Finally, I no longer receive Romanian citizenship those who do not know the language – the great stake of the story
A law firm sent me today a email called: “The conditions for obtaining the Romanian citizenship (statistical) have been renewed”. “Increased”, written exactly that, with two “n”, although correct is only one. An excusable error, I could overlook it. But I didn't do it because it's exactly about the Romanian language.
The news about the tightening of the conditions was placed exactly at the beginning of the email we received, a sign that we are dealing with professionals: a new law imposed “stricter conditions for obtaining Romanian citizenship, such as certifying linguistic competence in Romanian and rigorous evaluation of the social integration”.
For most people, who would receive this email, the specification regarding the language has no relevance. For others, however, the stake is huge.
It concerns the factories of Romanian citizens
It is about all those involved in the process of regaining the Romanian citizenship based on the famous article 11 of Law 21/1991. It refers to the people who were born on the territories lost by Romania in 1940 or their descendants, up to grade 3 (Bessarabia, Northern Bucovina, Bugeac). The provision wanted a historical repair for the victims of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact.
Hotnews has published a series of investigations that have shown how this provision has led to the emergence of real factories of Romanian citizens for Russians, Ukrainians, Moldovans, Belaruși and people from other ex-Soviet countries. Romanian citizenship opened the door to the EU.
It reached over 7,000 euros
Many of them simply invented their Romanian descendancy, used acts counterfeit by them or different public institutions, to obtain an EU passport. The price of a Romanian citizen for Ukrainians was 3,500 euros, for Russians of over 7,000 euros, the investigations made by Hotnews show.
All these people could receive Romanian citizenship without knowing the Romanian language. Only the 20 words of the oath of faith towards the Romanian state, which could be learned by purpose.
In order to have an order of size, in a single year, 30,000 people have acquired Romanian citizenship without the language test. By comparison, the number of those who became Romanian citizens on request, by all the other methods provided by law, was almost three times smaller.
How fluent you need to be
The new law has corrected, at least theoretically, the problem: all those who request the regaining of Romanian citizenship based on article 11 of Law 21/1991 must prove that I know Romanian, at least at level B1.
This level is an average one that assumes that the person is able to carry a conversation, to express themselves orally and in writing, to use correctly, in context, the grammatical forms and structures. At the same time, they must answer questions about personal information and areas of interest, clearly and at a normal rhythm, in a standard language.
The law also provides for exceptions: those who prove that they have attended a high school or faculty with teaching in Romanian for at least 3 years (generally applies in the case of the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine), those who were Romanian citizens until 1940 (and lost it as a result of the annexation of Bessarabia, Bucovina from the North and 65 years.
A condition to enter Visa Waiver
It was a whole battle to introduce the Romanian language among the conditions for obtaining Romanian citizenship.
A draft law initiated by the Ministry of Justice in this regard was subject to public debate, and those who opposed the Romanian language to be among the conditions were lawyers, but also representatives of some Romanian associations from the ex-Soviet space.
If in the case of lawyers the explanation was that they were afraid they would lose their generous Russian-speaking clientele, it was harder to understand was the opposition of representatives of Romanians in Ukraine, for example.
However, lately, the National Authority for Citizenship has drawn the brake on approval of the files submitted on Article 11. It was also an international pressure in this regard, as the former Minister of Justice, Alina Gorghiu, acknowledged.
“Reviewing the Law of Citizenship is a necessary step for Romania to adhere to Visa Waiver. By this law, we aim to eliminate the risks of illegally acquiring Romanian citizenship. In a significant number of citizenship files, civil status documents have been submitted that proved to be authentic,” said the minister.
“In 2024, 50,350 applications were submitted, but none was approved by the end of the year. The situation remained unchanged until March 2025, with 3,976 files, without any of them receiving approval from the National Authority for Citizenship (ANC).
This tendency to increase the number of files for holding and decreasing approval rates is influenced by recent legislative changes, being introduced stricter conditions for obtaining Romanian citizenship, “writes in the email received from the lawyers” Paul and Associations “.
Some will lose money earned dishonest
The new law of Romanian citizenship was promulgated by Ilie Bolojan on March 12, more than a month ago. Honest, I missed the news. The lawyers were reported to me.
I am convinced that some will lose a lot of money after the Romanian state has finally closed this door for many citizens of the former USSR, who put their hands on a Romanian passport without having this right.
Below, you can find two of the investigations that best illustrate what we are talking about.
INVESTIGATION. How the money flows in the “Romanian citizens' factories” in the ex-Soviet space under the pretext of humanitarian operations. The network from Cernăuți
INVESTIGATION. Russian factories by Romanian citizens or how Kim “finds” from the distant Bașchiria some grandparents in Bessarabia, for 7500 euros
