Romanian nationality law
Encyclopedia
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n Citizenship law. It is based on the social policy of jus sanguinis
Jus sanguinis
Ius sanguinis is a social policy by which citizenship is not determined by place of birth, but by having a parent who are citizens of the nation...
(or "right of blood"), by which nationality or citizenship is not determined by place of birth, but by having an ancestor who is a national or citizen of the state. It contrasts with jus soli
Jus soli
Jus soli , also known as birthright citizenship, is a right by which nationality or citizenship can be recognized to any individual born in the territory of the related state...
("right of soil"). It does contain an element of jus soli in respect to foundlings: foundlings who are found in Romania are considered Romanian citizens until proven otherwise.
The law
From Law 21, Art. 5. – The children born from Romanian citizens on Romanian territory are Romanian citizens.- Furthermore, Romanian citizens are also those:
-
- a) born on the Romanian territory, even if only one of the parents is a Romanian citizen;
-
- b) born abroad and both parents, or only one of them has a Romanian citizenship.
- The child found on Romanian territory is a Romanian citizen if none of the parents is known.
Romanian citizenship can also be acquired after 5 years of residence in the country and with a good knowledge of the Romanian language
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
and culture.
The consequences of naturalization and restoration of Romanian nationality
Art. 10 of the Romanian nationality law stipulates that "Romanian nationality can be granted to the person who lost this nationality and requests its restoration, keeping his/her foreign nationality..." But having in mind that certain countries do no allow for multiple citizenship or, in the case that they do allow it, they provide for automatic loss of their citizenship at obtaining the nationality of another country through a voluntary decision (free choice), the Romanian state cannot guarantee that the foreign citizen keeps his/her foreign citizenship when restoring his/her Romanian nationality. E.g. a Belgian subject who restored his/her Romanian nationality before 9 June 2007 has ceased to be a Belgian subject since restoring his/her Romanian citizenship. The same applies to a Dutch subject who restored his/her Romanian nationality before 1 April 2003, as well as for a Dutch subject who has restored his/her Romanian nationality after 1 April 2003, but does not fulfill at least one of the three exceptions from automatically losing his/her Dutch nationality when voluntarily obtaining another nationality. This does not constitute a fault of the Romanian state, since "according to the Romanian Constitution and Art. 1, paragraph 3 of Law No. 21 of 1991 with the subsequent changes and additions, republished, the nationals of Romania enjoy the protection of the Romanian state — such provisions do not mention any duty of the Romanian state in respect to former and/or future Romanian nationals".The same applies to people who get naturalized as Romanian nationals.