Who qualifies for Romanian citizenship by descent: territories, generations, articles 10 and 11

The short answer

You qualify if your ancestor was a Romanian citizen and lost that citizenship against their will — above all, residents of the territories Romania lost on 28 June 1940. Under article 11 of Law no. 21/1991 the right extends to descendants up to the third degree inclusive: children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren. What matters is not ethnicity and not a surname, but a chain of descent that can be reconstructed from documents linking you to someone who held Romanian citizenship.

Article 10 or article 11: the difference

In practice, applicants with Bessarabian and Bukovinian roots go under article 11 — it is the one that reaches the third generation. The article number also determines the list of documents and the queue: article 11 applications make up the bulk of ANC cases.

Which territories are meant

These are the lands that were part of Romania between the wars and were lost on 28 June 1940:

• Bessarabia — almost all of today’s Republic of Moldova, plus the Hotin county (the north of today’s Chernivtsi region of Ukraine) and Budjak — the Izmail and Cetatea Albă (Akkerman) counties, today the south of the Odesa region;
• Northern Bukovina — most of today’s Chernivtsi region;
• the Hertsa region — a small area in the east of the Chernivtsi region.

Put simply: if your ancestor was born, lived, married or was entered in the registers on the territory of today’s Moldova, the Chernivtsi region or the south of the Odesa region roughly between 1918 and 1940 — there is most likely a basis.

What counts as proof

The ANC does not take your word for it and does not assess how “Romanian” a surname sounds. Exactly two things have to be proved:

1. That your ancestor was a Romanian citizen. Usually this is a civil status record from the Romanian period: a birth, marriage or death entry made by the Romanian administration or the church between 1918 and 1940, or another document showing that they held Romanian citizenship.
2. That you are their descendant. An unbroken chain of records: your birth certificate, your parent’s birth certificate, your grandparent’s birth certificate and, where needed, marriage, divorce, death or name change records. Not a single gap.

The commission may request any additional documents, including those proving that the ancestor held Romanian citizenship in the first place.

Where people get it wrong

• “My surname is Romanian, so I must be entitled.” A surname gives you nothing. You need a record tying the ancestor to Romanian citizenship.
• “My great-grandfather lived in Romania, so as a great-grandchild I qualify.” Degrees are counted downwards from the former citizen: child — 1st, grandchild — 2nd, great-grandchild — 3rd. If the citizen was your great-great-grandfather, you are already outside article 11.
• “My grandfather was born in Chișinău in 1941 — that will do.” It will not: after 28 June 1940 the territory was no longer Romanian. Look for records of an earlier generation.
• “The record has not survived, so that is the end of it.” Not necessarily. Parish registers from the Romanian period have partly survived in the archives of Moldova, the Chernivtsi and Odesa regions and in Romanian archives. Not having a document in hand and there being no record in the archive are two different things.

Missing pieces are not a refusal

The most common thought at the start is: “I have no documents, so this is not for me.” In practice almost nobody has them — people have names, a town and approximate dates. From there the procedure takes over:

That is exactly what the case review is for: before you spend money on translations and apostilles, we tell you which route actually works for you.

What we take on

Checking the basis, archival searches along every line, restoring records, certificates for name discrepancies, assembling the file and support all the way to the oath. We start with a free check — six questions, the result on screen straight away.

Frequently asked questions

Does an ancestor on the mother’s side count? Yes, the line makes no difference. Documents are gathered along whichever branch provides the basis.

My parent already obtained Romanian citizenship — do I still go under article 11? No. If your parent became a citizen before you were born, you most likely acquire citizenship by birth, and the route is different — through transcription of records rather than a full file. If it was after, the procedure for children is simpler and cheaper than a full file.

Can I include my spouse? No. The right by descent is individual. A spouse applies on their own basis or through naturalisation.

What about minor children? They are included in the parent’s application. Notarised consent from both parents is required, and for children over 14 their own consent as well, certified by a notary or a consular officer.