What does citizenship represent? 

Citizenship is the permanent political and legal link between a natural person and a certain state. This connection is expressed by the totality of the reciprocal rights and obligations between a person and the state of which he is a citizen and, moreover, it is a special legal connection, externally reflected, preserved and prolonged wherever the person is. Citizenship can be acquired mainly through birth or naturalization.

What does the naturalization mean? 

Naturalization most often occurs as a result of marriage between two people with different nationalities or a prolonged stay in a territory other than the state of origin. The citizenship of a state can be lost, according to the international practice of most states, by renunciation or withdrawal. Withdrawal is a “friendly form” of extinguishing the legal relationship established by citizenship between a person and a state. They have obtained citizenship fraudulently. Romanian law regulates the ways of losing Romanian citizenship by withdrawing it, by approving the renunciation of citizenship and in other cases expressly provided by law.

Acquisition of citizenship by naturalization is carried out only at the request of the person concerned and following an act of the authorities of the state that grants it, with the fulfillment of the conditions established by the laws of this state.

What are the conditions that must be met in Romania to obtain romanian citizenship by naturalization? 

According to Law 21/1991 on Romanian citizenship, Art. 8,

(1) The Romanian citizenship can be granted, upon request, to the stateless person or to the foreign citizen, if he / she meets the following conditions:

a) was born and resides, at the date of the application, on the territory of Romania or, although he was not born on this territory, resides in accordance with the law on the territory of the Romanian state for at least 8 years or, if he is married and coexists with a citizen Romanian, for at least 5 years from the date of marriage;

b) proves, through behavior, actions and attitude, loyalty to the Romanian state, does not take or support actions against the rule of law or national security and declares that he has not taken such actions in the past;

c) has reached the age of 18;

d) has provided in Romanialegalmeans for a decent existence, under the conditions established by the legislation regarding the aliens’ regime;

e) is known to be well behaved and has not been convicted in the country or abroad for a crime which makes him unworthy of being a Romanian citizen;

f) knows the Romanian language and possesses elementary notions of Romanian culture and civilization, to a sufficient extent to integrate in the social life;

g) knows the provisions of the Romanian Constitution and the national anthem

Cristina – Ioana Gavriliu

Legal Intern R&R Partners Bucharest

---

If you would like to address more questions or if you need a legal consultation, you can contact us at office@rrpb.ro or by accessing our site www.rrpb.ro for more information.

---

Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel where new and updated content is posted monthly on various current topics!

---

Keep up to date with our latest articles!

• Which are the rights and obligations of the spouses during the marriage?
• 5 Reasons you should do business in Romania
• The Rule of Law mechanism in the European Union 
• 5 differences between litigation and arbitration 

---