Romanian citizenship in 2026: legal routes and protection from fraudsters

What a Romanian passport gives in 2026

Since 1 January 2025 Romania has been a full member of the Schengen Area on all borders, including land borders. A citizen of the country moves without border control across 29 Schengen states, lives and does business in any European Union country without separate permits, gains access to the European healthcare system with the EHIC card and visa-free entry to 178 destinations (Henley index, 2026). The USA is not on the visa-free list; a visa is required. Citizenship is passed to children by birth regardless of the country of birth.

The cost of living in Romania remains one of the lowest in the European Union. In Constanța and the coastal region a family of four spends around 1 800–2 200 euros a month excluding rent. Prices for groceries, household services and property are noticeably lower than in Italy, Portugal or Spain. High-speed internet is in the world’s top 15. English is widespread in the major cities.

Three legal routes to Romanian citizenship

There is no direct investment programme of “citizenship in exchange for money” in Romania, and there never has been. Any offer along the lines of “buy a Romanian passport for 30 000 euros” is fraud. There are three legal routes.

Naturalisation: 8 years of legal residence

The basic path, governed by Law No. 21/1991. Requirements for the applicant:

• age 18 or over;
• continuous lawful residence in Romania for at least 8 years (5 years if married to a Romanian citizen);
• knowledge of Romanian at B1 level (from March 2026 the requirement has been tightened under Law 14/2025);
• knowledge of the Constitution and the basics of Romanian culture and history;
• no criminal record and no threat to national security;
• a stable legal source of income;
• confirmed integration into society.

The basis for residence can be activity in your own company (SRL), employment, study, or family reunification. Alliance builds the route through corporate activity: founding an SRL, real economic activity, obtaining a residence permit as an associate or administrator, annual renewal, transition to a long-term EU resident permit after 5 years, and reaching citizenship in the eighth year.

Citizenship by descent: repatriation

Law 21/1991 provides a simplified route for the descendants of Romanian citizens. The right extends to persons whose ancestors up to the third degree of kinship were Romanian citizens or were born on territory that was part of Greater Romania in 1918–1940: present-day Moldova, parts of Ukraine (Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina), and certain other territories. The route requires a confirmed documentary base from state archives; the procedure takes from 2 to 5 years.

A detailed breakdown of repatriation, real timelines, exceptions to the B1 requirement and protection from fraudulent schemes: the guide to repatriation to Romania.

Citizenship by marriage

The spouse of a Romanian citizen can apply for citizenship after 5 years of legal residence. The marriage must be valid at the time of application and show no signs of being fictitious. The language requirement, a B1 certificate in Romanian, also applies.

Which route suits whom

A dangerous market: fraud involving Romanian citizenship

According to the Le Monde investigation published in December 2025, around 18 700 citizens of former Soviet republics registered fictitious addresses in Romania, and hundreds have already received passports. According to the same investigation, a criminal network of seven Ukrainian citizens living in Romania filed more than 900 forged naturalisation applications in 2025 alone, mostly on behalf of Russian citizens. The group worked with local notaries, lawyers and translators. Forged documents are prepared for sums from 4 700 to 8 300 dollars. Fictional relatives are fabricated as “ancestors”, supposedly born in Chernivtsi or Chișinău at a time when those territories were part of Greater Romania.

According to materials of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Romania, in November and December 2025 large-scale searches took place in the communes of Vârfu Câmpului and Dumbrăveni, in Suceava, Botoșani and Bucharest. Civil officials, notaries, translators and legal intermediaries are under investigation. In some episodes, as reported by Le Monde, the personal data of fallen Ukrainian servicemen was used. Some schemes have evolved beyond the descent route: citizenship certificates are fabricated directly, without any filing with the Authority.

Signs of a fraudulent scheme:

• a promise of citizenship within 6 months or another fixed short term;
• a service to “find Romanian ancestors” where no real family ties exist;
• a demand for full payment up front without a legal contract and staged reports;
• an offer to “arrange an address in Romania” without the client actually being present;
• working through messengers, with no office and no legal entity in Romania;
• willingness to “sort out the archive” for an additional fee.

The consequences for a client caught up in such a scheme are severe. Citizenship obtained on the basis of forgery is annulled regardless of any limitation period. In parallel, a criminal case for forgery or complicity is opened. At EU level a long-term entry ban is possible. Money paid to fraudsters is not refundable; the accounts are, as a rule, opened in the names of third parties or outside Romania.

How to tell a legitimate consulting company from a fraudulent intermediary

Signs of a reputable consultant:

• a legal entity registered in Romania, with an office, a tax history and real employees;
• lawyers who are current members of the Uniunea Naţională a Barourilor din România, the National Union of Romanian Bar Associations;
• a written contract in Romanian or bilingual, with staged payment on completion of work;
• a transparent residence permit scheme through the client’s real economic activity: a company, property, a bank account in the client’s name;
• work only with genuine archival documents on the descent route, and a categorical refusal of “ancestor scenarios”;
• an open position on timelines: 8 years for naturalisation, 2–5 years for repatriation, no faster;
• willingness to accompany the client to the National Citizenship Authority in person, not through remote “coordinators”.

The main sign of a fraudster: a promise of a result the law does not provide for. Romanian citizenship in six months, without a confirmed basis and without genuine documents, cannot be obtained.

Changes in legislation in 2026

Law 14/2025 entered into force on 15 March 2025 and strengthened the requirements for verifying sources of income, descent and the legality of residence. From March 2026 a B1-level Romanian language certificate is mandatory for most categories of applicants; without the certificate the application is not accepted. The RODUC digital system has been rolled out: online document submission, biometrics, electronic citizenship certificates. In the wake of the investigations, checks of residential addresses and archival documents have been tightened: every repatriation case goes through additional layers of verification.

The transitional provisions on the B1 requirement for certain descent subcategories are covered in the guide to repatriation.

Taxes for citizens and residents of Romania in 2026

• Personal income tax: 10% (flat rate).
• VAT: 21% standard rate (raised from 19% on 1 August 2025), 11% reduced rate.
• Corporate tax: the standard regime or the micro-enterprise regime for turnover below the established threshold.
• Dividend tax: 16% (from 1 January 2026, previously 10%).
• Employee social contributions: around 35% in total.

At the level of individuals, the tax system remains one of the more predictable in the European Union. The corporate side has become more expensive after the 2026 reform: when choosing a structure for business and residence, it is important to plan the long-term economics from the outset. Alliance does this at the strategy session, before the company is opened.

Dual citizenship

Romania recognises a second citizenship; there is no need to renounce your original passport. A Romanian citizen with an additional citizenship retains full rights: voting, taxation, service obligations. Whether the original citizenship can be kept depends on the legislation of the client’s country of birth, not on Romania.

What to do if you have already fallen victim to fraudsters

Some clients come to Alliance not at the start, but after a first failed attempt. They paid an intermediary for an “address in Romania” and received a residence permit card, then it turned out the registration was fictitious and the residence permit case is under review. They went through naturalisation using fabricated documents about ancestors; the case is being reviewed, with a risk of annulment. They set up a company through a cheap package from an unlicensed intermediary; the structure does not work for a residence permit and the years of residence are not counted. They handed the original documents to a “coordinator” in a messenger and lost contact.

Every such situation can be resolved provided you get in touch quickly. The Alliance legal department takes on a case at any stage: legal assessment, separating the legal steps from the forgery, defence before the immigration service and the National Citizenship Authority, rebuilding the structure on a genuine basis, replacing the company, re-registering the actual address. The sooner the client moves onto a legal trajectory, the higher the chance of preserving the time invested.

The role of Alliance in the support

Alliance is a consulting company with four years of work with foreign clients in three areas: property in Romania under the Armonia brand, Romanian citizenship, and Bulgarian citizenship. The office is in Constanța, geographically and operationally outside the networks linked to the fraud cases in the northern communes of Suceava and Botoșani. Legal support: licensed lawyers who are members of the National Union of Romanian Bar Associations. Every case is handled through official channels: the Inspectoratul General pentru Imigrări, the National Citizenship Authority, the state archives.

Alliance has two products: full support for a property transaction in Romania, and obtaining EU residence or citizenship (Romanian or Bulgarian). These products can be taken separately, but together they work more strongly, because they are built around a single family strategy. In the context of 2026, when the Romanian citizenship market is being cleared of fraudulent schemes, choosing a licensed company with real economic activity by the client remains the only sustainable route.

How this guide was compiled. The analysis is based on: the current versions of Law 21/1991 “On Romanian Citizenship” and Law 14/2025, the fiscal measures of Law 141/2025, the Le Monde investigation of December 2025, materials of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Romania in the fraudulent naturalisation case, and open data from the Inspectoratul General pentru Imigrări and the National Citizenship Authority. Rates and timelines are given as of June 2026; the full list of sources is at the end of the article.

The Alliance service: the support package

As part of the support, the client receives the complete set of documents of a Romanian citizen: from the Dosar registration number to a European Union passport. At the end, the family moves from applicant status to full EU citizenship, with freedom of movement across 29 Schengen states, the right to live and work in any country of the Union, and transfer of the status to children by birth.

The cost of the support package for the main applicant starts from 4 000 euros and depends on the state of the documentary base (whether archival documents need to be restored), the chosen route and the timelines. Minor children under 18 are included in the parent’s case free of charge. Adult children of the applicant are processed at a rate of 70% of the cost of the main package.

Payment is made in three stages: 20% on signing the contract, 40% after booking the document submission date at the Ministry of Justice of Romania, and the balance on the day of submission in Bucharest. Staged payment fixes mutual obligations and protects the client from situations where an intermediary received the full amount up front and disappeared.

The full text of the paid services contract is available for review before signing.

Support contract (.docx)

Questions before starting the route