Fourfold foreigners filing for the Romanian citizenship in 2015 than the previous year

81,500 foreigners have filed requests for the Romanian citizenship in 2015, four times more than in 2014. Most of the citizens filing for the Romanian citizenship were citizens from Republic of Moldova and from the Arab countries, said the head of the National Authority for Citizenship (ANC).

So, last year 81,500 foreigners have filed for the Romanian citizenship compared to almost 21,000 in 2014. ANC said that there are growing requests also in 2016, as there were 52,000 such files registered in the first 6 months of this year.

Most of the requests are coming from the Moldovans for regaining citizenship, followed by Israelis, while in terms of naturalization most of the requests are filed by foreigners who come from the Arab countries.

“Most of them come from the Arab countries for naturalization. But there are also from Europe, Albania, Serbia, Macedonia, and we also come from Germany and France. 90% of the requests for regaining citizenship come from Moldovans,” said Iulia Mălina Ciobanu, ANC president, adding that probably the international situation could play a part in the rise of the citizenship requests.

The procedure from filing the request and obtaining the citizenship is usually taking one year. One of the conditions is to prove that the citizen have lived in Romania in the past 5 to 8 years.

The dismissal rate is 10% or even lower, with the most common grounds being the good behavior, the lack of ancestry (for regaining citizenship) or the applicant doesn’t file all necessary documents.

According to the ANC head, for the youngsters the Romanian citizenship is an opportunity, but for the aged ones it is a symbol. “They have tears in their eyes when saying the oath and the national anthem. Every time they say <I want to die as Romanian>”, Iulia Ciobanu stated.