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.

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FAQ: Registering your marriage with Romania

Question
What if you don't inform them of your being married, request the passport under your maiden name, and then once you have the passport you can let them know you are married and have a new name (if you even want to bother at that point)?

Answer
No can do. I have to show current documentation, which would be my US passport, which has my married name.

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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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