The Romanian temporary passport: when is it issued, and how fast?

When a temporary passport is issued

Only in these situations (Law 248/2005, art. 17^1):

• A minor is about to travel abroad for studies, for official competitions or for medical treatment without which their life or health is in danger, and there is no time to obtain the other parent's consent.
• You are abroad, no longer hold valid travel documents and declare that it is necessary and urgent to continue your journey abroad or to regularise your stay or legal situation in a state.
• You are in an objective and urgent situation in which you need to be in another state, and there is no time for the electronic passport to be issued or it has been lodged for visas.

The General Directorate of Passports (Direcția Generală de Pașapoarte, part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs) writes it in capital letters on its page: the temporary passport is not issued for tourism. Objective and urgent situations exclude those where the trip is based on purely tourist reasons.

How you prove the urgency

• An objective and urgent situation: with documents showing that the trip abroad is necessary. The official pages give no list of the documents accepted; ask the passport office where you apply.
• An electronic passport lodged for visas: you have to prove that it has been lodged.
• A child leaving for studies, an official competition or treatment: with documents issued by the institution organising the studies or the competition, or documents issued or endorsed by a Romanian medical authority, showing the period and the state or states concerned; with a translation where needed.
• A citizen abroad who wants to continue their journey: with documents proving the necessity and the urgency.

What to bring for a temporary passport

For an adult whose domicile is in Romania, the official list asks for:

• The ID card, the provisional ID card or, as the case may be, the old-style identity booklet, within its validity period, the original. A provisional ID card must come with the birth certificate, the original.
• Proof that the passport was paid for: the document has to show the transaction number, the details of the person in whose name the passport is requested (surname, first name and personal numeric code, CNP) and the amount paid.
• The previous passport, if there is one.

Add to these the documents that prove your situation (the section above). No fingerprints are taken for the temporary passport.

For children the lists are different, by age (under 14, and from 14), with the parents' consent; take them in full from the official page. Three things to know. For a child under 14, two photographs can be filed and the child does not have to be present at the counter. When the child is leaving for studies, an official competition or treatment and there is no time for the other parent's consent, the application or, from 14, the consent of one parent alone is enough. A child aged 14 or over files the documents in person and must be present at the counter (the official list has an exception for those who cannot come for medical reasons).

• pasapoarte.mai.gov.ro — documents needed for the temporary passport (adults, children under 14, children from 14; in Romanian)
• Romanian passport for a child: what do you need, and who has to come?

Where to apply and where to collect it

• It is issued by the passport offices (servicii publice comunitare de pașapoarte) in Romania, and by Romanian diplomatic missions and consular offices abroad, wherever the application was filed (Law 248/2005, art. 17^1).
• In Romania, applications are filed, for the most part, by online appointment, on hub.mai.gov.ro/epasapoarte. If you have no appointment, the passport office looks at whether it can take your application in the time slots not covered by appointments.
• A temporary passport is collected, in Romania, from the passport office and, abroad, from the diplomatic mission or consular office where the application was filed.
• For applications filed in Romania, it is paid for like the electronic passport: at CEC Bank counters, at CEC Bank's Selfpay payment stations or online, only on Ghiseul.ro. The amount is on the official page. For applications filed abroad, through diplomatic missions, the consular fees apply instead; ask there.

If you are abroad, see also the guide on the passport and ID card from abroad.

• Book a passport appointment: Hub MAI — General Directorate of Passports
• How do you renew a Romanian passport or ID card from abroad?

How long a temporary passport is valid, and how long it takes

The temporary passport is valid for 12 months.

It is issued within 3 working days at most of the date the application is filed (Law 248/2005, art. 17^1).

Not every country accepts a temporary passport

The consular portal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (econsulat.ro) warns that temporary passports are not recognised by all states. Before you apply, find out whether the country you are going to accepts it: for each country's entry conditions, the General Directorate of Passports points to the “condiții de călătorie” (travel conditions) section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs site (mae.ro) or to that state's diplomatic mission in Romania.

If you are simply in a hurry: the electronic passport

If you are in none of the situations above, the way forward is the electronic passport. The General Directorate of Passports writes that there is no fee for issuing a passport urgently and that, at present, the electronic passport is issued within 5 working days, for applications filed in Romania and collected in Romania. Depending on the number of applications, it can take less or, in very busy periods, up to 10 working days. The maximum given on the General Directorate of Passports' page, for applications filed in Romania, is 15 working days.

• pasapoarte.mai.gov.ro — how long a passport takes to issue

Can you hold an electronic and a temporary passport at the same time?

Yes, in two situations (Law 248/2005, art. 17^2): when you are in an objective and urgent situation and your electronic passport has been lodged for visas; and when the temporary passport has been lodged for visas and the need to travel abroad is proved with documents.

Within 5 days of the situation ending or, as the case may be, of your return to Romania, you must hand one of the two valid passports back to the authorities.

The FAQ page of the General Directorate of Passports words the first situation more broadly than the law: it lists every objective and urgent situation in which there is no time for the electronic passport, not only a passport lodged for visas. We have followed the text of the law; if this is your case, ask the passport office.

See also