A Lawyer Quoted Me $5,000 Per Person for Romanian Citizenship. I Did It Myself Instead.
Zack, from European Roots Consulting.
Scope: This is my personal preparation account. Filing an application is not a grant of citizenship. Individual experiences and costs are not universal rules or guaranteed results.
When I started my own Romanian citizenship by descent process, I did what most people do first. I asked a lawyer. The quote came back: $5,000 per person, for a family application. And that number didn't include the real costs underneath it. Apostilles, certified translations, shipping, even additional Zoom calls beyond the included allotment. All extra, all on top.
For Poland, I chose to prepare the application myself. These are my own decisions and costs, not a market-wide comparison of providers.
So I did. I prepared both applications without a lawyer. Filing is not the same as approval. This post is about what the process actually costs, because that number and the law firm quote are two very different things.
The Quote vs. the Reality
Ask each provider whether its quote includes records, translations, authentication, filing fees and shipping. In my own Romanian quote, these were additional costs. Other proposals may be structured differently.
Third-party costs depend on the actual document list and the offices involved. Ask for quotes before committing. The Polish citizenship by descent: how to budget separates records, translation, authentication and filing costs.
That gap is the whole reason this business exists.
What I Didn't Know Going In
Two things caught me off guard in my own applications, and they catch almost everyone.
Before commissioning translations, confirm the receiving office’s requirements. The published Polish checklist calls for a sworn translator or consul, with specific exceptions. Translator location alone is not the test. Official translation guidance.
Second, the per-applicant math. If you're filing as a family, each adult application is its own application. Its own fees. Its own document requirements, even when the ancestral chain is shared. I went through this alongside my brother and my father, so I've lived the multi-applicant version personally. Families routinely underestimate their total cost because they assume everything can simply be shared across applications. Some of it can. Knowing which parts is where the real savings live, and it's exactly what I map out on a Roadmap Call, because the answer depends on your specific document set.
Romania Adds Its Own Layer
Romania's process has its own cost structure and its own category of surprises. The biggest is the B1 Romanian language requirement introduced in 2025, which I've covered separately on this blog.
One more that almost nobody flags: if you file at a consulate in a city where you don't live, or your documents come from a different country than where you file, the translator certification requirements get more complicated than a purely local case. Most people find this out mid-process, when a document gets flagged. That's the expensive way to learn it.
So What Does It Actually Cost?
The honest answer, in three tiers:
If you do a Roadmap Call and handle everything yourself: third-party costs plus $299 for the call. You leave with a written plan, the exact document list in the right order, and a line-item estimate of your third-party costs before you spend a dollar.
If you want the Guided Process: $1,500 plus third-party costs. I walk you through exactly what to do at every step, in the right order, and check your work before you take it. You execute, including the document gathering, with me making sure nothing gets done twice or done wrong.
And here's the part a sales page wouldn't tell you. Some cases genuinely need a lawyer. I'm not one, and I don't give legal advice. If your case involves a real legal dispute, a prior denial, or eligibility that's genuinely unclear under the law, a licensed immigration attorney is the right call, and I'll tell you that directly if I see it in your situation. A good consultant tells you when you're outside his lane. That's part of what you're paying for.
Where to Start
The Roadmap Call costs $299 USD and helps organize your next steps. I do not promise a specific saving or eligibility outcome.
Keep Reading
- Polish citizenship by descent: how to budget
- Romanian citizenship by descent: how to budget
- Citizenship by descent: lawyer, consultant or DIY?