Noi culturi, noi antropologii - Humanitas

Regarding naturalization, in the first wave, Romania was
also posing difficult conditions for the refugees to fulfill. The
first and most important obstacle was the automatic expiration
of the refugee status. In the conditions when citizenship
was limited by a five years of residence in Romania, a three
year automatic expiration of the refugee status (which implies
a three years residence in Romania) comes in a clear
contradiction with the citizenship law and the eligibility for
naturalization. Moreover, the recognized refugees received
an identification card which served as a residence permit
extendable every six months. According to UNHCR, in this
situation the „refugees suffer from an inadequate legal status
or situation of insecurity“ 179 .
Another obstacle in the refugees’ naturalization in the
first wave were the delays in the procedure for the future
eligible Romanian citizens: „In Romania, several applications
by refugees, most of whom are married to Romanian
citizens, have now been pending since at least 1996 (…)
Hence, the naturalization process is further delayed by several
years, in two countries where refugees already face
difficult or long residency requirements in order to become
eligible to apply“ 180 . In the first wave, despite the UNHCR’s
recommendation made in year 2000 that legal exceptions
should be made for refugees with regard to the legislation
on citizenship and that Romania’s legislation stipulates that
the residency requirement of five years can be reduced in
well justified cases, it has never been applied to recognized
refugees.
If before 2000 the residency requirement for naturalization
was five years, in the current Citizenship Law this requirement
was increased to eight years. It might be stated
that the legislation in the first wave was more advantageous
for refugees as they were required five years of permanent
residency for acquiring the Romanian citizenship compared
to eight years required in the second wave. Being married
to a Romanian citizen is another way for refugees to acquire
179. Idem, p23.
180. Idem, p19.
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