Project: Important change for Romanians who do not live at the address in the bulletin

Natural persons who no longer live at the established address of residence will be obliged to notify this to any public community service for the registration of persons, according to a legislative proposal submitted to the Parliament.

People will have 15 days to announce their departure, otherwise they will be fined from 75 lei to 150 lei.

The project, initiated by 114 PSD, AUR and national minority parliamentarians, amends and completes the Government’s Emergency Ordinance no. 97/2005 regarding the records, domicile, residence and identity documents of Romanian citizens.

What those who do not live at the address in the bulletin need to know

The normative act provides for the introduction of a new text in article 31 of GEO 97/2005 according to which “the natural person, who no longer lives at the address at which he established his residence, is obliged to notify any community public service of records of persons, about the termination of the validity of the mention regarding the residence, within 15 days of departure”.

The project also introduces a fine between 75 and 150 lei in case of non-compliance with this provision.

The project also stipulates that people who live at addresses other than the one on the identity document will be obliged, within 15 days from the move, to request the change of address or the entry of the mention regarding the establishment of the residence at the community public service for the registration of persons and to requests registration in the real estate register, according to Agerpres.

In the current text, people who change their domicile or establish their residence are only obliged to request the registration in the real estate register of the new residence within this term.

What you will have to do if you host someone in your home

According to the project, the people who host other people who do not have the address where they actually live in their identity document, after the expiry of the stipulated terms, will have the obligation to notify the Police or the Community Public Service for the record of people from the place where the building is located, except for cases where people live in the interest of the service or for tourist purposes. In the current text, this obligation is established in the event that people host other people, continuously, for a period of more than 30 days.

The project also proposes the introduction of new texts that provide that people who host other people must declare that the living space meets the minimum requirements for housing established in the Housing Law no. 114/1996 regarding the number of people.

According to the draft, in the event that the applicant for the identity document cannot present himself at the Community Public Service for the Registration of Persons at the place of domicile or residence, the application can be submitted to the nearest Community Public Service for the Registration of Persons, which takes over the application and issues the identity document.

5,000 people with the same address in the papers

The initiators of the project support, in the statement of reasons, the need for legislative changes for “improving the quality of the personal registration services, the quality of the data recorded in the personal registration register and for the creation of facilities for Romanian citizens to obtain identity documents”.

“In recent years, in Romania, numerous situations were reported in the mass media when hundreds or even thousands of people were registered at the same address who, in fact, did not live there. In October 2018, at an address in District 3 of the Capital , about 5,000 people were registered. In July 2020, a similar situation was reported in Iaşi County. At one address in Moşna commune, there were over 3,000 people with residence visas. In September 2020, according to official data, at four addresses in the city of Galaţi, owned by three citizens of Galaţi, housed over 13,000 people with dual citizenship,” the document explains.

According to the initiators, “the legal regulations in force contain obligations for citizens regarding the change of domicile, but the way in which they are formulated does not allow sanctioning non-compliance with them, and in the case of establishing residence there are no such obligations”.

They argue that there are not few situations when people obtain a change of address or a residence visa at addresses where they do not live.

There are many situations in which the residence visa is requested to obtain some momentary benefits, such as enrolling in kindergartens/schools, providing compensation for transport expenses, accommodation, providing social or medical assistance, obtaining documents or tax benefits or expressing the right to vote.

“An important and topical problem is the continued limitation of people’s access to the services of personal registration, which is still restricted only to the services at the person’s place of residence or residence”, the initiators say.

The project will first be debated by the Senate and then by the Chamber of Deputies, which is the decision-making body.