Registering birth of a child born in US

Greetings Broughaj,

I was in a similar situation back about 15 years ago, my son was born in Canada, both myself and spouse are romanian. The law says that you could obtain romanian citizenship for your child, even if only 1 parent is a romanian citizen. Essentially, what you are after is the romanian 'birth certificate', that implies citizenship, based on that you will then be able to request a romanian passport be issued to your child.

There are no major differences between Canada and USA (and I assume for any other countries really) since this deals with a child, born abroad, from at least 1 romanian parent. Here's what the romanian embassy in Ottawa says that the process is:

https://ottawa.mae.ro/node/280
"Birth certificates
Registration of the birth certificate issued by the foreign authorities (excluding Canadian) in the Romanian civil status records
For the enrollment in the Romanian civil status registers of the birth certificates, the request will be made by the Romanian parent, minor (if he has reached the age of 14 years - assisted by the Romanian parent) or through a special legalized proxy.

List of necessary documents:

Canadian Birth Certificate in ORIGINAL, legalized by M.A.E.C.I.D.F.A.I.T. (Ottawa); See chapter Useful Information, APPLICATION / SUPRALEGALIZATION OF DOCUMENTS.
Romanian parents' marriage certificate, if married in the original;
The Romanian and Canadian passports of the parents and the child that are in force;
Upon submission of the above documents, the applicant will complete the corresponding application and statements."

I think the translation for "special legalized proxy", translated from the original "procură specială supralegalizată" is rather loose, I believe it means an apostiled/legalized? power of attorney, in practical terms is you and your spouse empowering someone to act on your behalf in a certain matter.

Basically what happens is that provided at least 1 parent is romanian, the process simply involves the recording of the birth abroad, into the national birth registry, 'as if' the child was born in Romania, and for that they need a bunch of papers and the application itself. Apparently in your case, your spouse would have to start this procedure, you did not mention if your spouse is currently in the US, or in Romania.

Essentially, I made an appointment at the romanian Consulate in Toronto, 3 weeks b/f my son turned 1yo (I have heard process is easier if child is less than 1yo, but not sure if really that is the case). I showed up with the following documents:

1. Both my and my wife's romanian passports.
2. My son's canadian birth certificate (both long and short / they have 2 types, the long mentions the parents's name, date of birth, etc)
3. Something that shows we reside in Canada, we showed Canadian passports, drivers licenses, but anything else would do in the case of your spouse, such as Green Card if he is in the States, maybe some current utility bills, etc. 
4. We had to complete an application.

They took copies of all the original documents and the completed application and it took about 1-2 months (forgot) until we were told to come in and we can come in and pick up my son's romanian birth certificate. And that was that.

Fast forward about 14 years, back a few months ago, I wanted to get my son a romanian passport based on the birth certificate. Showed up at the Consulate in Toronto, and the 1 issue I hit was that his birth certificate was issued without the CNP id back then (2003). From what I have heard, they only started issuing CNP to the consulates world-wide in 2004, so any romanian birth certificate issued after 2004 should have the CNP (which is like a personal ID number they use for employment, pensions, etc - similar to Social Security Number in the States or Social Insurance Number in Canada).

Another application (free this time) and 3 months later, I showed up with all above paperwork + CNP at the consulate. Because the child is a minor, you will need both parents to come in for that. Also, this time I had my son's Canadian passport, both sets of birth certificates (canadian and romanian) and my and my wife's both sets of passports. Now they had a problem that my wife's romanian passport was expired (the canadian was valid). "This is the romanian consulate and because you are romanian citizens you have to identify yourself with valid romanian passports". I was arguing that my wife, as mother, is there with valid canadian passport to certify she 'agrees' that her minor son is OK to get issued a passport, and they operate in Canada they should understand and work with a valid canadian passport. They did not budge. Whatever. They agreed that if my wife applies for a passport renewal, they would at the same time process the papers for my son to get his first romanian passport. Sounds to me like they were after the fees, but went along with that. My wife got her passport in a little of 1 month while my son's passport took a little over 2 months to arrive.

Now, the easiest way, especially if your spouse is in the States, is to work with the Consulate/Embassy, because they understand the process. However, when I inquired about the possibility of having the birth certificate issued in Romania, I have heard that for a child born overseas, the only place where you would be able to submit the application, would be in Bucharest, Sector 1 at the 'Starea Civila' which I suspect is a department within the Bucharest City Hall,  Sector 1 specifically (there are 6 'Sectors in Bucharest).

Hope this helps,
Cristian

Sorry, forgot to add, when we requested the birth certificate (and passport) we also provided the romanian marriage certificate. If you have married outside of Romania and do not have a romanian marriage certificate, I would not be surprised if they would ask you to first go through that process (which is really the same idea as for the birth certificate in the case of your child) and only then they would accept the application for the birth certificate. We were married in Romania and did not have this particular issue.

Good luck,
Cristian

Thank you so much for this detailed information, Cristian. It will definitely be helpful.

My partner currently travels back and forth to Romania frequently as he owns and operates a business in Bucharest. The one thing I'm concerned about is that we are not yet married and have not set a date to make our marriage official. But when we do, it will be in the US, not Romania. I'm curious if the fact that we aren't yet married will impede our ability to get our child a Romanian birth certificate and passport.

It's easier for us to deal with the Romanian authorities in Bucharest when my fiancé is there for business, as the nearest Romanian consulate is in California and we are in Arizona. However, I won't be in Romania when he is, with the exception of this coming January. So that may pose a problem if we both have to be present to get a passport issued.

Here is what I found in this case, I think the main concern is not necessarily the marriage certificate, at least not at this stage, rather the father's name on the US birth certificate.

<<<
Father's Name
When a married couple have a child, the mother's husband is presumed to be the father of the child until proven otherwise. Thus, as a matter of course, the hospital lists his name on the birth certificate as the father. A man who is not married to the child's mother can typically have his name listed on the child's birth certificate if he establishes paternity. One way to do this is by signing a document acknowledging he is the child's biological father. Such a document, however, is not legally binding without the signature of both parents
<<<

All I can say is that you need to take care of this ASAP, if you haven't already, because you won't have time to deal with it after the child is born, I recall me having to fill in some paper work at the hospital hours after my son was born.

If you have this taken care of and on the child's birth certificate you have the father's full name, then it could be a matter of asking the Consulate/Embassy if they accept this as the proof they require for the romanian birth certificate application and/or if you can do the marriage later, which I assume should not be an issue, provided the birth certificate has the father's name.

For some weird reason, I found that the people working at the Consulate, sometimes don't know what to say/do when then encounter a less than classic case, but maybe they have seen this before and it's no big deal. It's worth a call at least. But the paperwork above, I would have that taken care of ASAP.

Having said that, I also remember that I initially got what they call the 'short' form certificate, where it's only the child's data, and for the long form, I had to go downtown some 2-3 months later, and apply for this 'optional' certificate, that is where the mother/father's name shows up. I don't recall if I provided that data  or if they already had it from beforehand (provided by me in the hospital?). If you guys have this same set up, then you might be ok with not having the paperwork above if you don't have the time between now and when you give birth, but I would look into the process now to understand what gets done when, and try to do whatever I could at this stage with the bottom line that you would be able to provide the US birth cert. with both your and your spouse's name on it to the consulate (or in Romania).

Thanks again, Cristian. Getting his name on the birth certificate is of no issue here in the States as long as he signs - which there's no doubt he will.

Your information about going to the “city hall” in sector 1 will most likely be most helpful; as my fiancé was unsure where exactly to go and thought he'd have to go to sector 6, since he resides there.

The reason I was mentioning that you might want to take care of this  beforehand, was this: "A man who is not married to the child's mother can typically have his name listed on the child's birth certificate if he establishes paternity. One way to do this is by signing a document acknowledging he is the child's biological father". I didn't have any doubt that he would sign, I was thinking that *if* at the hospital they would ask for this document right then and there and expect you to have it already, that it might cause problems (even if he is there willing to sign whatever papers as it might not be something that is handled at the hospital). I would at least look into the procedure, just to be sure. And if you can do the document beforehand, all the better, you will need it apparently anyways.

My understanding is that City Hall Sector-1 deals with all cases where the child was born abroad, in this case for the birth certificate. Also, I would have had to go there there if I was in Romania, for my son's CNP application as opposed to having it done through the Consulate. I believe that is the designated location for not just Bucharest, but regardless of which city in Romania the parent(s) would be from, because it's not about the parent, it's about the child, and the child does not have residence in Romania and consequently, the child does not 'belong' to any one sector in Bucharest, or any other city in Romania regardless where the parent(s) might reside in the country.

Just after I have typed this I have done a quick Google search, I think I was on the right path, here's the translation

http://www.starecivila1.ro/transcriere-acte/
Transcription of civil status records registered with local authorities abroad
It is done with the mayor's approval. The request for transcription is addressed to the mayor of the place of residence for the Romanian citizens domiciled in Romania, the mayor of the last resident in the country for the Romanian citizens living abroad or the Mayor of Sector 1 for the Romanian citizens who have never had their domicile in Romania

Regards,
Cristian