Romanian citizenship through court

What a stalled case is

We call a case stalled when the DOSAR has been registered at ANC but no order — neither positive nor negative — has been issued within the period set by law.

The signs are clear and verifiable: more than two years have passed since the DOSAR was registered, the status on the cetatenie.just.ro portal does not change or shows only generic wording, and ANC answers direct enquiries with standard form replies.

A stalled case is not a refusal, not a loss of grounds, not an annulment of the filing. Legally the case exists and the applicant is in the queue. The problem is that the authority obliged to examine it is breaching its own deadlines.

Legal basis

Law 21/1991, as amended by Law 14/2025, sets the maximum period for ANC to examine a case at two years from the registration of the application, with a possible extension of no more than six months. In total — a maximum of two years and six months. Anything beyond that is a breach of the applicant’s rights.

The two-year period has applied since 15 March 2025 — the date Law 14/2025 entered into force (Article 15 of Law 21/1991). A transitional provision extends it to cases that were already under examination on that date.

Law 554/2004 gives the applicant the right to challenge a state authority’s inaction in the administrative court. Taken together, this means: an applicant whose case has not been examined within the deadline has every right to apply to Tribunal București seeking an order obliging ANC to issue a decision.

This is not a confrontation with the state but the use of a tool the state itself has provided. For ANC, the arrival of a claim often acts as a signal for accelerated examination.

When it makes sense to go to court

Not every protracted case is grounds for court. There are three conditions:

The procedure — 7 stages

From the first audit to monitoring the issue of the order. The client does not travel to Bucharest at any stage — the lawyer represents them under a power of attorney.

1. 01

   Case audit

   We request the DOSAR number, the filing date and a copy of the first page of the international passport. We look the case up on the ANC portal and verify the stage and the deadlines. The outcome is a legal opinion on the grounds for a claim.

2. 02

   Official enquiry to ANC

   A written enquiry about the stage of the case. The authority’s reply becomes part of the evidence — a standard form reply further confirms the inaction.

3. 03

   Preparing the claim

   A statement of claim with references to Law 21/1991 and Law 554/2004, a calculation of the breached deadlines and the evidence. The client signs a power of attorney.

4. 04

   Filing at Tribunal București

   Remotely, by the lawyer. The client does not need to fly to Bucharest.

5. 05

   Court proceedings

   From filing to the first hearing — several months. Only the lawyer attends the hearings. The first instance takes around a year.

6. 06

   A possible recurs by ANC

   A standard procedural stage that does not mean the case is lost. In most cases the first-instance judgment is upheld.

7. 07

   Enforcement and monitoring of the order

   After the judgment ANC is obliged to issue the order. Often the order comes out even before the court’s final decision — the very fact of active proceedings acts as a signal for accelerated examination.

After the order comes the oath: by law, citizenship is acquired precisely at the moment it is taken. The oath must be taken within six months of the order being issued, and it requires personal presence in Romania.

What we check at the dosar audit

The audit is not a formality. Before a claim is prepared, the case is taken apart point by point:

• the basis for citizenship
• the family line
• civil status records
• changes of surname
• translations
• apostilles and legalisation
• ANC requests and the replies to them

At the end of the audit the client receives a direct answer: whether there are grounds for an administrative claim, what needs to be corrected before filing, and which route is possible in the specific situation.

What the court really gives

The main thing is a legal obligation on ANC to examine the case and issue a decision on the merits. Not a positive decision, but a decision. The court does not replace ANC — it obliges ANC to do its own job within the set deadlines.

A case from our practice: a dosar stuck since 2022

The client filed for citizenship in 2022 — the case sat at ANC without movement. The dosar audit revealed that a whole series of documents was missing from the file. Alliance put the package in order, after which the lawyer filed an administrative claim. The court procedure took 7 months, and a month later the client was called to the oath.

Outcome: instead of a wait already in its fifth year — 8 months of work from first contact to the oath.

This is not a promise of a result but one completed cycle. The circumstances of each case are assessed separately.

How Alliance works with stalled cases

Alliance supports stalled cases systematically. We work with all types — regardless of whether the case was filed through us, through another company or independently. Five principles:

Typical applicant mistakes

• Passive waiting — filing and assuming everything will move on its own
• Turning to intermediaries who promise to “sort it out” informally
• A claim without a document audit — the court obliges ANC to examine, ANC refuses because of defects
• Filing independently without knowledge of procedural law
• Delays by the applicant after filing — the acceleration effect is lost

What a Romanian passport gives

Since 1 January 2025 Romania has been a full member of the Schengen Area, including land borders: border control within Schengen has been lifted completely.

Romanian citizenship is citizenship of the European Union in full. EU law has no “first-” and “second-class” passports: a Romanian passport gives the same scope of rights as a German, French or any other EU passport — the right to live, work, do business and study in any of the 27 EU countries and to pass the status on to children.

That is exactly why a stalled dosar makes sense to take through to a decision rather than leaving it waiting.

In summary

Administrative court proceedings over stalled cases are a working legal procedure provided for by Romanian legislation, and the only real mechanism protecting the applicant from delays at ANC.

Law 21/1991 gives ANC two years plus six months to examine a case. Anything beyond that is a breach. Law 554/2004 gives the applicant the right to challenge that breach. These two laws work together, regardless of which company the case was filed through.

Alliance Consulting has been supporting Romanian citizenship cases for four years now. For stalled cases we use the administrative court as a systematic tool — we prepare claims, conduct proceedings at Tribunal București, monitor enforcement and take the case through to a European Union passport.

Frequent questions