Romanians from abroad will pay again some taxes that were eliminated eight years ago. What measures the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces
Lucreța Tanase and Oana Darie at the MAE Conference / Source: Hotnews.ro
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) wants to reintroduce a series of taxes for Romanians living in the diaspora and need consular services. The ministry representatives say that these taxes are needed to be able to provide services easier and faster for Romanians outside the borders.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants to amend Law 198/2008 for consular services, by reintroducing new taxes that were eliminated in 2017.
The general director for the consular department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oana Darie, explained, in a press briefing organized on Friday, what taxes the ministry to be reintroduced:
- Reintroducing taxes for travel documents (55 euros), unless the passport or identity card were stolen;
- For visas: for long stays: increase to 200 euros from 120 euros;
- Notarial services: reduced the tax from 30 to 20 euros for translations and increasing the tax to legalize the translation made from 20 to 30 euros;
Taxes for civil status services have been eliminated.
The project is to be put into public debate by MAE on Friday evening. Subsequently, he may change, the ministry representatives said. If approved by the Government, the taxes will be introduced from January 1, 2026.
If the taxes were in force last year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would have received 39 million euros
The charged taxes will be directly income to the MAE budget. Exceptions are taxes on visas, which will go 50% to the state budget, 50% for the MAE income.
In 2024, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs offered over 923,000 services.
“The receipts on the new taxes would have been 39 million, of which 18 million of long -stay visas, and 9 million would have returned to the MAE budget,” said Oana Darie.
The amounts thus collected will allow the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to implement the consular services more easily, according to the ministry representatives.
“In the last 8 years, most consular services have been provided for free,” said the general secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lucreța Tanase.
