MD · Citizenship by descent

Moldovan citizenship by descent

Reaches a great-grandparent. Every answer on this page is what Postern’s rulebook returns, word for word, with the law it cites. The free check runs the same rules.

Last verified 25 September 20268 sourcesNot legal advice

MD · PARENTLIKELYThrough a parentCitizen by descent (Art. 11)MD · GRANDPARENTPOSSIBLEThrough a grandparentRecognition for pre-1940 residents and descendants (Art. 12(2))MD · GREAT-GRANDPARENTPOSSIBLEThrough a great-grandparentRecognition for pre-1940 residents and descendants (Art. 12(2))
Routes
Citizen by descent (Art. 11) · Recognition for pre-1940 residents and their descendants (Art. 12(2))
Dual citizenship
Kept on every open route
Cutoff
24 December 2025
Language
Romanian: the Romanian language and Constitution test (Law 253/2025, Arts. 10 and 15)

The stamps assume no one in the line became a citizen of another country before the next person in the line was born. What changes each answer is below.

On this page
  1. 01Who qualifies
  2. 02Dates that matter
  3. 03Mothers’ lines
  4. 04Keeping your citizenship
  5. 05The routes and the law
  6. 06The documents
  7. 07What it takes
  8. 08Where the records live
  9. 09Former places
  10. 10Law changes
  11. 11Other doors
  12. 12Sources

01Who qualifies

Who qualifies, generation by generation

POSSIBLE

Can you claim Moldovan citizenship through a grandparent?

Recognition for pre-1940 residents and descendants (Art. 12(2))

If your ancestor was born in Moldova, or lived in Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, Herța or the Moldavian ASSR before 28 June 1940, you can be recognised as a Moldovan citizen and keep your other citizenship; since December 2025 you must pass a Romanian language and Constitution test.

What would settle itWhether someone in the family will pass the Romanian language and Constitution test, and whether the archives document your ancestor's birth or pre-1940 residence.

What changes the answer

POSSIBLE

Can you claim Moldovan citizenship through a great-grandparent?

Recognition for pre-1940 residents and descendants (Art. 12(2))

If your ancestor was born in Moldova, or lived in Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, Herța or the Moldavian ASSR before 28 June 1940, you can be recognised as a Moldovan citizen and keep your other citizenship; since December 2025 you must pass a Romanian language and Constitution test.

What would settle itWhether someone in the family will pass the Romanian language and Constitution test, and whether the archives document your ancestor's birth or pre-1940 residence.

What changes the answer

02Dates that matter

The dates that matter

  1. 1940
    28 June 1940

    An adult is recognised as a citizen on request if born abroad with a parent, grandparent or great-grandparent born in Moldova's territory, or if they descend from a person born and domiciled before 28 June 1940 in Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, Herța or the Moldavian ASSR, or from a person deported or displaced from 28 June 1940. Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Moldova No. 253 of 10 July 2025 (Official Gazette 24 September 2025, in force 24 December 2025), Art. 10(1)(b)-(d)

  2. 2025
    24 December 2025

    Since 24 December 2025 recognition requires knowledge of the Romanian language and the Constitution, assessed as the Government sets (children under 14 and people with severe disabilities are exempt). Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Moldova No. 253 of 10 July 2025 (Official Gazette 24 September 2025, in force 24 December 2025), Art. 10(1) and Art. 15

  3. 2025
    24 December 2025

    Applications pending on 24 December 2025 are examined under the law in force when they were filed, whose recognition route had no language condition. Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Moldova No. 253 of 10 July 2025 (Official Gazette 24 September 2025, in force 24 December 2025), Art. 44; Law 1024/2000 Art. 12(2)

What counts as having applied by 24 December 2025: A recognition application already pending when Law 253/2025 entered into force on 24 December 2025 (Art. 44).

03Mothers’ lines

How mothers’ lines were treated

Moldova’s rule gives the same answer whether the line runs through a mother or a father.

04Keeping your citizenship

Dual citizenship with your home country

You keep your citizenship.

On every open route, the rule lets a citizen of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina or South Africa keep that citizenship.

05The routes

Every route, and the law behind it

Recognition for pre-1940 residents and descendants (Art. 12(2))

Open through a grandparent or a great-grandparent

  • POSSIBLE
    Through a grandparent
  • POSSIBLE
    Through a grandparent, if you can’t pass the Romanian language requirement

The law

What would settle an unsure case

  • Whether someone in the family will pass the Romanian language and Constitution test, and whether the archives document your ancestor's birth or pre-1940 residence.
  • Whether the archives document your ancestor's birth or pre-1940 residence; your pending application runs under the old law.

06The documents

The documents, as the rule lists them

Citizen by descent (Art. 11)

Through a parent

  • Your parent’s Moldovan birth certificate or passport
  • Your birth certificate, apostilled and translated

Recognition for pre-1940 residents and descendants (Art. 12(2))

Through a grandparent or great-grandparent

  • Archival proof of your ancestor’s birth in Moldova or residence in those territories before 1940
  • Birth and marriage records for each generation to you
  • The Romanian language and Constitution test result

Most countries also want proof that no one in the line became a citizen elsewhere before the next birth: the naturalization record with its date, or a letter that none exists.

07What it takes

What it takes: time, cost, the hard part, who decides

Citizen by descent (Art. 11)

Time
6–12 months for the civil status registration, then a passport.
Cost
About $300–700: apostilles, certified translations into Romanian, and the passport fee.
The hard part
Showing your parent was a Moldovan citizen, not just a Soviet-era Moldovan resident, at the time you were born.
Who decides
The Public Services Agency, through the Moldovan embassy for your address.
The first record
Your parent’s Moldovan birth certificate or citizenship passport, from The Public Services Agency (Agenția Servicii Publice), civil status directorate. Request the certified copy online or through a Moldovan consulate, with the name, date and place of birth. asp.gov.md

How it’s filed

Where
Embassy of the Republic of Moldova, 2101 S Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20008, in person by appointment or by mail (no FedEx)
How
By post; no appearance needed
Appointments
programari.gov.md (Moldovan government appointment portal, MFA). One applicant, one appointment; about 20 minutes.
Fee
No fee
Decision
3–6 months
What goes in the file (7)
  1. Application form F-39CT
  2. U.S. birth certificate, apostilled
  3. Notarised Romanian translation, apostilled
  4. Parents' valid identity documents (at least one Moldovan)
  5. Parents' birth certificates
  6. Parents' marriage certificate (transcribed first if issued abroad)
  7. Prepaid USPS envelope with tracking
What goes wrong (3)
  • Free (exempt from consular fee); the embassy quotes 3–6 months.
  • The embassy's page describes transcription for minor children; an adult child of a Moldovan citizen follows the same act-transcription route but should confirm by email (consulat.washington@mfa.md) before filing.
  • Under Law 253/2025 (in force 24 December 2025) the article numbering of the old Law 1024/2000 no longer applies; the parent route is citizenship by birth.

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

Recognition for pre-1940 residents and descendants (Art. 12(2))

Time
12–24 months to find the archival record, then up to a year (plus six months if extended) for the recognition decision under Law 253/2025.
Cost
About $900–1,600: the 6,650-lei state fee (about $374), the Romanian language and Constitution certificate, archive search fees, apostilles and certified translations of a long document chain.
The hard part
Two gates since 24 December 2025: finding your ancestor in a pre-1940 Bessarabian, Northern Bukovinan, Herța or Moldavian ASSR record, and passing the Romanian language and Constitution test that every adult applicant now needs.
Who decides
The Public Services Agency, in person at its offices or through the Moldovan embassy for your address; no proxies.
The first record
Proof your ancestor lived in Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, Herța or the Moldavian ASSR before 28 June 1940, from The National Archives of Moldova. Write with the name, approximate dates and village or town; interwar Romanian civil records and Soviet-era files are held there. Expect 2–4 months. arhiva.gov.md

How it’s filed

Where
In person at the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova in Washington (or a Public Services Agency office in Moldova), or through a representative holding a notarised power of attorney
How
In person; you appear in person
Fee
About $374
Decision
6–18 months
What goes in the file (11)
  1. Identity document (U.S. passport)
  2. Civil-status documents of the applicant and minor children
  3. Autobiography (personal data, citizenships, last three years' residences, employment, military service, family, security declaration)
  4. Proof of domicile abroad
  5. Detailed criminal-record certificates (age 14+) from every relevant country
  6. Certificate of Romanian language and Constitution knowledge from the National Agency for Curriculum and Evaluation (or disability exemption)
  7. Two colour photos 4.5×3.5 cm
  8. Consent to personal-data processing
  9. Proof the state tax was paid
  10. Ancestors' identity or death certificates and the civil-status documents proving each link
  11. Archival attestation of the ancestor's birth and domicile in Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, Herța or the Moldavian ASSR before 28 June 1940
What goes wrong (5)
  • Law change: the new Citizenship Law 253/2025 took effect on 24 December 2025. Recognition now requires every adult to prove Romanian and knowledge of the Constitution with a certificate from the National Agency for Curriculum and Evaluation; the old route had no language test. The rulebook text still says it has none.
  • State tax 6,650 lei (Law 213/2023), about $374 at the NBM rate; consular fees at the embassy are paid by money order, Zelle or bank transfer.
  • Decision within one year, extendable by up to six months.
  • Multiple citizenship is permitted.
  • Unverified: where and how often the language and Constitution test is held for applicants abroad; plan on a trip to Chișinău.

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

Estimates are honest ranges from official fee tables and what families report; where a fee or time could not be confirmed, it says so.

08Where the records live

Where each record lives, and how to ask for it

  • birth1820–1924

    National Archives Agency (Agenția Națională a Arhivelor): Bessarabian parish (metrical) registers and censuses

    One national archive for today's Moldova. Northern Bukovina and Herța records are in the Chernivtsi oblast archive (Ukraine); left-bank (MASSR) and southern Bessarabian (Budjak) records may be in Ukrainian archives (Odesa).

    Ask
    Online, in Romanian · request page ↗
    Fee
    58 MDL (about $3)
    Takes
    4–17 weeks
    Good to know (3)
    • Since January 2024 birth, marriage and death certificates for 1820–1924 can be ordered on the public-services portal and delivered abroad by MDelivery.
    • 58 lei is the minimum; the fee grows with the number of files examined.
    • In-person visits to the archive are by appointment only (programari.gov.md/ro/ana).

    Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

  • residence1918–1940

    National Archives Agency (interwar Romanian-era records, censuses, household lists) and the Public Services Agency's civil-status archive for acts under 100 years

    The recognition file needs an attestation of domicile before 28 June 1940 from the archives; ask the National Archives Agency first, then the civil-status archive of the Public Services Agency for 1925–1940 civil acts.

    Ask
    By email, in Romanian
    Takes
    1–6 months
    Good to know (1)
    • Unverified: fee and turnaround for a thematic domicile certificate (charged by volume examined).

    Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

  • birth1925–2026

    Public Services Agency (Agenția Servicii Publice), civil-status service: birth, marriage and death acts; foreign events of citizens are transcribed through embassies

    Any ASP civil-status office or a Moldovan embassy can request a repeat certificate for an act registered in Moldova.

    Ask
    Through an agent, in Romanian
    Takes
    2–13 weeks

    Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

Translations

Into
Romanian
Who may translate
Any certified translator; the translation itself is legalized
About
$25–$60 a page

The Washington embassy wants U.S. certificates apostilled, translated into Romanian, the translation notarised, and the notarised translation apostilled too. EU multilingual extracts need neither.

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

The passport

Where
Embassy of Moldova in Washington, by appointment on programari.gov.md; 60-day standard or 30-day faster tier; mailed back with a prepaid USPS envelope
Fee
About $84
Time
4–13 weeks

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

09Former places

Places on old papers that lead to Moldova

If your family’s records name one of these, Moldova’s law may be the one that applies. The town decides.

10Law changes

Recent and pending changes

The legislative watch has no pending bill or recent ruling recorded for Moldova.

Already in the rule

The watch re-reads the official pages behind this guide every day. When one changes, a person re-checks the rule before anything here moves.

11Other doors

If descent doesn’t reach you

One residence program leads to Moldova without an ancestor, each with its own law and road to citizenship.

12Sources

Every source on this page

1 laws and official pages behind the answers, then the offices and pages behind the records and filing. Records and filing checked 25 September 2026.

  1. LawLaw on Citizenship of the Republic of Moldova No. 253 of 10 July 2025 (Official Gazette 24 September 2025, in force 24 December 2025) · Art. 9; Art. 10(1)(b)-(d); Art. 10(1) and Art. 15; Art. 23; Art. 44; Law 1024/2000 Art. 12(2); Art. 10(5) with Art. 19(c)
  2. RecordsThe Public Services Agency (Agenția Servicii Publice), civil status directorate: Your parent’s Moldovan birth certificate or citizenship passport
  3. RecordsHow to file: Citizen by descent (Art. 11) · checked 25 September 2026
  4. Recordsprogramari.gov.md (Moldovan government appointment portal, MFA) · checked 25 September 2026
  5. RecordsThe National Archives of Moldova: Proof your ancestor lived in Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, Herța or the Moldavian ASSR before 28 June 1940
  6. RecordsHow to file: Recognition for pre-1940 residents and descendants (Art. 12(2)) · checked 25 September 2026
  7. RecordsBirth records, 1820–1924: National Archives Agency · checked 25 September 2026
  8. RecordsThe passport: where, the fee and the wait · checked 25 September 2026

Not legal advice. Postern’s rulebook is written from the statutes and tested against documented cases; where the law is unsettled, the answer says “possible” or “unsure” rather than guess.

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