Romanian citizenship under Article 11: the Florida documents, before and after approval

Article 11 of Law 21/1991 on Romanian citizenship covers people who held Romanian citizenship and lost it for reasons not attributable to them, or had it withdrawn against their will, and their descendants up to the third degree: children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It allows them to regain citizenship while keeping their foreign citizenship, whether they live in Romania or abroad. This is the route people usually mean by Romanian citizenship by descent.

The National Citizenship Authority (Autoritatea Națională pentru Cetățenie, ANC), under the Ministry of Justice, decides applications. It sets the current conditions, document list and procedure, including the oath of allegiance taken after approval. Let's be straight with you: the eligibility analysis turns on Romanian records about your ancestor, not on anything from Florida. Confirm that link first.

Where Floridians file. According to the U.S. Department of State's consular list, the Consulate General of Romania in Miami covers Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Applications can also be filed in Romania, in person or through a representative.

Romania has accepted apostilles since March 16, 2001 (HCCH status table), and Romanian civil status offices state that documents from Convention countries must be apostilled (example: Piatra Neamț city hall guidance). So every Florida public document in your file needs a Florida apostille.

• Your birth certificate, and your parent's if your parent was born in Florida, to prove each step down from the former citizen. Certified by the Florida Bureau of Vital Statistics or a county health department, signed by the State Registrar. Order the version that names the parents. See birth certificate for Romania.
• Marriage certificates that explain surname changes in the line, signed by the State Registrar or a Clerk of the County Court. See marriage certificate for Romania.
• Divorce judgments and name-change orders, certified by the Clerk of Court with original wet-ink or the clerk's official e-certification. See court records.
• Criminal record, if the ANC's list asks for one. If it wants a U.S. nationwide record, that's the FBI Identity History Summary, authenticated by the U.S. Department of State, not by Florida; we don't handle it. A Florida state record is a certified FDLE check notarized at issuance. See FDLE and sheriff's letters.
• Power of attorney if a representative files or follows up in Romania. A complete Florida notarial certificate, then the apostille; Romania's offices will want it translated too. See power of attorney apostille.

Our rule on old certificates: we don't accept vital records certified before 2014, because the signature on file must be the current State Registrar's. Order fresh copies through VitalChek.

Our general rule for translations used abroad: the translator certifies the translation, signs before a different notary (never their own), and the notarized translation gets its own Florida apostille. Romania is a country that may require something else instead. Romanian civil status guidance, such as Piatra Neamț's, says translations must be legalized by a public notary in Romania or, abroad, by a Romanian career consular office.

In practice that means the Romanian translation is usually done or legalized on the Romanian side, after the Florida apostille. Ask the ANC, the consulate in Miami or the civil status office which form it accepts before you pay any translator.

Regaining citizenship gives you a certificate of citizenship, but Romania issues identity and passport documents from Romanian civil status records. That's why the next step is transcriere: transcribing your foreign birth and marriage certificates into Romanian registers. Bucharest's Sector 3 transcription rules for people who regained citizenship and never lived in Romania give a good picture of what's needed:

• Birth certificate transcription (adults): the certificate of citizenship, your birth certificate, your foreign ID and passport, and your marriage certificate if you're married, each in original with a copy.
• Children: under 14 and listed on a parent's citizenship certificate, the child's and parents' birth certificates and the parents' marriage certificate; from 14 to 18, the minor files in their own name, assisted by a Romanian-citizen parent.
• Marriage transcription: the marriage certificate, both spouses' birth certificates, IDs and passports, and either the marriage contract (apostilled, with a legalized translation) or a notarized declaration on the law governing your property regime.
• Timing: the same rules cite a 60-day deadline from registration of the request under Law 119/1996.

Where to file: Piatra Neamț's guidance says Romanians abroad file with the mayor of their last Romanian domicile, and that people who never had one are handled in Bucharest. Check which office currently takes your case. This is also where an apostilled Florida certified copy matters again, so order enough copies the first time.

• Name spellings. Romanian diacritics (ă, â, î, ș, ț) rarely survive on Florida records, and immigrant surnames were often anglicized. Marriage certificates and court name-change orders are what connect the versions; collect them before you apply.
• One set of copies for two phases. Originals submitted with the application may not come back in time for transcription. Ordering two apostilled sets at once costs less than a second round later, especially at the $160-each rate.
• Short-form or keepsake certificates. A record without parents' names doesn't prove descent, and hospital keepsakes can't be apostilled at all.
• Translating before the apostille. The legalized Romanian translation should cover the document as filed, apostille included, unless the office says otherwise.

Two phases, one set of Florida documents if you plan ahead:

The ANC's processing is the long part, so the Florida side shouldn't add delay. Filing yourself by mail with the Florida Department of State commonly takes several weeks door to door; we return documents in 5–7 business days. Pricing: $220 for one document, $380 for two, and $160 each for three or more, including the state fee, request form and FedEx inside the U.S. Certified-copy fees and notarization aren't included; online notarization is $40 for the first document ($10 notarization fee + $30 technology platform fee) and $20 for each additional one. Shipping to Romania is a flat $100 per order.