Recommendation for Lawyer

Hi @laurabe2,

> I am working on my dual citizenship and need help in Romania to amend my Romanian birth certificate with my USA marriage and divorce.

First of all if you are in possession of a romanian birth certificate, then implicitly you are a romanian citizen. The fact that you do not have a romanian passport yet, is a different matter.

Second, I do not believe that you need to amend your birth certificate because you were married and divorced in the USA. In what way would you think the birth certificate would need to change to reflect your marriage/divorce? Is there an issue with your current name no longer matching the romanian birth certificate?

If you have a romanian birth certificate, you would show up for an appointment at the romanian consulate (I am assuming somewhere in USA) and apply for a romanian passport. You would need to show that you are legally residing in the USA (passport+driver license+utility bills), your romanian birth certificate, some cash and fill in an application. If you have issues with your USA documents having a different name than on the romanian birth certificate, then that should be resolved State side with your documents (passport, driver's license, etc) not on the romanian birth certificate. That never changes, AFAIK.

Cheers

The divorce needs to be tecognized in the Romanian courts before I can get a passport. I have been speaking with a lot of folks, including the consulate. Thanks so much for your input though. I very much appreciate it.

I apologize, I was not aware that this was the case, I stand corrected. I have found the following reference, but you probably know the process already. If you navigate to the referenced URL, at the bottom there is the name of a lawyer and contact info.

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source: http://www.dreptonline.ro/utile/inregis … natate.php

The registration in Romania of the divorce pronounced abroad

Any change to a civil status of a person following the drawing up of a civil status act or, as the case may be, by a final and irrevocable court decision or by an administrative act, is communicated to the local public administration authority where the act of birth, marriage or death of the person to whom this change refers was made, in order to enclose the appropriate remarks (Article 9 of Law 119/1996 on civil status acts).

Foreign decisions on the dissolution of the marriage must be invoked by enforceable form by the Romanian court, which will register the new civil status of the former spouses, and the name they will be given will be clarified.

The registration of the divorce pronounced abroad, regarding a Romanian citizen, shall be made only after the foreign, final and irrevocable decision has been recognized by the competent county court (or the Bucharest tribunal, as the case may be), according to the provisions of art.166 and 170 Law no. 105/1992.

For divorce registration in Romania, you must have:
a) the copy of the foreign judgment;
b) proof of its definitive character - divorce certificate or final decision;
c) the copy of the evidence of the handing over of the summons and of the notice, of the party that was missing in the foreign court or of any other official document stating that the summons and the act of referral were known in due time by the party against whom given the decision (when applicable);

An authenticated statement of the former spouses will be attached, specifying the name it carries after marriage, since in divorce decisions abroad it is possible that this is not mentioned; those who have changed their names in the United States and are in possession of the change of name will attach it to it.

All official foreign papers will be affixed by the Secretary of State in that country. The length of the procedure varies according to the volume of activity of the competent court.

In order to obtain a divorce judgment by a Romanian court, interested parties may give special proxies to a Romanian lawyer to represent them.