How to get a Romanian certificate without travelling
Documentary Romania is municipal and territorial: the certificat comes from the primărie (town hall) of the event's place, and the apostille — a local peculiarity — comes from the county prefect's institution. For the diaspora (Romanian immigration to Brazil is a century old), the extra seasoning is Transylvania: pre-1918 records in Hungarian and German, heritage of the empire that Trianon redrew.
The primărie's starea civilă
Births, marriages and deaths live in the stare civilă service of the event's primărie — and the duplicate is the certificat's duplicat, requested there (in person, through a representative with a procură, or via the Romanian consulate, which brokers for citizens). Romanian registration runs from 1865 onwards in the Old Kingdom; in Transylvania, the Hungarian civil records from 1895 and the ecclesiastical ones before.
Who can request
The holder and family; third parties with a procură (the Romanian power of attorney — notarial to count at the counter, and the one made abroad with apostille and translation). Romanian law is formalist about representation: improvisation does not pass; the well-made procură opens everything.
The prefecture apostille
The Romanian division: administrative acts (certificates included) are apostilled at the prefect's institution (prefectura) of the issuing COUNTY; judicial ones, at the courts; notarial ones, by the notaries' chambers. A Cluj certificate is apostilled at the Cluj prefectura — the county's geography defines the leg.
The typical route
Duplicat from the primărie (via procură or consulate) → apostille at the county prefectura → dispatch → sworn Romanian translation in Brazil (moderate availability — the community keeps translators). For old Transylvania: the county archives (Arhivele Naționale, branches) with the Hungarian/German records — and the translation of the document's language.
Transylvanian place names come in three languages: Cluj/Kolozsvár/Klausenburg are the same city. Records and archives use the era's form — bring all three when searching, and expect the old document in the empire's language, not the current country's.
Frequently asked questions
Does the Romanian consulate really resolve it?+
For citizens and several acts, the consulate brokers duplicat requests — one of the most useful consulates in this guide. For non-citizens and old cases, the path is the primărie/archive via procură or a local mission.
A 1900 record from Transylvania: where is it?+
Hungarian civil (post-1895): at the current Romanian county's archive, in Hungarian. Ecclesiastical: in the confessions' fonds at the same archive. The era and the confession point to the fonds.
Informative content about request procedures. We do not cover citizenship or visa eligibility. Rules and amounts may change; always confirm before acting.