Preliminary Considerations

The residence permit is the official document certifying the right of the citizen from outside the European Union to establish his/her residence on the Romanian territory, with a validity of 5 years in case of a family member of a Romanian citizen and 1 or 2 years, in case of staying in Romania for other purposes provided by law.

Statutory Regulation

On a national level, these issues find their legal basis in the Emergency Ordinance 194/2002. According to art. 13 of this ordinance, foreigners have the legal obligation to declare to the territorial formation of the Romanian Immigration Office, which granted them the right of residence, any information regarding the changes in the personal situation, such as: change of name, citizenship, domicile or residence, conclusion, dissolution or annulment of marriage, birth of a child, death of a family member located in Romania. Moreover, they have the legal obligation to communicate any change regarding their employment status, as well as the extension of validity or exchange of the state border crossing document.

Therefore, the change of residence permit occurs in the following cases:

  1. Change of name
  2. Change of address
  3. Loss or destruction of the residence permit
  4. Extension of the residence permit

Required documents

In order to issue a new residence permit, the applicant must submit the same set of documents as when extending the right of residence, including:

  • passport, in original and copy
  • proof of legal ownership of the living space, in original and copy
  • the statement regarding the purpose of the stay
  • receipts attesting the payment of taxes and duties
  • medical examinations proving that the applicant does not suffer from any diseases that may endanger public health

The Authority will not issue this new residence permit instantly, but only after checking and processing all documents.

1. Change of name

This usually occurs by marriage and it is necessary to mention the chosen family name, which the spouses will have during the marriage[1]. Some possible hypotheses are the following: either one of the spouses takes the name of the other spouse, or they choose to bear the name of both of them.

Thus, in case of marriage, the first step is to register it, and the second is to change the passport, following a period of 30 days, in which the applicant can request a change of his/her residence permit. If no such request is made during this period, the person concerned may be fined on the date the right of residence is extended.

Therefore, even if the change of name appears on the marriage certificate, in this case, the next step is to change the passport. The need for this change stems from the fact that the residence permit is issued in accordance with the data on the applicant’s passport, not in accordance with the marriage certificate. Basically, instead of the mention attesting the quality of being a student/worker in Romania, the applicant for the residence permit will acquire the quality of a family member of a Romanian citizen, in case of concluding a marriage with a person with this citizenship.

2. Change of adress

In this case, the applicant has the same 30-day term after making the change of address in order to go to the competent public authority and register the change. It is important to note that evidence provided by the applicant must prove that the change of address is real, not fictitious. The regulations are different for EU and non-EU citizens, the latter having to provide the full documentation for the new residence, as it was submitted in the original residence registration.

The 30-day term is calculated starting with the date of the change of address, which means that there may be periods in which the applicant owns 2 houses. In this case, the date of termination of the initial contract is relevant.

3. Loss or destriction of the residence permit 

In each case, the applicant has a 48-hour term in order to notify this fact to the competent public authority.

The disadvantage undoubtedly stems from this extremely short period in which these documents must not only be collected, but also sent to the competent authority. Moreover, in this situation, the applicant will have to recreate the file necessary for granting the residence permit, which implicitly means the payment of all the paid taxes that were previously paid.

4. Extenction of the residence permit 

This request must be addressed to the competent authority at least 30 days before the expiry of the residence permit, which means that the procedure must be started in advance in order to gather all the necessary documents.

This term is important considering the possibility of a gap in the residence permit, in which case it will be necessary to resume the initial process of granting the residence permit in Romania.

 

Ana-Maria Ion

Legal Intern R&R Partners

Bibliography:

[1] Romanian Civile Code, article 281 (1)

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