Moldovan citizenship granting procedure to be simplified

The Information Technology and Communication Ministry (MTIC) has amended the law on Moldovan citizenship. The main amendments are related to the delimitation of competences, between the MTIC and the presidential institution, as regards the procedure of citizenship granting.

The ministry will no longer decide on the granting or non-granting of citizenship according to the observance of the submitted conditions. It will be empowered to deal with pure technical issues, such as: receiving the application, checking the submitted documents and sending them to the Moldovan president. Even though the applicant does not meet the needed conditions for the citizenship, the set of documents, accompanied by an informative note, will be sent to the presidential institution for consideration.

Under the amendments, the list of people who can benefit from the Moldovan citizenship includes beneficiaries of political asylum and of humanitarian protection. They must present a document proving for a legal and continuous period of stay of eight years in Moldova. The naturalisation term will be calculated starting with the day of authorization of the applicant’s stay in Moldova.

At the same time, the operated amendments also assigns a larger significance to the concept of “lawful and habitual residence” in order to comply with the provisions of the European Convention on citizenship. It also excludes the requirement on the age limit of 18 years old when giving up the Moldovan citizenship.

Adapted from MOLDPRES