The Romanian passport has started to become more and more desired by foreigners in the last few years, given the fact that Romania is a member state of the European Union and an expat-friendly country. And obtaining a Romanian passport can also be done by investing in our country, which is a big plus.
But what are the steps needed, in order to make this happen?
First of all, in order to obtain the Romanian passport, it means that you first obtained Romanian residency[1] and, later, Romanian citizenship[2].
There are two main types of Romanian residency permits: short term residency and long term residency, otherwise known as “permanent residency”[3]. According to Romanian law[4], if you made an investment of more than 1.000.000 euro in a Romanian company, you will be granted the permanent residency without the requirement of staying 5 years in Romania and without the requirement of proving your means of living in Romania.
So, essentially, you just need to prove that you speak the Romanian language at satisfactory level, you have a place to live in Romania and you are not a threat for the national security. Do note that the same facilities apply if you have a business which created at least 100 jobs in Romania.
Also, keep in mind that you must be a sole shareholder in the company. If there are multiple shareholders, all the calculations will be made accordingly to their shares.
As for obtaining Romanian citizenship[5], the conditions are similar. If you make an investment of more than 1.000.000 euro in a Romanian company, the term for obtaining the Romanian citizenship is cut in half. So, you can usually apply for the Romanian citizenship after only 4 years.
Do note that other conditions are still in place: you need to prove that you are not a threat to the Romanian state, you have good knowledge of the Romanian language, but also our culture, constitution, geography and history[6] and you have the proper means of living in Romania.
[1] Find out more about how to obtain Romanian residency for non-EU from our video here.
[2] Find out how to obtain Romanian citizenship by naturalisation from our video here.
[3] The name “permanent residency” or PR for short, although used very frequently, is somehow misleading. PR is not actually permanent, but is given for a set duration of 10 years.
[4] Government Ordinance no. 102/2005, which can be found here.
[5] You can find the Romanian legislation on citizenship, Law no. 21/1991, here.
[6] When learning for the citizenship exam, make sure to also check out our eBook
Drd. Ruxandra Vișoiu, Managing Partner R&R Partners Bucharest
Remus Popovici, Managing Partner R&R Partners Bucharest