Documents for Romania from Chernivtsi: the citizenship file, assembled

A Romanian citizenship-by-descent case is a file the Romanians call a dosar: civil-status records of several generations, translated into Romanian and notarised. Etalon assembles the documentary part of such a file from Chernivtsi remotely – archival retrieval, translation, certification, apostille where the receiving institution requires it. The case itself is run by your lawyer or consultant: we prepare documents, we do not file applications.

Notarised Romanian translations with one consistent spelling of names across the whole file
Retrieval of repeat certificates and archival extracts for Bukovina-born ancestors – done for you
Apostille only where genuinely required: Ukraine and Romania hold a legal-assistance treaty
Fully remote from Chernivtsi and the wider Bukovina region: scans by messenger, the finished file by Nova Poshta
We are a translation bureau, not a law firm: the citizenship case stays with your lawyer

Chernivtsi oblast is Ukraine’s most Romanian region, and citizenship files here are assembled across generations. Etalon prepares the documentary part remotely: retrieval, Romanian translation, notarisation, apostille when required.

A file called dosar: what the case is made of

Descendants of people who lived in Northern Bukovina or Bessarabia before 28 June 1940 may apply to restore Romanian citizenship. In Chernivtsi oblast this is family history, not an exotic scenario: per the 2001 census (the most recent one) the region held 114,600 Romanians – 12.5% of its population. The legal strategy belongs to a lawyer; the documentary core is nearly always the same – a chain of birth, marriage and death certificates linking the applicant to the ancestor, each translated into Romanian and notarised.

Below, the file is assembled layer by layer, from the oldest document to your own.

The deepest layer: the ancestors’ records

The most valuable papers in the file are the oldest – the records of a grandparent or great-grandparent born in Bukovina before 1940. Originals rarely survive, and that is not a dead end: repeat certificates and archival extracts are issued from the registry books of DRACS offices and state archives, and the translation and – where required – the apostille are then arranged on those. Whether they suffice for your specific case is confirmed by the lawyer running it.

Etalon handles the retrieval: we locate the record, obtain the document and pass it straight to translation. The timeline depends on the archive, so we quote it after checking the source data.

The middle layer: your family’s certificates, one name glossary

Between the ancestor and the applicant sits the parents’ generation: their birth, marriage, name-change and death certificates close the chain. This is where the case-slowing details usually surface – a surname recorded differently in different decades, or a transliteration that drifts between documents. One team therefore runs the whole file with a single glossary: names, surnames and place names are spelled identically in every translation.

Your own documents close the file. What exactly belongs in it in your case is defined by your lawyer or the Romanian institution – we check the list before starting and tell you what is missing.

Not every document needs a stamp – and the file speaks Romanian

In a Bessarabian-Bukovina case the whole file rarely travels under one stamp: a notary in Romania accepts some papers with no mark at all, others only with proof of authenticity. The reason is the legal-assistance treaty between Ukraine and Romania: under it, some institutions recognise Ukrainian documents without any apostille, so paying for a stamp "just in case" makes no sense. Where confirmation is genuinely required, it takes the form of an apostille rather than consular legalisation – both countries belong to the Hague Convention. Which requirement applies to your case we settle before translation, document by document, rather than with one blanket decision for the whole file.

Where the stamp is genuinely needed, we arrange it without your involvement: certificates fall under the Justice category, filed locally in Chernivtsi or via Diia since 1 February 2026; fees and timelines are covered on our Chernivtsi apostille page.

The file itself is submitted in Romanian, and one honest clarification matters: the procedure requires no residency and no formal language exam – but that does not mean “no Romanian at all”. The citizenship oath is recited aloud in Romanian, from memory, so knowledge sufficient for basic communication is expected. We close the documentary part completely; the language preparation is yours.

The last sheet: the file closes

A finished file looks like this: retrieved archival documents, the full chain of certificates, notarised Romanian translations, apostilles where the institution requires them. It is handed to the lawyer or consultant running the case – or to you personally, by Nova Poshta to any branch or parcel locker in Chernivtsi, or in whatever city you are in now.

And the caveat we repeat deliberately: Etalon is a translation bureau. We are not a law firm, we do not run citizenship cases and we do not promise outcomes – we make sure the documentary part of your case is flawless.

How we work

1Scans and the listSend scans of the documents you have plus the list from your lawyer or institution via Telegram, Viber or WhatsApp – we tell you for free what is missing and what the preparation costs.
2RetrievalRepeat certificates and archival extracts for your ancestors are obtained for you from DRACS offices and state archives.
3Translation and certificationWe translate the file into Romanian with notarised certification and one consistent spelling of names; the apostille is added where the institution requires it.
4HandoverThe finished set goes by Nova Poshta – to you, or straight to whoever runs the case.

Prices

Romanian translation of a document with notarisation per documentfrom UAH 250
Retrieval of a repeat certificate or archival extract depends on the archiveon request
Apostille on a certificate (Justice) + 670 UAH state feefrom UAH 950
Rush service surcharge of +30-50% on the base rate+30%

Bureau rates are minimums ("from"); state fees are separate: 670 UAH for a Justice-category apostille (individuals).

FAQ

Which documents does a Romanian citizenship-by-descent file need?

The core is a chain of birth, marriage and death certificates linking you to an ancestor who lived in Northern Bukovina or Bessarabia before 28 June 1940. The exact list for your case is defined by your lawyer or the Romanian institution – we check it before starting and prepare the documentary part.

Do I need to speak Romanian?

The procedure requires no residency in Romania and no formal language exam. But “no Romanian at all” is not accurate: the citizenship oath is recited aloud in Romanian, from memory, so knowledge sufficient for basic communication is expected. Translating the file is our job; preparing for the oath is yours.

Apostille or consular legalisation for Romania?

Romania is a Hague Convention member, so consular legalisation does not apply – when confirmation is needed, it is an apostille. At the same time Ukraine and Romania hold a legal-assistance treaty, and some institutions accept documents without an apostille. We verify your institution’s requirement before starting.

My great-grandfather’s certificates did not survive. Is the case over?

No. Repeat certificates and archival extracts are issued from the DRACS and state-archive registry records – we retrieve them for you, then translate and, where required, apostille them. Whether they suffice for your case is confirmed by the lawyer running it.

Do you handle the citizenship case itself?

No. Etalon is a translation bureau: we retrieve, translate, notarise and – where required – apostille documents, but we do not provide legal or immigration advice and do not file applications with Romanian authorities. The case is run by your lawyer or consultant, with the documentary part ready from us.

Updated: 2026-07-14