I never denounced anything only being 1 1/2. This needs to be done through a lawyer in Rom.

I don't have residency in Rom - another big demerit.

I don't speak the language (this seems to be a deciding factor) They claim that only people who speak can truely be Rom. (Also said that it is a U.S. requirement to speak English EVEN IF YOU WERE BORN HERE, to maintain your citizenship - bunch of malarky). I knew that no matter what I said would not get through after that statement. The Rom mindset is ALWAYS correct, no matter how obsurd it is.

I explained to them why I wanted I wanted the passport - for you to establish a tie through blood.

Well, the upshot of the matter is that they will not grant me a passport under any circumstance because of all the above reasons. I need to hire a Romanian Lawyer in Romania to sift through everything to get proof. The birth certificate is simply not enough - I need more than one piece of paper to get a passport. I know they say that you can be a Rom if born there, but when push comes to shove it is a different story, being born there is not enough. By the time all this would be done you could probably establish your own citizenship through resedency in another country. Understanding how R's work especially lawyers - I have a feeling this would get dragged out until eternity with a constant flow of money going there, because it is assumed everyone in America has money to burn.

I don't know if there is anything else I can do - I don't think I can talk to the R consulate here anymore - they now know me and the circumstances. The other consulates always refer me to the one here.

I truely believe that because they changed government so many times it is not possible to do any changes from one ruler to another. This only brings back memories of what it was like to deal with the Rom mindset while I was growing up. Their logic makes no sense whatsoever - because it isn't logic. I can't get a clear cut-and-dry answer to this. I think that the only way to do this is through a lawyer - I've
already spent about 300 for nothing it seems.

I'm very angry and frustrated. No wonder they can't keep people in the country - they won't let anyone in either."

So they won. I've given up.

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