Getting Approved Is Only Half the Process. Here's What Comes After.

Most of what gets written about Polish and Romanian citizenship by descent stops at approval. You get the decision, the post ends, and the assumption is that everything after that is a formality. It isn't. Approval means the government has confirmed you're a citizen. It doesn't mean you have a passport, and for Romania, it doesn't even mean you have Romanian civil documents yet. There's a second phase most people don't budget time or money for, because almost nobody tells them it exists.

Why "Approved" Isn't the Finish Line

Even competitor sites that publish a processing timeline usually measure it as filing-to-decision. What happens between decision and passport in hand is a separate, often unstated phase. That gap matters if you're planning around a specific date, a trip, a job opportunity, anything time-sensitive. Approval is the legal milestone. The passport is the practical one, and they're not the same event.

Romania: Civil Documents Come First, Then the Passport

Once ANC approves your case, Romania doesn't hand you a passport next. It issues your Romanian citizenship confirmation, and from there, you need actual Romanian civil documents, a Romanian birth record generated from your original foreign birth certificate, before a passport application is even possible. That's a real, distinct step with its own paperwork, its own translation and apostille requirements, and its own cost, separate from anything you paid during the citizenship application itself.

I'm keeping the exact sequence out of a public post on purpose, since getting the order wrong at this stage is one of the more expensive mistakes to make, and it's exactly what a Roadmap Call maps out for your specific situation. What I will say plainly: budget both additional time and additional cost for this phase, and don't assume the consulate will proactively walk you through it. In my experience, they answer what you ask. They don't volunteer the full roadmap.

Poland: A Registration Step Before the Passport

Poland has its own version of this gap. Confirmation of citizenship isn't the same as being entered into Poland's civil registry system, and Poland's passport application depends on that registration existing first. A national identification number is tied to that registry, and it has to be in place before a passport application can move forward. Like Romania, this involves its own document translation and certification requirements, and depending on your case, its own separate consulate visit or mailing step.

The same rule applies here as with Romania: I'm not spelling out which office handles which part or what order things happen in, since that varies enough by case and by consulate that a generic checklist would either be incomplete or actively wrong for someone. That's worth getting right the first time, not learning through a rejected submission.

What This Actually Costs, Honestly

I won't publish a specific number here, since it varies by case and by how many generations of documents need to be freshly issued or translated, and I'd rather not give you a figure that turns out to be wrong for your situation. What I can tell you: it's a real, separate cost on top of whatever you paid to reach approval, translation and certification fees again, not the same ones from earlier in the process. Anyone telling you the process is done at approval, or pricing their service as if it is, is leaving out a phase you'll still have to pay for and manage yourself. I've written separately about what the earlier stages of the process cost, and this phase sits entirely outside that breakdown.

Where This Fits Into Planning Your Case

If you're weighing timelines, whether for a move, a trip, or just wanting a realistic picture before you start, this post-approval phase needs to be part of that math from day one, not something you discover after the fact. It's also exactly the kind of detail that separates a plan that accounts for the whole process from one that only accounts for the part everyone else talks about. If you're comparing what a family filing together actually costs, this phase applies per person here too, the same way the filing itself does.

If you're earlier in the process and haven't confirmed eligibility yet, start with the quiz first, it takes two minutes. If you're already through filing, or getting close, and want the full picture including this phase, the Roadmap Call covers it end to end, not just the part before approval.

Take the 2-minute eligibility quiz