In our practice we often came across situations when Romanian citizen got married abroad and subsequently got divorced without considering the consequences of marriage cancellation with regard to the marital status documents.
Why it is a bad idea to get married and subsequently get divorced abroad, without also clarifying the registration of your civil status?
When divorce occurs most people think rather of ways to get the car or the place to live (house, apartment), or how much money there are into the bank accounts to further split, who will get the baby to take care and bring him/her up, what name to wear after the marriage is cancelled.
There are few people who are also thinking of divorce consequences regarding the marital status documents.
When we file the application for the release of the Romanian passport, authorities request documents like: birth certificate, marriage certificate, court order/the divorce attesting document.
All these need to indicate the current marital status of the person who requires the release of a Romanian passport.
If there are changes in your Romanian civil status (got married, got divorced, changed your name) between the moment of the Romanian passport release and its expiration date, then all these changes need to be reflected into the marital status documents to be filed in order to receive a Romanian passport.
In other words, if you get married outside Romania, you need to transcript the Marriage Certificate released by the foreign authorities thus subsequently obtain a Romanian Marriage Certificate.
Furthermore, a potential divorce decision ruled by a court of law from abroad needs to be registered with the Romanian marital status Registry.
Moreover, any name change, needs to be mentioned by your birth certificate.
If you don’t update all the changes occurred into your marital status, then you will not receive a Romanian passport and you will no longer benefit by the advantages of an European passport.
A special care needs to get a possible divorce abroad.
Are the divorce decisions, or any other divorce document released outside the country, automatically acknowledged in Romania?
This is a question we hear a lot from our clients. The answer varies depending on the country when such decision was ruled.
Thus, while all divorce decisions ruled in an EU member state are fully acknowledged in Romania (Letter no. 214529/2005 of the National Institute for People’s Evidence), those passed in all other non EU countries need to be officially accepted on the Romanian territory (except the divorce document issued by a country with which Romania has concluded Conventions on the granting of legal assistance in civil, family and criminal cases).
Acknowledging a divorce decision or of any other divorce document on the Romanian territory is to be done by alerting the competent Romanian legal body to deal with the corresponding application.
We do emphasize that you can apply for the issuance of a Romanian passport after you have obtained a legal court of Romanian acknowledgement of the divorce decision/document.
Should you mean to request a Romanian passport for your minor child who was assigned to you to be growth up subject to a divorce document/paper the same rule applies.
Romanian authorities also request the divorce document of the parents as acknowledged in Romania in order to release a passport to the minor child.
Under these circumstances, if you did not take care of the formalities to obtain the Romanian Marriage Certificate, it would be wise to keep a good relationship with the former wife/husband, since the Romanian authorities require documents regarding the former wife/husband (birth certificate, name changes, personal statements) in order to release the local marriage certificate.
Marriages concluded abroad and cancelled subject to a divorce are registered on the side of the Romanian certificate based upon a mention registration, only after the compliance with the legal procedure to obtain a court decision which acknowledges the divorce document issued by a non EU country in Romania.
In case of a divorce released by an EU country or a non EU country with which Romania has concluded Conventions on the granting of legal assistance in civil, family and criminal cases, Romanian authorities request – both for the registration of the divorce mention as well as for the release of the Romanian passport – the original document including the apostil in line with Hague Convention or its official admittance by the Romania Justice Ministry, as the case may be.
Also, a notarized translation of the divorce document needs to be presented to the file.
Contact Us if you want a Romanian Passport.
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